The Final Judgment

Revelation 20:7-15

Immanuel – 8/7/22

Last week I made the case that we are living in the Millennial age. This means that right now Christ reigns as King of kings. Right now Satan is bound. Right now, through faith, have we been raised to life with Christ. Right now are we a kingdom of priests unto God. Right now are we living in the Millennium.

Today we will see that theme continue. But we will also see the things that are to happen at the end of the Millennium, the things that bring the Millennium to a close and consummate the new covenant.

Purpose

Open the meaning of John’s new covenant visions.

Read Revelation 20

Review

We need to start by reviewing just a few elements from the Millennial Age.

As we saw last week, the millennial reign of Christ is a vast span of time for which 1,000 years is only a symbolic number. And I showed you how Scripture consistently uses the number 1,000 to symbolize huge quantities, quantities far greater than the number 1,000.

This Millennial Age began with the binding of Satan. Surveying the New Testament, including Christ’s own words, we saw that at the cross Satan was disarmed, shamed, his works are destroyed, he is cast out, he is judged, he is fallen. Revelation 20 is saying the same thing, just with a different image: Christ has bound Satan.

Again, that happened at and through the cross. But remember, Revelation is compressing time into a single symbolic image, for the New Testament shows us that not only was Satan bound at the cross, but he is also begin progressively bound through the work of the church – through the church’s proclamation of the gospel on earth. Thus Paul writes:

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. -Romans 16:20

The gospel of Jesus Christ are the cords that bind Satan. Now living in the new covenant, in the millennial reign of Christ, where Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, we have been given the power to destroy the strongholds of the enemy. Like Jesus said,

“The gates of hell will not prevail against [the church].” -Matthew 16:18

Though things do not progress in a linear fashion – there are ups and downs, persecutions and proliferations – Scripture is teaching us about this progressing global conquest of the church. In my opinion, Paul writes one of the most important passages explaining the purpose of the church in this age:

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us.

-2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Paul is saying that Jesus is reconciling the whole world to Himself in and through the work of the church, because He has given the church the job of reconciling the world to Himself. If this is what the Son of God has purposed, then should we think God’s purposes will fail?

And this is why, in this present Millennial Age, we saints are likened to kings and priests. Through our proclamation of the gospel, we extend the authority of Christ over the nations and defeat the stronghold of the enemy; thus we rule with Him. Through our proclamation of the gospel, we lead the nations to God, and are thus priests with Christ.

But as we will see today, this in no way means that the whole world will be converted. There will always be those who live in rebellion to God. But during this Millennium, as Christ is directing His Body, will the Old Testament anticipation be fulfilled:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. -Habakkuk 2:14

I review all of this because it is critical for our understanding of today’s passage, for verses 7-10 are a continuation of the new covenant vision that began in verse 4. We are in a series of seven symbolic visions of the new covenant, each one beginning with, “Then I saw.”

Vision 1/19:11-16 = Christ is victorious over the world through the gospel. (past, present, future)

Vision 2/19:17-18 = The gospel defeats God’s enemies. (past, present, future)

Vision 3/19:19-21 = The gospel destroys the deceptions of Rome and the Jewish religious establishment. (past, though it was past, present, future for the original readers)

Vision 4/20:1-3 = The gospel binds Satan. (past, present, future)

Vision 5/20:4-10 = The saints enter their inheritance through the gospel. (past, present, future)

Vision 6/20:11-15 = The unrepentant are judged based on their rejection of the gospel. (future)

Vision 7 = The gospel brings heaven to earth. (past, present, future)

Today we are picking up in the middle of the 5th vision.

Read vs 7

Wheat and Tares

As already surveyed, the Millennial Age is synonymous with the New Covenant Age. As Christ works through His church, Satan will become more and more restricted, the walls of his prison will get tighter and tighter. But at the end of this vast span of time, at an hour that God has predetermined, He will allow Satan a brief moment of freedom.

Now, let’s think about why God might do this. First, let us recognize that throughout this entire millennial period, there is still a significant portion of humanity that has not submitted to Christ.

Jesus gave us a parable about how this would work.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’”

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

-Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus gave that parable to show us what the kingdom of heaven would look like!

And we live in that kingdom of heaven! In this new covenant age, in the Millennium, the wheat grows with the tares. Or simply put, until the final judgement, there will always be Christians and non-Christians.

But, during the Millennium the world is increasing coming under the dominion of Christ. The whole planet is looking more and more Christian, living by Christian principles, benefiting from the freedoms and abundance of a world transformed by the gospel.

In many ways, America is a small microcosm of what this emerging pattern might look like. This nation was founded on Christian principles and, though it is far from perfect, America has become the freest and most prosperous nation this planet has ever seen. There are many nations that have been blessed by America’s influence.

But in our comfortability a complacency has grown, and from that complacency has festered corruption and contempt: a corruption of the freedoms we enjoy a contempt for God. As a result, do we not see a sifting occurring before our own eyes?

The true followers of Christ are being separated from those who are products of a Christian culture. Perhaps the majority would self-identify as Christians, or their parents would, but in no way do they live with Christ as their King. And now it seems they are running as far and as fast as they can from Christ and from gospel living. It is a sifting, and it is becoming more and more obvious what are the things of God and the things of this world.

You can easily see how, in a Christianized world, this same pattern could emerge on a global scale. And when it emerges on a global scale, Christ is releasing Satan from the cords of the gospel. He is the One controlling these events. God is sifting the world, separating the wheat from the chaff. He is making it clear who are His and who are not.

Think of this as the full maturity of the wheat and the tares. And with this maturing, God is showing that His soon coming final judgments are wholly just.

And this will also reveal the utterly corrupted nature of Satan, who even after centuries of binding, is still ravenous to make war against God. For it is war that, once released, Satan immediately goes out to incite.

Read vs 7-8

As we saw last week, Satan is bound in his ability to deceive the nations. But now he deceives the nations to make war against God. Two nations are referenced specifically: Gog and Magog.

Once again, John is referencing the prophesies of Ezekiel. Ezekiel 38 and 39 are two long passages about Gog and Magog. Here’s how it begins:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” -Ezekiel 38:1-3

(Parenthesis)

I need to point out a modern-day misconception of Gog and Magog. Current Premillennial Dispensationalists associate Gog and Magog most particularly with the nation of Russia. Other nations can get mixed into that too.

The idea is that a great coalition of armies, led by Russia, will invade Israel for the final battle of Armageddon. But just at the climax of that battle Christ will return, defeat them, and establish His millennial reign.

And all of this, from those who claim to interpret the Bible literally. It’s time for me to say, this is far from a literal interpretation; for to be Premillennial is to believe that after Christ returns, then He will establish the millennium. But notice how Revelation 20 clearly states that this battle with Gog and Magog happens after the Millennium. Therefore, Revelation 20 is clearly not talking about Armageddon.

And I think the rationale for associating Gog and Magog with Russia is woefully poor exegesis.

In English, Ezekiel reads, “O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” The Hebrew word for chief is “rosh.” Some translators, rather dubiously, have translated this verse as “Gog, the prince of Rosh.” Sounds a lot like, “the prince of Russia.”

This view is so popular, and it has been repeated and repeated until many just assume Revelation is talking about Russia. But I think I can show you that it is definitively wrong. So I will take a moment to publicly eviscerate this view. I don’t usually go on the offensive in my sermons, but today I will.

First, there is not one shred of evidence that Rosh was a historical place; not in other Biblical texts nor in any ancient writing. In fact, Edwin Yamauchi, professor, ancient historian, author, and evangelical; writes that the name “Rus,” from which the name Russia is derived, entered history as a place near Kiev, during the Middle Ages, by the Vikings. This would have happened many long centuries after Ezekiel prophesied.

Secondly, the word, “rosh,” is used over 600 times in the Old Testament to mean head, chief, leader. The correct translation is that Gog was a leader or a prince; and not from an area called Rosh. “Rosh” as a region only happens when you really want to locate Russia in your ideas of the end times. It simply doesn’t come from Scripture.

Third, the idea that “rosh” is Russia was popularized by Dispensationalists, particularly American Dispensationalists, particularly American Dispensationalists living through the Cold War; and Russia as God’s final earthly enemy fit conveniently into Cold War tensions. That alone should alarm you. And how interesting that as Russia is at war with Ukraine, these ideas are again being sensationalized.

But sound associations, bad exegesis, and news headlines, should never be the basis for how we interpret Scripture. Neither Ezekiel nor John knows anything about Rosh or Russia, especially where their prophesies are concerned. Russia has plenty of problems as it is; let’s not allow bad Biblical interpretation contribute to them!

(Close Parenthesis)

So who then are Gog and Magog?

Without spending the necessary time to support it, Ezekiel’s prophesy is apocalyptic and idealized, and wrapped in Jewish symbols and conceptions. Yet the locations given by Ezekiel firmly place these enemies in Syria and Anatolia, modern-day Turkey. Ezekiel was prophesying about when the Greeks Seleucid Empire, coming from Syria and Anatolia, invaded and oppressed Israel. Yet the Seleucids were eventually defeated by the outnumbered Jews during the Maccabean Revolt.

The Jews celebrate this victory every year during Hanukkah.

Being well acquainted with Ezekiel and its fulfillments, John is picking up the imagery of Gog and Magog to symbolize another conflict; a conflict that he too wants to idealize. Meaning, John is making it cleaner and more artistic than how reality plays out, just as Ezekiel did. But John is very clearly giving us an entirely different picture, an entirely different scenario, though he uses the names Gog and Magog.

First notice, how differently Ezekiel and Revelation talk about Gog and Magog. In Ezekiel, Gog is a prince and he comes from the land of Magog. But in Revelation, Gog and Magog are both nations. See that in verse 8?

Secondly, verse 8 suggests that they do not come from just one place, like an ordinary nation would. Instead, these “nations” are at the four corners of the earth. This is an often-used Biblical idiom indicating they are spread far and wide, all over the earth.

It is as if Gog and Magog are everywhere, mixed in with the people of God. This accords very well to Jesus’ parable about the wheat and the tares. Gog and Magog are the scattered enemies of God spread throughout the whole garden of the earth.

As we have seen in a number of past sermons, to the Jews, armies from the north have become a symbol for both the enemies of God and the enemies of the people of God. John is employing Gog and Magog a idealized symbol of this same sort of enemy, but locating this enemy in the distant future.

For in the distant future, at the end of the Millennium, Satan’s aim will be to go out, shake unbelievers from their privileged position in a widespread Christian cultural, and gather them against God and His people.

See how this also accords with the next verses.

Read vs 9-10

Now we see that Satan leads Gog and Magog to come against the camp of the saints, the beloved city. Well, if we are tracking with the progression of Revelation, we certainly know that the city of Jerusalem, located in Palestine, is not the beloved city. Revelation has compared that city to a harlot, to Babylon, to Sodom and Egypt, among others.

No, the beloved city is the New Jerusalem. Remember, Jesus will write this name upon the foreheads of His saints.

“I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

-Revelation 3:12

As I hope to show you in the next chapter of Revelation, the New Jerusalem is a symbol for the church. For, as Paul writes,

The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. -Galatians 4:26

By the end of the Millennial Age, the church will have spread across the earth. It’s influence will be the greatest influence on earth. But Satan is released to gather earth’s unbelievers against the church. This is why we read in verse 9 that the enemies of God will march over the broad plain of the earth. The church is everywhere. Satan raises up unbelievers, everywhere they are located, to organize themselves against the church.

The book of Esther strongly foreshadows what will happen at the end of the Millennium. There we read that Haman deceives the king of Persia to destroy the Jews.

There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed. -Esther 3:8-9

The king gives permission to Haman, and Haman sends a decree that empowers anyone to kill any Jews, wherever these Jews be found. All of this will happen on a particular day. But as Esther unfolds the degree is overturned. When that particular day comes around, not only are the Jews saved, but those that would kill them are destroyed. It is a great and sudden reversal, and it is clearly orchestrated by God.

Again, I believe Esther is foreshadowing the events at the end of the Millennium. This time Satan is the deceiver, leading the people of Gog and Magog against the church. It appears that a massive persecution is about to explode upon the people of God. But at the last moment there is a miraculous intervention, and it is the enemies of God who are destroyed.

But in Revelation 20:9, we find a beautiful allusion to Isaiah. But in Isaiah it is another invading nation from the north: Assyria.

“The Lord is bringing up against [my people] the waters of the River…the king of Assyria and all his glory…its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us. -Isaiah 8:7,8-10

God is for His people. And if God is with us, who can be against us. Christ will shatter His enemies. He will burn up these tares and He will finally destroy Satan, just as Haman was put to the gallows.

The destruction of Gog and Magog is highly symbolic. Perhaps literal fire comes down from heaven and destroys them all, but I think something else is happening here. And I grant, I move into some speculation here, though I think it has some merit.

I think this is the bodily return of Christ. When Christ returns, He returns in His glorified state, blazing like the sun, a consuming fire. For every living believer, they will be raptured and immediately transformed. Like John writes elsewhere,

We know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. -1 John 3:2

Christ’s return raptures the church and glorifies them. But in that same moment, what happens to those who do not believe? I think it is their death, for what will be seen is the unrestrained glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And God Himself said,

“You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” -Exodus 33:20

The sight of the unfettered glory Christ will transform every believer perfectly into His image. Conversely, I believe that every unbeliever will see Christ’s face and immediately perish. Jesus is the fire that comes down out of heaven and consumes the adversary; for our God is a consuming fire.

And in this moment, all the lies of Satan will be exposed. At the cross Jesus had already judged the Devil. This is where He carries out Satan’s sentence: death, eternal. Christ finally and forever, crushes the head of the Serpent as He casts him into hell.

And then John sees another vision.

Read vs 11-13

The Great White Throne

Jesus is the One who sits upon the white throne. For God has given Him the authority to be the Judge.

Peter said, [Jesus] commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. -Acts 10:42

And Jesus said about Himself, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” -Matthew 25:31-32

Jesus is the one who will judge humanity.

To do this, He will gather every human soul that has ever lived, as verse 13 indicates. The sea that once flooded the wicked of the earth, the sea that once swallowed Pharoah’s army, gave up its dead; as well as Death and Hades. Christ is shaking loose all the places that may contain the dead.

This is the resurrection.

“And [the Father] has given [the Son of God] authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

-John 5:27-29

As Jesus says, He will resurrect the dead and judgment immediately follows. The unrepentant are raised from their graves, but their life is a shadow. They are corrupted and pathetic, aberrations of what humans were created to be. Thiers is a resurrection unto judgment.

See how verse 12 works? If a person’s name is not found in the book of life, then the other books are brought forth. These are the books that record a person’s life: every deed, every thought, every inclination of the heart.

Know that these books do not literally exist. These are symbols, showing us that God’s knowledge of you, and how you have spent your life, is exhaustive. He has seen you in every moment, even in the dark moments, the moments you thought you were alone. He knows it all, and He will not forget.

Remember how Adam and Eve, after eating the forbidden fruit, immediately tried to hide themselves from God? Verse 11 said that the earth and sky fled away – a reference to Psalm 114. It conveys how utterly exposed are the unrepentant before the penetrating eye of Christ. There is nowhere to go, nothing to hide behind.

And as Romans tells us, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” -Romans 3:10-12

Every single person who is judged according to their deeds will perish. Their deeds prove their worthlessness. With such exhaustive evidence provided, all will see the justice of Christ as the unrepentant are thrown into the lake of fire. Though they have died, they will go on dying for endless ages.

But those who have lived by faith in Jesus will come under no such judgment.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

-John 5:24

There is no judgment for the Bride of Christ. The names of the elect are all written in the Lamb’s book of life. For them, no books recording their deeds are brought forth. To be written in the Lamb’s book of life is to have the life of Jesus reviewed instead of your own. It is to have your life hidden in Christ.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. -Colossians 3:3-4

Brothers and sisters, we will not be judged by our own deeds, but by Christs. All our unrighteous deeds were already paid for on that cross 2,000 years ago. When Christ appears on His white throne there will not be a shred of fear in your heart, but only abounding praise and worship.

And once the judgement of the dead is complete, then are defeated those ancient foes, Death and Hades. This signals the end of history.

Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

-1 Corinthians 15:24-26

As the church proclaims the testimony of Jesus in all the nations, Christ is subjecting the world to Himself. Progressively, through the millennia, Christ’s enemies are defeated through conversion; and if not conversion, then theirs will be the final judgment. At the end of it all, Jesus will finally destroy death when He raises the saints to life eternal.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting?”

-1 Corinthians 15:53-55

O how important it is to come to Christ today! He paid the price for sins, come to Him that you may have life! Repent and believe in the gospel. Give you life to Christ, and He will give His life to you!

Let’s be clear: of all the things we have seen in Revelation, only today have we encountered the things that we await: the bodily return of Christ, the resurrection, and the final judgment. These have not happened. They are a part of the new covenant, though they are the consummation of the new covenant. Everything else in Revelation has occurred or is occurring in some measure.

Next week we will see the final of John’s seven new covenant visions. It is when heaven comes to earth.