Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride

Revelation 20-22: The Millennium, New Jerusalem And A Warning

Laying Out Revelation – Part 8

JOHN LITTLE

MAY 6

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Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride

Revelation 20-22: The Millennium, New Jerusalem And A Warning

Laying Out Revelation – Part 8

JOHN LITTLE

MAY 6

Satan is bound and Jesus rules and reigns with His saints for a thousand years. Then Satan is loosed and deceives the world AGAIN, leading to a final battle. After that, a second resurrection occurs, and all who are not found in the Book of Life are thrown into the Lake of Fire.

A new heaven and a new earth appears, along with a city called New Jerusalem. This city is a giant cube 1500 miles (~2400 km.) wide and tall. It's called the Bride of the Lamb.

There's also a dire warning that we must pay attention to.

Let's dig in...

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Remember that this series is not attempting to comment on every element of Revelation. All that we want to do is see the structure of this book and shed light on some of the more difficult to understand passages. What is left out should be self-explanatory.

And yes, there are some fascinating questions in the last three chapters of Revelation!

These three chapters give is the best glimpse of what we all are hoping for - eternal life with Christ. All the suffering of this life will be totally eclipsed by the joy that we will have, forever. Those of us who hold on to the end, will be well rewarded. But, there's an even more important message that should give us pause as we consider these things.

NOTE: I have been experiencing a low grade fever and body ache (among other things) all week. This means that I might have missed something. So, feel free to mention it, if you see it.

Let me start with the most important part of this post:

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;

19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

- Revelation 22:18-19 (NKJV)

I truly hope that I have not added or taken away anything from the Book of Revelation. Those two verses are some of the most frightening in the Bible, and our fellow Christians are not taking this warning to heart.

Too many have added and taken away from the Book of Revelation, and the price for that will be terrible. It would be better to say "I don't know" than to make Revelation conform to what you want it to say. But, let's leave that discussion for later and begin this final section of Revelation with chapter 20.

This might be the most perplexing of all the chapters in Revelation. And there have been many foolish teachers who have confidently proclaimed understanding of this passage. And in doing so, have been cursed by God.

Why is Satan bound for a thousand years?

Why is there a Millennium, when God could easily take us to the New Heaven and New Earth?

Before you jump in with an explanation, you should know that you're giving us pure supposition. That's a dangerous thing to do with the Bible, and especially so with Revelation. There is no such thing as a 'sanctified imagination'.

Only a fool would think otherwise.

Anyway, the first section of this chapter is the binding of Satan in the Bottomless Pit. No mention of his angels is given. It's just Satan. And, part of his binding is a seal that is placed upon his forehead. And, it's as if there's a 1000 year timer on his binding, when the timer finishes it says...

"...But after these things he must be released for a little while."

- Revelation 20:3b (NKJV)

Why must Satan be released for a little while?

And yes, the words, "I don't know" are appropriate here. We don't know. I suspect that it's wrapped up in the reason why there is sin in the world, and why God the Son had to come to earth to save us from Hell. I'm completely grateful for what God has done for us, but there's a mystery involved that will not be explained until we get to Life Eternal.

The wording of verses four, five and six are a bit confusing. In verse four, thrones are set up, and people are sitting on them.

Are these the 24 thrones that we saw in Revelation 4:4 and 11:16?

However, in THOSE verses, the thrones had already been set up. So, I'm not sure that we can claim that Revelation 20 is speaking of the same thrones.

Then, verse four continues, and says that those who did not worship the Beast and were beheaded for Christ, will reign with our Lord for a thousand years. And, it's confusing since it seems to imply that only those who died during the Great Tribulation will rule and reign with Christ. And, there are those who claim that this implication is true.

As always, my response is:

A lack of evidence is not an evidence of lack.

Just because something is not spoken of, does NOT mean that it's not there. Please be wary of those who use the false 'lack of evidence' narrative.

The confusion continues with verse five, when it says that

But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
- Revelation 20:5 (NKJV)

If you follow the 'lack of evidence' narrative, you will assume here that only those who rule and reign with Christ... and only those who died at the hands of the Antichrist ...will be in the First Resurrection. And, when we read verse six:

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
- Revelation 20:6 (NKJV)

This is why we do not ignore the rest of the Bible, when reading Revelation. For instance, Paul says this here:

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NKJV)

So, everyone who is saved, is in the First Resurrection. Everyone. (Even those who weren't very good Christians.) That's billions of people. And, I'll show a little later that we could be talking about more than 10 billion people.

Can billions rule and reign with Christ on Earth for a thousand years?

Anything is possible. I mean, our new, sanctified bodies will never die or suffer hunger. We wouldn't take up much space, and we already have eight billion on earth and growing.

But, there's no way that any of us can understand how this will work. Non-Christians like the JWs claim that they KNOW, and they destroyed themselves with their foolishness. Do not follow their example.

The Bible tells us that there are mysteries that we are forbidden to know and understand. And, I suspect that we are dealing with some of that forbidden knowledge here.

Then, in verses seven through ten, Satan is released. And yet again, the unsaved who lived through the Millennium, saw Christ and those of us who rule with Him... and are deceived yet again.

Yet another face-palm moment in the Bible.

God help us. We humans are stupid. Dumber than a box of rocks. And, maybe the purpose of the Millennium is to prove that we are complete morons without Christ.

Think of this as an example of why you should NEVER use human logic when approaching the Bible. That's how Satan gets his hooks into you, and he will pull you under if you are not careful. I have watched it happen, and you do not want to play that game.

By the way, many seem to think that there will be no 'unsaved' people who survive the Seals, the Trumpets, the Plagues and Armageddon. They can't think of any reason why someone would be unable to take The Mark.

Remember that we are not just talking about a tattoo. We are talking about worship. And, there are some who do not have the means to 'buy or sell'.

Who could these be?

Children too young to take The Mark.

Those subsistence farmers and/or hunter-gatherers who are cut off from civilization by the great disasters that plague the earth before the Antichrist arrives.

The children of the Woman in Revelation 12. Those who are not saved among those who flee will go into the Millennium.

Did you notice that they cannot force The Mark on you?

So, there should be plenty of people to populate the Millennium, see Jesus rule and reign upon Earth and then get deceived by Satan. There is no reason for us to insert our own foolish ideas into this prophecy about the Millennium.

By the way, this is not a 'chip implant'. That's a foolish claim made by foolish teachers who do not know what they are talking about. Those who work in the 'chip implant' industry, know that these chips are not secure, easily cracked and cause health problems for quite a few people who have them inserted.

Please, just stick to what the Bible says and ignore foolish teachers with foolish ideas. The Bible speaks of a Mark, and that's what it will be.

In verses eleven through fifteen, we have the Great White Throne judgement and more opportunities for confusion. And trust me when I say that there are many fools who love to wrestle with such things. You should not. And, the questions that I ask here cannot be answered with authority.

Again, anyone who says otherwise is a fool.

So, here are a few questions that cannot be answered:

Does ANYONE written in the Book of Life appear here?
If not, then why is it opened?
What is the Sea that gives up its dead?
How is it different from Death and Hell (Hades) which give up their dead?
Why does Death and Hades get thrown into the Lake of Fire, but the dead from the Sea does not seem to be?

Many foolish pastors have stepped forward and proclaimed that they KNOW the answer to these questions. Yes, we might have some thoughts on what the answers might be, but to proclaim with confidence is the truest kind of foolishness - something that Satan would love for you to have.

It's not wrong to speculate. I've done a lot of that already. But, please make sure that you understand the difference between fact and supposition. We should rest upon the facts given to us, and trust God for that which we cannot understand.

In one sense, this is the most visually fantastic chapter in the Bible. New heavens. New earth. A vast shining cube of a city. There will no longer be oceans or seas. But, most fantastic of all...

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
- Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)

By contrast, these are those who do not make it into heaven:

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
- Revelation 21:8 (NKJV)

Those who are too cowardly to pay the price for faith in Christ, will not make it into heaven. Those who would deny Christ to save their worthless lives, will spend an eternity in the Lake of Fire. The same goes for all the rest in that list.

Now, later on, we will contrast that list with a different category of people - those who are thrown into outer darkness, outside the New Jerusalem. They will have weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, but will not be suffering as those in the Lake of Fire.

Then, we are introduced to the Bride of Christ that descends from heaven. Those who wish to speak of the Bride of Christ need to understand the dimensions:

The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.

- Revelation 21:16 (NKJV)

So, how many furlongs are in a mile? (A kilometer?)

Eight. (Or 4.97 in a km)

Okay, so let's do some calculations. Twelve thousand divided by eight is...

One thousand five hundred miles!

This means that this city is 1500 miles high, or a little over 2400 kilometers tall. By contrast, Low Earth Orbit is only 1200 miles high or 2000 kilometers.

To put it another way, it will be bigger than our Moon.

Now, how many people could you fit in this vast city?

Well, let's assume that each of us would need to live in grand style, and I would assume that we wouldn't need a space bigger than a cube that is one kilometer tall, wide and deep for each of us.

How many kilometer cubes would fit in this city?

Well, let's calculate it:

2400 x 2400 x 2400 = 13.8 billion cubes

You could fit almost 14 billion people in The New Jerusalem with lots and lots of room for everything.

Does this mean that there will have been 14 billion followers of God over the past 6000+ years?

Maybe so. Could be. After all, there are more people coming to faith in Christ each day, than ever in the history of Creation. And, at the same time, more are dying for their faith every year, than we have ever seen. And, if you remember that Revelation 7:9 spoke of a people without number, and 14 billion sounds awfully innumerable.

So yeah, 14 billion is possible. (And, it could be lots more.)

Now, there's another bunch of questions:

Why are there 12 gates?

Would we be going in and out of these gates?

What would we be doing that would make us want to do that?

Also, there's a wall that is 144 cubits high. We don't know which cubit John would have been referring to, so I'm just going to say that it's 20 inches long. That's only about 240 feet high. Compared to the size of New Jerusalem, that's almost nothing. But, there's another question.

There are 12 foundations for this wall around New Jerusalem. One foundation for each Apostle.

Who is the 12th?

Is it Matthias who was chosen by lot to take the position of the 12th Apostle that Judas Iscariot fell from? (Acts 1:26)

Or, is it Paul, who was chosen by Christ to be His Apostle?

I do not know the answer to that question. But, I suspect that it's Paul who is the 12th. We'll see.

There is more that we could talk about in this chapter, but I think that we've covered the important points. I think that we should move on to the last chapter, which has a very important message.

I am deeply disturbed by the sexualization of the concept of the 'Bride of Christ'. Most of the symbolism in the Bible refers to God's people as being invited to the wedding feast, not to a sexual union with Jesus. Furthermore, the references to 'betrothal' are far less well-defined, than what we see here in Revelation 21.

If you want to see the clearest definition of who the Bride of Christ is, read Revelation 21.

You don't need to discard the idea that the Church is in such a covenant relationship with Christ, that it is as strong as a marriage agreement. That does not conflict with what Revelation 21 says.

Revelation 22 opens with a description of a river of the water of life and the Tree of Life. The river flows out from the Throne and the Tree of Life seems to straddle the river, being described as "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river". This tree will have 12 fruits, but it will be the leaves of this tree that heal the nations. Interesting.

Now, when it is said of the servants at the throne, that they have the name of God on their foreheads...

...are these the 12 thousand from each tribe that are sealed in Revelation 7?

We can't be sure, but I would think that the answer is yes. But, you should not quote me on that. Or anyone else for that matter.

Jesus then says that He is coming quickly. Many have gotten themselves in trouble by defining that word by their own flawed understanding - the Preterists, for instance. We should defer to God and His definition of what 'quickly' means, and I don't think that we have a lot of time left to wait for His Return.

Now, this chapter offers us another puzzle that might explain why there are gates:

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
- Revelation 22:14-15 (NKJV)

You don't need to be a Christian for more than five minutes to understand that there is a Heaven and a Hell. And, I think that we have a pretty good idea of who goes where. For myself, I'm hoping to see all of you in heaven. But, there is this third place that Revelation 22 seems to refer to:

Outer Darkness

Jesus refers to this place in two parables in Matthew (Matthew 22:1-14 and Matthew 25:14-30), and Jude refers to apostates who are reserved to the "the blackness of darkness forever".

Is the area outside the New Jerusalem this Outer Darkness?

And, notice how both parables in Matthew identify those who were sent into outer darkness:

They are either at the wedding feast without a garment or they are an unprofitable servant.

Whereas in other parables, such as the one with the goats, they are thrown into the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is NOT Outer Darkness.

The difference seems to be that those in outer darkness are those who accepted Christ, but were disobedient and lost their reward.

Were their names written in the Book of Life and then blotted out? (Revelation 3:5)

I would assume that having your name blotted out of the Book of Life would send you to the Lake of Fire. But, maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe it sends you to outer darkness.

But, whatever the answer to these questions, we should all do our best to avoid doing anything that would deny us our place in the New Jerusalem. Far too many of us are sexually immoral and loving lies. We need to stop that before it is too late.

This brings us back to that Final Warning that is the biggest reason why I have written this series on the Book of Revelation:

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

- Revelation 22:18-19 (NKJV)

I have spent a lot of time in various eschatology forums and they are full of those who are cursed by God for doing what He warned us not to do. They are adding and taking away from Revelation, and it is a horrible thing to see.

Worse, when you provide evidence that demonstrates that they are in error, they twist Revelation even more to protect their foolish notions. There will be no pretrib rapture. There WILL be the redemption of Israel long before the Antichrist arrives. Preterism is a lie from the Roman Catholic Church. There will be a Millennium after the Antichrist is defeated. We are not in the Millennium, and it is not a 'symbol'.

It is time to stop the lies and start embracing the truth.

Lord willing, next week I will do a summary, with graphics (woo hoo!).

I truly hope that you’ll be ready for this

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. – Proverbs 22:3

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Keep this ministry alive with a donation.

Subscribe for free to Revelation Six and receive my articles in your inbox:

Thank you for reading Revelation Six. This post is public so feel free to share it.

And, read my two books:

https://whengogcomes.com/

https://ezekielsfire.com/

If you miss my rantings about geopolitics, idiocy, resource collapse and incompetent globalism, follow me on Twitter.

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Thank you for reading Revelation Six. This post is public so feel free to share it.

NEVILLE STEPHENS - THE ENGLISH TAFFY!!

Sunday 7 May 2023

Revelation Six - When The Four Horsemen Ride - Revelation 20-22: The Millennium, New Jerusalem And A Warning

Revelation 20-22: The Millennium, New Jerusalem And A Warning

Laying Out Revelation – Part 8

Revelation 20-22: The Millennium, New Jerusalem And A Warning

Laying Out Revelation – Part 8

Revelation 20-22: The Millennium, New Jerusalem And A Warning

Laying Out Revelation - Part 8

The Final Warning

Revelation 20

Those Who Reign With Christ

Who Lives During The Millennium

The Mark Is Not A Chip

Great White Throne Judgment

Revelation 21

The Bride of Christ

The Bride Of Christ Defined

Revelation 22

Outer Darkness

The Final Warning

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