“1000 Years” of the Good Life

Revelation 20

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life,
some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:2

After the two beasts are thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur to be eternally tormented, Satan is bound for “1000” years. During that “1000” years, the first resurrection occurs which includes all who hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ and rejects the image and mark of the beast. We will rule with Jesus Christ on this earth for “1000” years. After those “1000” years, Satan is released for a very short time and once again he rallies his spiritual armies and tries to exterminate God’s resurrected people. He is stopped in his tracks. It is then when Satan joins the two beasts as he is thrown into the burning lake of sulfur for eternity. Then the second resurrection happens. That is when every person who ever lived and not in the first resurrection will be judged according to what they have done on this earth. Then the eternal city of the New Jerusalem comes with the creation of the new heaven and new earth.

• Satan is bound for “1000 years“.
• The first resurrection and “1000 years” includes those who are faithful to Jesus Christ.
• Satan is released after “1000” years” then eternally defeated.
• The second resurrection is the judgment of everyone not in the first resurrection.

Satan is bound for “1000 Years“. “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 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.” Revelation 20:1-3

The two beasts behind the image and mark of the beast have been thrown into the burning lake of brimstone, for eternity. They are in hell, as described in Revelation 19:20. Then Satan, the dragon, is bound with chains and thrown into the bottomless pit for a “thousand years”. For those “thousand years,” the followers of Jesus Christ are experiencing the good life, as we see in the coming verses.

After “10o0 years” of the imprisonment of Satan, he is released for a very short time. He tries to come against those risen from the dead in the first resurrection, as is seen in the coming verses. Satan is then eternally defeated and thrown into the burning lake of fire, in hell, with the beast and second beast (false prophet).

The first resurrection and “1000 Years” includes those who are faithful to Jesus Christ. “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.” Revelation 20:4a.

Those sitting on the thrones are the faithful followers of Jesus Christ, as quoted, “So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Mathew 19:28

“Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.” Revelation 20:4b.

The Holy Spirit has given the Apostle John symbolism to speak to us today. In the days of John, people were literally beheaded for serving God through Jesus Christ, but the image and mark of the beast didn’t exist those two thousand years ago. Today, that beheading also refers to what happens to those who live for the testimony of Jesus Christ in opposition to the thing which forms what we think, feel, do, and say. It enables the image of the beast to live and speak through people and it shuts off the thinking mode of human beings to do so. People are beheaded (so to speak) as they are conformed to the anti-Christian global culture. They are blindly groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are led to say and do.

Click here for a post on the “mark of the beast”.
Click here for a post on the “666”.
Click here for a post on the image of the beast.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we do not welcome the thing which forms what we think, say, do, and feel. In a sense, we are beheaded all day and every day of the week for thinking according to the teachings of the Holy Bible. If our thoughts, ideas, and opinions aren’t beheaded from one angle then we are hit from another angle. For example, people in every city around the world know things, they have uncanny knowledge and heightened intuition and they beat down the thought processes of Christians. They are the global culture of the beast. Also, the thing with power over physiology can form our thoughts and constantly brow beats the thoughts of those who live for the Gospel of Christ. That’s the way it is today, but in the coming days it will progress to the point where those who live for the teachings of the Bible will be killed. Even today, we see the silent killer of the psychotic “lamb” taking lives of those who are not part of the global culture of the beast. Some refer to it as a “soft kill”.

“And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ” Revelation 20:4c.-5

We know those “1000 years” with Christ are on this earth for several reasons. First, the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and earth is eternal, not just “1000 years”. The New Jerusalem comes after Satan is thrown into hell and after the second resurrection and final judgment. Revelation 21 talks about the coming of the New Jerusalem. Satan will never be allowed into the New Jerusalem, but he is still alive (but bound) for those “1000 years” on this earth with Jesus Christ and those raised to life in the first resurrection. Also, we know the second resurrection of judgment is on this earth because those who reject Jesus Christ will never have entry into the New Jerusalem. Also, while Satan comes against the resurrected Believers to destroy them “on the breadth of the earth”, God sends fire from Heaven to destroy Satan, as quoted, “They (Satan and his armies) went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9

There are two resurrections, one for those who are faithful to Jesus Christ and one for those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The Holy Spirit makes that clear through Daniel, as quoted, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2 The same John who wrote the Revelation by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit also wrote the Gospel of John and quotes Jesus Christ, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” John 5:28-29 The Holy Spirit also speaks to us in the book of Acts about the two resurrections, “I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust.” Acts 24:15

Those who are resurrected to everlasting life will live and reign with Jesus Christ on this present earth for “1000 years”. That is before the new heaven and earth is created when we are taken into the New Jerusalem, but we are still in the redeemed and eternal body in those “1000 years”.

The world’s system of this earth during those “1000 years” has totally collapsed and been destroyed and no longer inhabited by a human population. There is just Jesus Christ and all of us in the first resurrection, and Satan (who is bound but not dead) and his armies.

Concerning the first resurrection, the Holy Spirit also speaks through the Apostle Peter to let us know that every single person who died in Jesus Christ will be resurrected at the same time. They will be taken to be with Jesus Christ at the very moment of those faithful Christians who are still alive when the Lord Jesus returns, as quoted,

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:1618

“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6

This verse clearly says that we of the first resurrection will be among those who reign with Christ on this earth for “1000 years”.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ’ Revelation 2:11

The first resurrection is the one we want to be part of. We who are raised from the dead in that resurrection will not suffer the second death, which is eternal hell in the burning lake of brimstone. Those in the second resurrection are subject to that condemnation. We who live for God through Jesus Christ will be the priests of God and Jesus Christ and will reign with Him for a “thousand years” before we are taken home to the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and earth. That comes when God has finished His business on this earth, which includes the eternal punishment of Satan and the final judgment of those in the second resurrection.

Satan is released after “1000 Years” then eternally defeated. “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.” Revelation 20:7-8

After a “thousand years”, Satan is released from his prison and tries to come against those of the first resurrection. Those of the first resurrection are living in the eternal body. This would be similar to Satan’s rebellion against God when he was in Heaven as Lucifer, as described in Isaiah 14, especially in the verses beginning at verse 12. He gathers all of his armies, as described in Revelation 12:4, 9 when he took 1/3 of heaven with him during his rebellion. Once again, Satan tries to stir up a battle against God as he comes against those who are raised from the dead and living with Jesus Christ.

On earth, before the first resurrection and during the enormous tribulation in the world, Satan gathered his armies to cause the global Battle of Armageddon, as described in the Sixth Plague of Revelation 16:12-16. The battle mentioned in the verses above is after the Battle of Armageddon, and after the first resurrection of those faithful to Jesus Christ, the present earth is totally destroyed and there are no longer any human inhabitants on the planet.

“They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9

In the same way that Satan and his angels tried to defeat God in Heaven, he tries to defeat the resurrected Believers who are with Jesus Christ in the eternal body. However, God immediately destroys Satan and his armies. While Jesus Christ and we of the first resurrection are on this earth, God remains in Heaven. The New heaven and earth come after the final defeat of Satan, and then we go to live eternally with God in the New Jerusalem.

“The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10

When the beast and second beast (false prophet) were defeated, they were thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. When Satan is defeated in his last stand against God, Jesus Christ, and all the resurrected Believers, he is also thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone with the two beasts. They will be eternally tormented in hell.

The next thing to happen is the second resurrection, when all those not in the first resurrection will be judged Then the new heaven and new earth will come with the New Jerusalem.

The Second resurrection is the judgment of everyone not in the first resurrection. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.” Revelation 20:11

This verse explains who the Great White Throne judgment is for. It’s for those who are left without a place after the first resurrection of those who are faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s for all those from the beginning of time who rejected God and Jesus Christ, and for those who are destroyed when the earth is destroyed by the events of the Seven Trumpets (first four trumpets, trumpets five and six, seventh trumpet) and the Seven Plagues. It includes everyone that chooses to live by the entity which forms what they think, feel, do, and say as it enables the image of the beast to live and speak through them. It’s for those who are conformed to the global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they say and do. There is no place found for them in Heaven nor on earth and they will discover their place when they face Jesus Christ on the judgment day.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” Revelation 20:12

We know the interpretation of the “dead” by the verse above. Dead people don’t stand, and they sure don’t stand awaiting to be judged by the Lord God. They are those who are raised from the dead in the second resurrection and are dead to God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They are gonna be judged according to their anti-Christian works while alive on this earth.

We who live for God through Jesus Christ are raised to the free gift of eternal life, not the judgment of condemnation.

There ae gonna be some books opened on the final day of judgment. One of those books is the Lamb’s Book of Life in which all the names of those faithful to Jesus Christ are written. These are the ones who are raised from the dead in the first resurrection. If your name is not written in that book, then judgment comes according to the way you spent your life on this earth. The “small and great” includes those from among the homeless as well as the most prestigious by this world’s standards. Whatever our place in life, small or great, we must always remain faithful to the testimony of Jesus Christ.

“The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.” Revelation 20:13

That verse describes the second resurrection, and it is not the glory and Holiness of the first resurrection. The sea refers to the great number of burial places all around the world. Death and Hades are called forth to the Great White Throne of judgment and everyone who are in them. Everybody in Death and Hades are resurrected to their judgment, which means everyone who died in their sin is now being judged.

“Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:14-15

The second death lets us know that there are two deaths. The one is the death which every human being experiences, the second death is to be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity, which is hell.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1