Revelation 20

The Thousand Years

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

Revelation 20:4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

I have no expectation of being one of those who died and came to life and stayed alive to rule with Christ for a thousand years. What I would like to comment on is the life of those who lived under Christ’s reign during their lives.

Isaiah 65:20-23 English Standard Version

No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them.

If the prophecy of Isaiah 65 is a description of life under Christ in His 1,000 year reign, then those born will live long enough to realize that Christ and those that rule over them never age and never die. They will get to see what the end result will be for them after they die if they remain faithful to their King Jesus Christ.

Why would any of them risk that by falling to the temptations of Satan once he is released after those 1,000 years?

John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

We fall into that second category, having not seen Jesus with our physical eyes. We see ourselves as being faithful and blessed. We are tested yes but not yet as we might be if we should live during the great tribulation. We tell ourselves we want to be like those in Revelation 20:4 but we have not been tested like that. Yet!

Hebrews 1 English Standard Version

The Supremacy of God’s Son

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Hebrews is unique in the New Testament for a couple of reasons. The first as I see it is that the author is not identified. I am not here to argue that point. The second reason is more important.

We who were never Jewish do not know how it feels to be Jewish and this letter to Jews gives us a glimpse of what their thinking might look like. It will never make us feel like a Jew, nothing can make us experience that feeling. What we can do from reading Hebrews is glimpse into the ceremonial aspect and expectations about the priesthood, the sacrifices and the hope they had before Jesus came into the world and changed everything.

This is literally a before and after look into the life of Jewish conversion.

Let us give credit to the author, no matter who it is, that they have a better understanding of what it was to be Jewish and what it means to be converted.

Note in the opening verses the attention to detail so as not to name the Son of God but to rather express Him in terms of identity. Specifically in Jesus being the exact imprint of His nature and His power. Only after indicating God’s glory as His radiance do we hear about the ritual of purification.

It is the Son of God, not by name, that makes atonement for sin via the ritual sacrifices that the Jews of those days were totally familiar with. Only after that does the author reveal that the name is not only superior but inherited. The name they had been waiting for was a birthright indicating that the earthly lineage had to be right, be born, and inherit the name as the anointed one that was promised, The Christ. What they wanted was a King to rule on earth. That time is still to come. This is the church age, not the Millennial Kingdom when Christ shall reign on earth.

Revelation 20

The Thousand Years

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.