Revelation 20,21

The Millennium

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Matthew 18:29   “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.”

 

Matthew 18: 30   “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay for the debt.

 

Matthew 18:31   When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

 

Matthew 18:32   “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelledall that debt of yours because you begged me to.

 

Matthew 18:33   Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’

 

Matthew 18:34   In anger his master turned him over to the fellow jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

 

Matthew 18:35   “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

 

The bible is perfectly clear about the nature of God’s justice: Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot and bruise for bruise.

 

Profound statement:

 

The wicked will not die in the flames of hell until justice is served and every ounce of restitution that needs to be extracted has been extracted.

 

God is adamant about restitution because He knows that sorrow for our wrong doing (repentance) begins with a compelling desire to restore the damage that we caused.

 

There is no true repentance from sin without a willingness to make restitution.

 

Luke 19:2   A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was the chief tax collector and was wealthy.

 

Luke 19:3   He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd.

 

Luke 19:4   So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

 

Luke 19:5   When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

 

Luke 19:6   So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

 

Luke 19:7   All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

 

Luke 19:8   But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of everything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

 

Luke 19:9   Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.

 

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Zacchaeus became truly sorry for his cheating and made a fourfold restitution.

 

Zacchaeus demonstrated the law of love by restoring what he had selfishly taken. This is why Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.”

 

OK, what does all of this has to do with “reigning with Christ for a 1,000 years?”

 

1 Corinthians 6:2   Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?

 

1 Corinthians 6:3   Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!”

 

During the 1,000 years, the saints will sit in judgment with Jesus and determine the appropriate amount of restitution to be extracted from each wicked person and each angel.

 

In billions of cases, the victims will pass judgment upon their attackers.

 

Jesus grants the victims of painful experiences to determine how much pain their attacker must endure.

 

Keep in mind; this will not be an arbitrary sentencing.

 

No, God’s laws are never arbitrary. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, etc. So, the saints will sit in judgment with Christ --- not to determine the eternal life or eternal death for anyone – because Jesus Himself decided that in the pre-Advent judgment BEFORE the Second Coming.  

 

Rather, the saints will reign with Christ in determining the amount of restitution that has to be extracted from each wicked person.

 

Romans 12:19   Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.   

 

One last point:

 

Look at this verse again:

 

Revelation 20:4   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 the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

 

John affirms God’s justice in this verse. The martyrs of the fifth seal will sit in judgment on their murderers who killed them for no other reason than demonic hatred. How wonderful of God!

 

Galatians 5:22   says, “Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”     

 

Prophecy #10 continues with verse 7 through 10. Let’s read them.

Revelation 20:7   When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison,

 

Revelation 20:8   and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth – Gog and Magog – to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.

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