Another typical morning with the guys – (This took place several years ago.)
The “leader” of the group (Just for fun, I will refer to him as “Bob.”) finally sits down and says,
“I would like everyone to look at Revelation 22:3.”
He continues to say,
“I am having a problem with this.”
So, with no further explanations, we all jump in.
I will give you the passage from the ASV:
(1)
“Then
I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2)
He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the
Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; (3)
and
he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the
thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be
released for a little while.”
(Rev
22:1-3
NKJV)
Let's camp here for a moment.
I would not have put forth such a discussion without giving some attention to not only the context of the passage, but also why it was bothering me. (To be honest, I cannot remember if “Bob” was able to elaborate, with reason, what was bothering him about the passage at hand.)
Some might read Revelation 22:3 and rejoice over what appears to be a perfect environment where Satan finally gets locked up for a thousand years, and is unable to torment or drive the nations to sin. (As a disappointing side note, I often imagine that the thousand years will fly by only to see Satan released, even if momentarily, to deceive the nations.)
Assuming I was foolish enough to focus on verse three alone, I would be quickly confronted by several unidentified characters. The first of which is “he”, and he happens to be casting “him” (the second character) into the bottomless pit. This action prevents this “him” from deceiving the nations for a thousand years. I suppose I could assume that this kind of action from “him” has been causing destruction and havoc before the thousand years; and, as we see at the end of the paragraph, the deception that this “him” pushes on people reemerges to deceive the nations once again – for a very short time.
The cast of characters in this verse.
“he” is Jesus.
We typically see references to Jesus and God capitalized. Since the Revelation is a revealing of Jesus, then “he”, in this case, is rightly presumed to be Jesus.
Revelation 1:1 tells us that the entire book reveals Jesus, the Son of God.
“him”, which we saw as we began reading Revelation 22:3, is Satan.
Satan has had many names in scripture, such as the dragon, the serpent, the beast, and the deceiver, just to name a few.
And finally, the nations.
We can understand that the nations have been part of the narrative long before the thousand years and remain present during the thousand years. It is these people who are deceived for a brief time at the end of the thousand years.
One of the greatest sources of trouble for the Christian community is the nations.
Who are we talking about when we speak of the Gentiles or the nations?
The Gentiles and the nations are, for the most part, synonymous.
The Jewish community considers anyone outside of Judaism to be a Gentile.
I suppose, by Jewish standards, we who have been grafted into God's family are all still a subset of the nations; thankfully, that is not the case.
Any Jewish follower of Christ is now a part of the family of God and an aspect of the bride of Christ.
The Messianic followers will be caught up when Jesus returns (soon) to collect His bride.
Caught is the Greek word harpazo.
Do a word search and you will NOT find the word rapture in our common bible translations; you may, however, find the Latin word rapio or rapturo; and, depending upon who is doing the talking, you will find that the word rapio or rapturo is transliterated into rapture. For the skeptic,s the rapture is therefore an aspect of our scriptural basis for being gathered to Him.
A synonym for harpazo is paralambánō (It is the Strong's Greek number 3880), and means to receive up. It is also seen as snatched, plucked, seized, and taken.
Let me take this one confusing step further. If my thoughts about this passage are wrong, then is it possible that much of what I think about God is wrong also. Openness like this may surprise you, but I have found many of my deeply rooted ideas about God to be wrong, and this realization has changed my perception of God.
I have actually found God to be more merciful than I ever thought possible.
Consider Jonah. Jonah committed suicide in an effort to avoid doing what God asked him to do. (Read the story!) Sorry if the word suicide gives you grief, but there really is no other way to look at the narrative about Jonah.
Choosing to run from God, an impossible task, the small vessel upon which he has purchased passage is about to sink in the Mediterranean Ocean; the wind and the waves were such that they were about to break the boat into pieces, and in that case, everyone would die. The crew takes extraordinary measures to survive, to no avail, and it seems that all will soon be lost. The crew casts lots, much like throwing dice, to see if they figure out if someone is to blame, and the dice point to Jonah. Jonah informs the crew that he is the reason for their dire situation and that they should throw him into the deadly ocean. Jonah demands that they throw him into the waves, and they would be saved. Notice that he did not have the backbone to do it himself. After much argument, the crew did as he said. Jonah disappears out of sight and under the water. Moments later, the storm goes silent, and the waves eventually cease.
Having been thrown into a raging sea, where is Jonah?
God had prepared a great fish to swallow him whole. This is NOT a fairy tale, and there is a fish in the Mediterranean capable of swallowing a human. But we humans, lacking oxygen, black out after 15 seconds and go brain dead after four minutes; therefore, Jonah is now dead. Three days later (that is one whole day and any part of two other days), the fish, at God's command, vomits Jonah on the beach nearest to Nineveh (which happens to be over 300 miles away, inland.) That means that God brought Jonah back to life on the shore.
Jonah went ahead and completed his mission. The Ninevites repented, and God relented (for a time.)
What was the last thing we heard from Jonah?
“I knew you would be merciful to them.”
God
operated outside of Jonah’s mental constructs of judgment and
punishment.
Easy now, do not think for a moment that God withdrew
his judgment. God merely withheld His judgment, and
Nineveh was eventually turned into a pile of rubble and rightfully so, for they were a vile, brutal people, and Jonah knew this.
I recognize that the idea of God shaking your deep-seated religious foundations scares many of you, and you may think it blasphemous to even consider the possibility of shaking your foundation because you think contemplating scripture from a logical point of view might make you turn away from God, and then what will you turn to?
If your confidence in God is that unstable, then you need to ask yourself what your foundation is built upon.
Is your faith built upon truth? (An understanding of truth requires that you spend time in God's word with the purposeful intention of finding out who He is.) Or fiction? (things you heard, merely accepted, and never determined to research these things – in the scriptures, for yourself.) If that is the case, then let me remind you that Jesus told us that our beliefs and works will be tested in the fire, and the junk will be burned up.
Peter talks about your faith being tested by fire so that, in time, you will be filled with an inexpressible joy. I like that idea, but the question, I suppose, is when?
1Pe 1:6-8 NASB “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, (7) so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (8) and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,”
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the solid foundation that he laid, in and for them. Some, having come after, tried to lay other foundations. Of course, these others did not tell you they had every intention of corrupting your faith and leading you away from the freedom we find when we put our faith in Christ.
1Co 3:11-15 NASB “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. (12) Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, (13) each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. (14) If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. (15) If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Paul describes these faulty foundations as wood, hay, and straw - things that will burn. Isn't that an intriguing thought?
Someday soon, we, as followers of Christ, will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ (the Bema seat), where those things that are of no value in the heavenly kingdom will be burned up.
What if you could, in a sense, burn up some of that junk down here, for example: get your thinking hat back on straight, and start giving the people around you reasons to live for the King.
The discussion with Bob was far too brief, with no real answers, as the good Doctor of Humanities showed up.
The questions coming from Bob were effectively two.
The minor question, based upon his American Standard version: What is the tense when it says, “the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
I am not a grammarian, so bear with me.
Since the “trees” - plural, are a future event, then I could assume that it is a future tense reference. However, the actions and results from the usage of the leaves are in the present tense, once we get there.
Our resident grammarian, an expert on Greek and a person quite knowledgeable about church history, expounded on the tense (it is present tense, by the way).
I suppose the more logical questions might be:
What are the parameters that control our usage of these leaves?
And when do we get to use them?
The major question is: “Why do the nations need healing if we then live in heaven, a perfect, sin free place?”
I had been looking at end times events (Eschatology) for some time now and thought I had it clear, so I responded immediately with, “because you are not looking at heaven at this point.”
To be honest, I had not looked at the passages in some time, even though I had opened to them.
Bob's caustic response was, “Yes! We are, look at the previous verses in chapters 20 and 21.” So I did.
- Rev 20:3 NASB and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
Why even talk about the actions that Jesus takes – throwing Satan into the abyss, with the specific purpose of NOT allowing him to deceive the nations, unless the nations are an active part of the thousand years?
- Rev 20:4 NASB Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
If, as one of the false teachers that I have known, stated, “only Christians enter the millennial reign,” then who are these that are seated upon thrones judging, applying their judgments upon?
Well, it is certainly NOT Christians, as all the judgment that we deserved was placed upon Jesus, on the cross. That only leaves the nations. It is assumptive to think that the nations are stripped of their free choice, or that they have Christianity imposed upon them; they are, however, required to participate in the feast of booths, but you can submit to that demand without having a change of heart.
- Rev 22:14 NASB Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.
Obviously, there are those who do have a change of heart; they are called blessed, and they have the right to the tree of life and NOW have entrance into the city of God.
- Rev 22:15 NASB Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Since verse 14 is speaking of those who, by washing their robes, making them white, gain entrance into the city of God, then the term “outside” is referring to those from among the nations, living outside the city walls.
While verse 14 makes it distinct that some have a change of heart, verse 15 makes it clear that others do not change; they are known as dogs, sorcerers, immoral persons, murderers, idolaters, and those who love and practice lying. Here then is your definition of the nations, and this is what they continue to do, without Satan driving them, throughout the 1000 years.
I opted to try to sort out this concept of why healing would be needed in heaven, or not.
If I am wrong, and it appeared, lacking solid scriptural backing, that I might have been, then I admit to you that I hate being wrong. (There, I got that out of my system.) The worst part of this, and I think this is what was bothering Bob, is that suddenly things were not what he visualized them to be.
Heaven does not seem to be this la-la land where we dance around aimlessly in fields of clover. Life, for many, seems to just keep going on. This statement, in my mind, applies primarily to the nations.
To be honest, this concept of heaven is throwing me for a loop as well. What is even worse, this is not the first time I have seen something like this, which challenges almost everything I have come to understand (from Sunday School) about heaven.
I thought I had this one figured out. Fortunately, I had to leave early because the good Doctor of Humanities was now heavily involved and had us chasing rabbits down endless trails, and I hate wasting precious time.
The day had moved on into evening when, like a light bulb coming on, it occurred to me that I had read a description of the millennial kingdom that speaks of the city of God coming down from God, composed of the Saints. Key here is that upon Satan’s release after the thousand years he deceives those nations, and they try to do battle with God and the Saints of God. This battle is the Gog and Magog war that ends rather quickly with God destroying them, and then comes the white throne judgment.
I gather you figured out that this is not a three-minute discourse.
If I only focus on the timeline account in Revelation 22, I might miss something here.
Open your Bibles, if you haven't as yet, and look at Revelation 20:1-2. I am giving it to you in segments.
(NKJV) “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) He (that angel) laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;”
This is the beginning of the thousand-year period, which we call the millennial reign.
The man who led the Monday morning men's bible study at the church I grew up in had this to say about whom we would find in the millennial kingdom. (These are some of the things that made him a false teacher.)
He claimed that:
Only Christians enter the 1000-year reign.
No Jews would enter the millennial kingdom.
And no one from the nations would gain entrance.
The only way you can hold these absurd positions is to cease to read what the Bible says, cling tightly to religious traditions and false teachings, and allow the Devil more space in your head and heart than you give to the Holy Spirit.
Allow me to destroy these positions.
First, “Only Christians get to enter the 1000 year reign.”
Here are four verses that speak to the fact that the nations are still alive during the thousand-year reign, all of which I previously elaborated on.
Rev 20:3 NASB and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.
Rev 20:4 NASB Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Rev 22:14 NASB Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 NASB Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
I made the statement that this is not heaven. That is NOT exactly true, because for the followers of Christ, eternity will have begun with the catching away of the Church.
A logical approach as to whether the earth, during the thousand years, is heaven and nothing further needs to happen, is wrapped up in the fact that the earth has NOT burned up, plays an important role in this thought. One of the major methods of purifying the earth is to burn the planet with fire, and that cannot happen until after the final, great white throne judgment. I say this because it is after this judgment that there will be no air-breathers left to concern the heart of God.
The second pathetic point of view is this: “No Jews would enter the millennial kingdom.”
Let's start by pointing out the obvious – the 144,000 Jewish virgins who take on the role of being Jewish evangelists exclusively to the Jews will enter the millennial kingdom, with no restrictions. I wonder why that is? The answers are rather obvious.
Rev 7:3-4 NASB saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads." (4) And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
Continue reading in Revelation 7, and you will find that many, due to the 144,000, will wash their robes and, because they are slaughtered for their testimony, will stand before the throne.
Ezekiel chapter five, twice, speaks of one third surviving the onslaughts of God's wrath. It seems obvious that one-third of Israel will walk alive into the thousand-year reign.
Ezekiel 5:2 NASB "One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
Ask yourself, why would you unsheathe a sword behind those survivors? The answer is because He protects them as they enter the 1000-year reign.
Ezekiel 5:12 expands the parameters of God's destruction.
Ezekiel 5:12-13 NASB 'One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. (13) 'Thus My anger will be spent, and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the LORD, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.
If you understand basic math, then you know that you can only split something into thirds three times. So events like burning in fire and dying by plague or famine may be overlapping descriptions of death. One-third survives.
Look at the words John dictated in the Revelation.
'But
you have a
few people in Sardis who
have not soiled their garments;
and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 'He
who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not
erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name
before My Father and before His angels.
'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches.'
(Rev 3:4-6 NASB)
So Jesus is NOT merely speaking to followers from the church in Sardis, He is talking to anyone who overcomes and confesses His name.
Can you read something like Isaiah 14:1 and still say that NO Jew will enter the millennial kingdom? I would think not.
Isaiah 14:1 NAS95 When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
By the way, when does this take place? There is only one time period where strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob, and that is during the 1000 years.
God, and by extension, Jesus, has promised to restore Israel to their land. Some might say, He already did that in 1948 when Israel became a nation. Then why is America, of all people, working so hard to split Jerusalem?
Deuteronomy 30:3-5 NAS95 then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. (4) "If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. (5) "The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
Look at Isaiah 25.
Isaiah 25:8-9 NASB He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. (9) And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
Where does this transpire?
Only after the seven years of wrath, as they, the Jews, enter the millennial kingdom.
Have you ever said, What is it that possesses those people to do that? The answer is they have a veil over their eyes and therefore refuse to see. Isaiah 25:7 tells us that the veil is lifted off of everyone, and yes, it includes the Jews.
Isaiah 25:7 NASB And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.
Critics, and there are always critics, will say something like, What mountain. The answer to the challenge is this:
Isaiah 24:23 BSB The moon will be confounded, and the sun will be ashamed; for the LORD of Hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders with great glory.
And finally, the last neanderthal like statement: “No one from the nations would gain entrance into the millennial kingdom.
Merely consider this aspect once again.
Revelation 22:2 NAS95 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
If you take the time to read the context surrounding this passage, then you would understand that the nations are there, and available to have these leaves applied. But since we have already covered this last aspect in great detail, and even though there are many more passages to back up this understanding, I will refrain from pursuing it any further.
The admonitions to the seven churches, the church age, begin in Revelation chapter one and come to an end with Revelation 4:1. As you can see, Revelation 4:1 declares, “After these things.”
Rev 4:1 NASB “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, 'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things."
What are the things? It is the church age, and 4:1 begins spelling out the wrath of God, minus the church, upon those on earth, who, up to this point, have rejected God. So, while the church age ends along with the time of grace, the time of wrath begins. The thousand-year reign is still seven years away.
Consider that an uncountable multitude will continue to follow after Jesus during the time of wrath; these will be resurrected, called saints, and will stand before the throne of God.
Rev 7:9-15 NASB “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; (10) and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (11) And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, (12) saying, "Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen." (13) Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" (14) I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (15) "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them.
I am exhibiting Revelation 7:9-15 because even Jesus himself wants us to see that the great crowd, pointed out to be every tongue and tribe under the heavens, is coming. Though they will now be in the family of God, they are from the nations.
Take note:
(Revelation 20:7-9 NIV) 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--Gog and Magog--and 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.
Recap:
The thousand years have passed
Satan is released for a time.
We have no definition of how long this takes.
Satan deceives the nations, who are many, diverse, and by their own choice, not committed to God. (Get that?)
These deceived combatants surround the camp of God’s people, the city He loves. Focus with me on this last line for a moment. Within it are some aspects you should consider.
The nations are coming to do battle with God’s people.
They (the combatants) completely surround the camp of God’s people, the city he loves.
The wording that we see in Revelation 20:9 does not effectively change from one translation to the next; it is this notion that the city and God’s people are one in the same.
What is clear from this is that God really loves us, his people.
