Vision of
the Church in the Millennium
Consummation
of God’s Purpose (20:4-6;
20:11 - 22:5)
Stage Setting: The Church
enthroned with Christ (20:4-6)
I saw thrones on which were seated
those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of
those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of
the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not
received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and
reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to
life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second
death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and
will reign with him for a thousand years.
Luke
22:28-30 You are those who have stood by me in my
trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one
on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
This
thousand years is a time that was prophesied by Paul:
1 Cor
15:25 For
he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
1 Cor 15:24 Then the end will
come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed
all dominion, authority and power.
The fulfillment of God’s Sevenfold plan (20:11-22:5)
Scene 1 The Old Heaven and the Old Earth
disappear (20:11)
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it.
Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
Old
heaven and old earth are condemned and done away with. They are judged as not worthy because they
were places where sin and evil dwelt.
Satan sinned in heaven and as we have seen the battles of earth have
been taking place in heaven at the same time.
Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Scene 2 The Last Judgment (20:12-15)
And I saw the dead, great and
small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was
opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what
they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were
in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person
was judged according to what he had done. Then
death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. (Death and
Hades will be no more!) The lake of fire
is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of
life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Two books - one based on works
and one based on grace - Ps 62:12 Surely you will reward each person according to
what he has done. Ps 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life and not
be listed with the righteous. Mark
8:38 If
anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with
the holy angels.")
(John 5:28-30 "Do not be
amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear
his voice and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those
who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
John 5:24-25 "I tell
you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal
life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.)
Scene 3 The New Heaven and the New Earth (21:1)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new
earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was
no longer any sea.
(Isa 43:19 See, I am doing
a new thing! Now it springs up; do you
not perceive it? I am making a way in
the desert and streams in the wasteland.)
Scene 4 The New Jerusalem (21:2-8)
I saw the Holy City, the new
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully
dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will
live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and
be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more
death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed
away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink
without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will
inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the
cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those
who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — their place will be in
the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (prepared as a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband - how is she dressed? In her white
wedding gown, looking more beautiful than on any other day of her life where
everyone’s eye is on her - She is dressed in love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control -
When the bride shows up, God’s purpose in creation is complete. He has presented the perfect bride to
Himself.)
Scene 5 Displaying and Measuring the New
Jerusalem (21:9-21)
One of the seven angels who had the
seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed
me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with
the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel,
like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,
and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the
twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the
north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had
twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb.
The angel who
talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and
its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He
measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and
as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits
thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of
jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the
city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first
foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth
emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the
eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and
the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates
were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the
city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
(Compared to the New heaven and new
earth 100% of everything about the old heaven and the old earth were considered
unworthy and cast into the eternal lake of fire - except that which was saved
from destruction for whom this glorious new heaven is prepared = THE CHURCH!!!
Not you individually - us collectively - the church)
Scene 6 The City’s Illumination (21:22-27)
The Splendor of God and of the Lamb
I did not see a temple in the city,
because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not
need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light,
and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of
the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be
shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will
be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does
what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the
Lamb's book of life.
Come closer - the temple is gone -
those around the throne are not mentioned - God’s full revealed presence is all
that is seen - by who? Those in the book of life = THE CHURCH
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