Earth’s Golden Age (Revelation 20:1-10)

World Peace. When you see the term, what comes to mind?  My wife said a Miss America pageant with one of the contestants expressing her greatest hopes. All kidding aside, many social, political and scientific movements have dreamed and envisioned an earth without war and conflict.

• Woodrow Wilson started the League of Nations in hopes of building a world without war.
• Lyndon Johnson tried to stamp out poverty with an enhanced welfare system.  
• Biosphere 2 was created to be a self-sustained Garden of Eden where vegetation could be grown apart from the outside world.  
• Seastead, an island off of California, is seeking to reinvent a life apart from government intrusion.  
• Communism had the goal of establishing a world of peace and harmony with no poverty.

All of these efforts have failed, some at disastrous levels. We will see why these experiments have always failed and where the true source of world peace will come. It is in the earth’s future golden age known as the Millennium.

The Abyss: Satan in Lockup

The Bible tells us that when Christ returns to earth he will fight the battle of Armageddon. (Revelation 16:16) You’ve probably heard of Armageddon, the popular Bruce Willis movie. But what is the biblical Armageddon? It is a hill on the plain of Megiddo, located in the northwestern region of Israel.  The plain is seven miles wide and twenty miles long. Thirty-four historic battles have been fought there.  Napoleon, when seeing this plain, exclaimed that it was the most perfect and natural battlefield in which armies could meet.  It is there that Christ will rapidly overthrow the forces of evil. He will then take the architect of all evil–Satan–and lock him up.

Here is how it is described.  

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

Revelation 20:1

Notice that this angel which does this is not named. It is not an archangel but appears to be an ordinary–rank and file-angel.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him…

Revelation 20:2-3

What is the abyss?  It is like a holding tank or jail which currently holds the worst of the worst demonic powers. The John Gottis, Al Capones, and Osama Bin Ladens of the spiritual underworld go there. 

Why is Satan placed in the abyss?       

…to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.

Revelation 20:3^a

But at the end of v.3 we encounter something very troubling.

After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Revelation 20;3^b

Shockingly, he will be set free for a short period of time. Why?  It would be like us catching a terrorist and then letting him out–why not just keep him there? Hold that question.  

What Happens in the Millennium?

Picture this: Christ has returned and is ruling. Satan is behind bars, so to speak. What will we do? Some of you may say, “I don’t know about this heaven and eternity jazz. I don’t get too excited about floating on clouds and strumming polished golden harps. Look at what the key activity during this time will be.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.

Revelation 20:4

The key activity is to judge, which means to rule and reign. This will involve leadership, setting direction, achieving goals, coordinating activity. The Bible teaches that we will have a central place in God’s governmental structure on the earth and rebuilding this broken world.  Let’s look at some scriptures:

But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever–yes, for ever and ever….Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.

Daniel 7:18 , 27 

What is this reign?  Revelation does not say what the reign of Christ will be like.  It has already been elaborated in great detail in the Old Testament.  The social and political peace that the Jewish people were expecting in a Messiah at the time of Jesus is what he will bring at his return.  The verses we are going to look at were the ones they were hanging on to at the first coming of Christ.

Here are some of the characteristics:   

Characteristic # 1: Nature will not cause misery. 

How many of you have ever suffered from Poison Oak or Poison Ivy? No more.  How many of you pick blackberries?  You job will be a lot easier.  Thorn free. 

Instead of the thorn bush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed.

Isaiah 55:13

The curse that plagues nature will be gone. Along with this there will be a regular production of crops and food.  No more years of a poor harvests. The seasons and weather will work in a beautiful harmony.   

Characteristic # 2: The life span of people will increase.

Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth; he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

Isaiah 65:20

There is death but no more miscarriages, and the tragic loss of loved ones due to illness will be greatly reduced. But notice it says there is still death.

 Characteristic # 3: Human life and animal life will be in sync. 

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.

Isaiah 11:6-8

There will be no dog bites, bee stings, or shark attacks. Further, animals will not prey on each other.

 Characteristic # 4: There will be no physical infirmities.

Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.  

Isaiah 35:4-6

Characteristic # 5: Strong social distinctions will be removed.

Revelation talked about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer will become more pronounced. It is amazing today that the ability for social stratification has increased to levels never known before. Bill Gates or Elon Musk is worth more money than the poorest 160 million people in the world’s population.  It would take more than 2,000 years for the average teacher to make what the highest paid professional athlete makes with a seven year contract.  In the thousand year reign of Christ those types of strong social distinctions will be no more.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,‍ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—                                                            

Isaiah 61:1-3 (See Isaiah 2:1-4, 9:6-7, 11:1-5, 42:1-4)   

Characteristic # 6: Christ will be the center of worship and rulership of the entire earth.  (Isaiah 14:1-2, Jeremiah 33:15-17)                                                                          

He will be in Jerusalem.  His lordship will be supreme. And he will be in high command.  Every day will be a day of intense discovery and adventure.  Every day will offer a new reason to worship.  This will be life lived to the max.   

Let me throw you a curve ball.  What I am describing here is not the new heaven and the new earth where time will be no more, and eternal perfection will be permanently sealed. That is described in chapters 21-22.   We saw moments ago that there will be a rebellion.                  

Satan Unchained    

When Christ comes to the earth, and those who come with him, will have new bodies that will never die and be free of sin.  There will be people who have endured through the tribulation and remained faithful to Christ. They, unlike the returning saints, will not have new and glorified bodies. Those people will carry on and have human decedents.  They will have children, and their children will have children.  They will repopulate and rebuild this devastated earth.  These children will be born in sin and will have to make a decision to follow Christ–receive his salvation and be born of the Holy Spirit.  Just as people did not bow the knee at his first coming, so there will be people who do not bow at this second period of time.                                         

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth…to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.                            

Revelation 20:7-10

In this rebellion, they were smoked right away. 

Why this rebellion?        

It will be decisively shown that the great human need is a spiritual heart transplant.  

 After this rebellion it will show that you can take the boy out of the gutter, but you can’t take the gutter out of the boy.   No matter how good our circumstances are we are still motivated toward evil unless the Holy Spirit changes our heart.  The solution to the problem of the human condition is not a change of environment.  This is why Jesus stated that we must be born again. We need inward change. It is interesting that the majority of people who win a lottery go bankrupt. More money made their financial problems worse. This is the reason why grand experiments to bring paradise to earth will always fail. Our main problems are not surrounding us but in us.

It will be decisively shown that hell is eternal because those who go there have an incurable wickedness. 

Satan is unleashed.  After a thousand years what does he do?  The same old stuff.  With a thousand years to think and reflect and change he does not.  He has an incurable wickedness.  Given the perfect conditions and perfect knowledge of Christ, people still choose against him and follow Satan. It will show that hell is not a place of torture. Torture is against your will. People will go there because they made the choice to reject Christ. 

Pastor Tony Evans tells this story, “In 1929, a man named George Wilson robbed a mail carrier and killed him. He was sentenced to die but received a presidential pardon. To the shock of the Oval Office, he rejected the pardon. The president of the United States had set him free. George Wilson said no. The case went to the Supreme Court and the issue was simply this: If the president of the United States gives you a pardon, aren’t you pardoned? Can you reject a pardon given by a sovereign? Chief Justice Marshall rendered the decision. It simply read: ‘A pardon rejected is no pardon at all. Unless the recipient of the pardon accepts the pardon, then the pardon cannot be applied.’”

Those who reject the pardon of Christ do so completely and totally. God will give people over to their wills.