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Revelation 20:7-10
What Will Happen to Paradise?
A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes
Preached on June 20, 2021 at Beacon Church.
It only takes a moment to make an eternal decision. There is incredible potential and consequence in what we humans choose. When Jesus Christ was executed by being hanged on a cross, there were two condemned criminals crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. And even though he was the only innocent man who ever lived, and though he was being killed along with criminals, what he sought was that sinners would be forgiven. At that moment, he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luk 23:34 ESV) People standing by mocked him. Soldiers ridiculed him. They put an inscription over his head that said, "This is the King of the Jews" (Luk 23:38). One of the criminals reviled him (Mat 15:32). But one of those criminals saw something different in Jesus. And he rebuked the other one saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong," (Luk 23:40-41 ESV). He could see that he and the others were receiving exactly what they had earned: death. But he could see that Jesus didn’t deserve to die. And suddenly he realized Jesus must be the Christ. Because right then he turned to Jesus and said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." (Luk 23:42) That was all it took. Just a moment to make an eternal decision. He wanted Jesus to be his King forever. So Jesus welcomed that criminal into His Kingdom. Jesus replied with that unforgettable promise, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise," (Luk 23:43 ESV). Paradise is a loan word from Persian that means a park or a walled garden.[i] That man wasn’t asking to be remembered in a disembodied heavenly state and Jesus wasn’t promising he would see him in Heaven. Jesus was promising him that for him, somehow, not a day would pass before his dead body would be raised to life in paradise on earth, when He welcomed a sinner into the Kingdom.
That Kingdom, that Paradise on Earth is the era we learned about last week, called “the thousand years”—which theologians call, “The Millennium” (Latin for 1000 years, from verses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7). And the main application I made from those verses last Sunday, was that the Millennium, when Jesus comes back, will finally prove that God answers prayer because, when it comes, all the prayers of all of God’s people will finally be realized in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ—including the prayer of that dying criminal on the cross: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” But today, my theme in this sermon, is that John sees, after the thousand years are over, a series of three events that prove fallen, human nature will never accept Jesus as King. Anyone who doesn’t want to accept Jesus as Saviour now, will never be convinced to accept Him as King.
If you would look now to Revelation 20:7-10, you will see that the passage is made up of three basic movements or scenes: First, Satan is released from prison and goes out to the world. Second, the nations of the world march and surround the saints. Third, the devil is thrown into the Lake of Fire. I’ve summarized those points like this: 1) what happens to Paradise? 2) What happens to the Nations? 3) What happens to the Devil?
What happens to Paradise?
“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth…” (Rev. 20:7-8 ESV). Paradise on Earth is spoiled when the serpent is let loose to spread lies about God. And that’s what the world will become after Jesus comes back: a Paradise. We saw that last week when we looked at verses 1-6. The devil will be imprisoned. Probably not in a literal pit, and certainly not with a literal chain, but in some way literally imprisoned so that for 1000 years he can’t cause any trouble. And the 1000 years, as I explained last week, is not a symbolic number but a literary reference to a belief, well known when John wrote this, that at the end of the age, there would be a 1000-year earthly kingdom of Messiah. Jesus will rule the world and with Him, all those who belong to Him, who were loyal to Him in life, they will rule the world with Him as His government. But what a government the world will have! Verse 6 says those who reign with Christ, that is, all true Christians who are raised from the dead to immortality and rule the world with Jesus, will be “blessed and holy.” Imagine having the administration of the whole world in the hands of happy (blessed), holy, immortals who love God with all their hearts and minds, and who love all people as themselves. And not only all people but all that God has made! Like Adam and Eve were assigned to tend the Garden, the saints of the Lord will tend the Earth itself. That’s why Paul says the whole Creation has been groaning, waiting for that day, longing for the freedom this Paradise represents:
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:19-22)
When Jesus comes back there will be a thousand-year era of peace on Earth and good government that will not only be good for all people but will be good for the planet. Finally, and gradually, the earth will be healed and tended like Adam and Eve were supposed to tend the Garden of Eden. But a thousand years of blessedness will be undone in a brief time when the Snake is set free to ruin it all. Like the ancient serpent in the Garden, Satan wastes no time but immediately goes out to repeat what he did at the beginning of the world. “…And [Satan] will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth…” (Rev. 20:8 ESV). What Satan will do is deceive. The outcome of that deception will be to “gather [the nations] for battle.” What will happen to Paradise? God will let the serpent loose, one last time, in the Garden. Fallen human nature will never accept Jesus as King. We see this clearly next…
What happens to the Nations?
That this is the second scene, or second movement in this text can be seen when you notice the two sets of verbs: the nations “march up” and “surround” and the fire from heaven “came down” and “consumed them”.
…And [Satan] will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them. (Rev. 20:8-9 ESV)
Going to war with the saints was not their idea at first. Matthew Henry said this is something
…which they would never do if they had not been deceived in the first place. They are deceived on two counts. They are deceived about the cause they engage in. They believe it is a good cause when it is indeed a very bad one. And they are deceived about the result of the cause. They expect to be successful but are sure to lose the day.[ii]
But wait. The world will reach a state of peace and prosperity and natural health in those thousand years unheard of in all of human history. Why would people then fall for this? Albert Barnes noted that it is because, “though there would be a [general] prevalence of the gospel, and a [general] diffusion of its blessings, yet that the earth would not be entirely under its influence, and especially that the native character of the human heart would not be changed.”[iii] Why would people fall for this? Well, as long as people can be deceived, people will be deceived. Remember, Adam and Eve were innocent of any sin, morally pure, and had everything they needed in the Garden. And the serpent slithered in and fed them a lie. And they believed the serpent which meant they doubted God. They didn’t doubt God’s existence, they doubted His character. These are the two bookends of the history of human nature. Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Garden at the beginning of history; the nations of their descendants and the serpent on the loose in the world at the end of history. And history starts to repeat itself. Because people doubted God. And that shadow of doubt—about God’s goodness, about God’s trustworthiness, about God’s Word—is evil to the degree that it misrepresents God unfairly. In other words, that “little” lie is infinitely evil.
Whoever believes the Devil instead of believing God will die. And make no mistake: this is what the world will do. They will believe Satan instead of believing Jesus. It won’t be because they don’t know that Jesus is real, or because they never heard of him. It won’t be because they don’t know if Jesus is good and righteous or wise. It won’t be because they never had time and opportunity to hear the truth. It won’t be because they could never find answers to their questions about why God would allow suffering or evil in the world. And it certainly won’t be because all the Christians they met were imperfect people or even hypocrites. For once, finally, the only Christians any unbelievers will ever have met will be happy and holy and perfect people who love God with all their hearts and love their neighbours as themselves. But even then, when Satan is set free in the world He will deceive them. They will believe Satan instead of Jesus. This reveals a terrible truth about human nature that shows 10 times out of 10, sinners will always love sin more than they love God. The wages for this has always been death.
Verse 7 reminds us this will still be the case even after 1000 years of knowing and seeing Jesus and the tangible evidence of his goodness and wisdom and righteousness. Sure, none of the people among those nations will be thousand years old. Many will surely live longer than people do today—imagine the benefits for long life that will come when things like viruses and pollution and carcinogens are solved and dealt with! This is what Isaiah describes, “No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed,” (Isaiah 65:20). And it won’t just be a world where people live longer. There will be a level of peace and harmony even among animals, never seen before: “ ‘The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox… They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,’ says the LORD,” (Isaiah 65:25). It won’t be for lack of opportunity, for lack of hearing the truth, or for lack of evidence. It will be because, in the end, they would rather follow Satan than be loyal to the Son of God. And they will get the wages they earn; they will get what they deserve.
Verse 8 shows that Satan will go out and deceive them but it also shows they will decide that the devil is more believable and more worthy of belief than God. “The four corners of the earth” is not literal but figurative language—I’ll come back to that. But it shows that these “nations” won’t just rise up from one location but from everywhere, from all around. Likewise, “Gog and Magog” is not describing the same enemy nations that were already slain by Jesus in Rev 19:20, the same alliance of nations predicted in Ezekiel 38-39 led by a nation, “Gog of the land of Magog”. This name “Gog” and his kingdom called “Magog” is one country. But grammatically, in verse 8, it is explaining the plural “nations.” A little like that famous scene in the movie Spartacus when everybody stands up and says, “I am Spartacus.” They weren’t literally Spartacus and these nations won’t literally be “Gog and Magog” either. That is, “Gog and Magog” explains something about the gathering of all these nations, 1000 years after the Gog and Magog prophecy of Ezekiel will already be fulfilled. And what this name explains is that once again, the nations are being deceived. John’s account of the same military invasion Ezekiel predicted would be led by Gog of Magog, happens, according to John in Rev 16:14, because of demonic deception: “For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty,” (Rev. 16:14 ESV). That’s his point here: history is repeating itself showing what people are willing to believe when they won’t believe God.
And then verse 9 shows that not only will they listen to Satan and believe him, they will follow him, and they will march with him. I don’t imagine this marching is strictly literal. I expect they will drive and fly and sail their ships; that they will not come empty handed but with every weapon and instrument of war a thousand more years of technological progress will make possible. And they will, in some way, whether literally or metaphorically, surround the saints of God and think they have the city of God under siege. Their hearts will be set on destroying those who belong to Jesus, on murdering every last follower of Christ, on eradicating the blessed and holy people from the face of the Earth, and ridding themselves once and for all of any King or God or Authority over them. They won’t be interested in peace; they will be deluded by an illusion of freedom and autonomy from God. This is a very old delusion. But let’s go back and pick this up from the end of verse 8-9a: “…Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city…” (Rev. 20:8-9 ESV).
“Like the sand of the sea… surrounded the camp of the saints…” This is not a literal description but a literary connection to the book of Joshua. It goes back to the conquest of the Promised Land, when Joshua led the tribes of Israel to take the inheritance God had promised them. In the great and final battle of that conquest, Israel was attacked by a vast alliance of kings and armies from the north, and east, and west—like the four corners of the earth here—as it says in Joshua 11:1-3—and the enemy horde surrounds the armies of Israel intent on wiping them out.
4 And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. 5 And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel. 6 And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel…” (Jos. 11:4-6a ESV)
None of them tried to make peace with Israel (except for the Gibeonites at the first, because they had heard about the miraculous battle of Jericho, c.f. Josh 11:19; 9:3). But all the other kings and nations, even after it was evident to them that God was fighting for Israel, none of them sought peace with God. Instead they thought to launch a pre-emptive first strike to annihilate the people of God and God rose up to defend His people. Again, at the end of world history, history will repeat itself.
So we’ve seen that there is a strong echo here of the original sin in the Garden of Eden; an echo of the demonic deception right now at work preparing “Gog and Magog” for war; there is also a strong echo of the last battle for the Promised Land. And there is one more echo that we need to understand here (although “echo” perhaps is not the right word).
As Jesus described the normal condition of every church in the world during the last 2000 years as being like a field with both wheat and weeds growing together (Mat 13:24-30), similarly, after Jesus comes back there will be Christians and non-Christians in the world; resurrected and unresurrected people; saints and everybody else. Every single person who has ever believed in God will be alive and immortal, with Jesus. There will also still be billions on earth who never put their faith in Christ. They will witness the return of Jesus, they will see the resurrected saints receive the Kingdom, they will live under the wise and good government of Christ, and they will have children. The world will belong to the saints and the Son of Man—as Daniel 7:18 says—but not everyone in the world will be one of those saints. For generations, that state of things will continue, the resurrected saints represented by the wheat in the world, the unregenerate remainder of the non-Christian population of the world represented by the weeds.
This ought to remind you that there are many sitting in churches every Sunday right now, many who might even agree with the doctrines of the Christian faith, who know the teachings of the Bible, who embrace Christian values, sing the songs, and who even preach sermons, but who do not love the Lord, who have not given their hearts and faith and loyalty to Jesus. And in this way also, there will be many—like the sand of the sea—at the end of the world as we know it, who will be susceptible to Satan’s lies, who will choose to listen to the words of a devil because they don’t love the Son of God. In this fourth way also, then, history will repeat itself before God says never again.
What we see in this world’s last rebellion, however, is not merely a shadow of doubt and suspicion about God, it is utter darkness. Don’t be deceived: if you turn away from God, from His Son, and from His Word, this is where that ends. As they march, with rebellion in their hearts, rebellion aimed directly at God and at His Christ, with every footstep they will be trampling on the honour of the Son of God; with every hateful thought they will be profaning the blood of His covenant, with every clenched fist they will outrage the Spirit of grace, and so what will happen to them? To the nations? As the writer of Hebrews says, “…If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries,” (Heb 10:26). So John writes, “…But fire came down from heaven and consumed them,” (Rev. 20:9 ESV). When the nations rise up against God for the last time, fire will fall down from Heaven. Fallen human nature will never accept Jesus as King.
So now, in these verses, we’ve seen what happens to Paradise and what happens to the nations. Third…
What happens to the Devil?
“…And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever,” (Rev. 20:10 ESV). The Deceiver is sentenced to eternal torment. Notice five things in this verse.
First, Satan’s guilt is clearly stated: he is “the devil who deceived them”—instead of calling him “Satan” again, John uses the word “devil”—adversary. He was never anyone’s friend. It has been said before that throughout the Bible and throughout history people have either willingly or unwittingly allied themselves with Satan but they are always his victims.[iv]
Second, he is “thrown”—I want you to imagine the devil’s power for just a moment. 1 Peter 5 says, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1Pe 5:8 ESV). An article in TableTalk Magazine said this:
Jesus says the Adversary is the “father of lies” (John 8:44) who tempts us to believe our desires should always take first place and that we have every right to throw off God’s “tyrannical” rule. Finally, Satan is potent, more than a match for even the great Simon Peter when the apostle placed confidence in himself.
And that article cited Luke 22:31 as proof of Simon Peter’s overconfidence: Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." (Luk 22:31-32 ESV) And now notice how the Satan is simply thrown. In verse 2 he was easily “seized,” “bound,” and “thrown into the pit,” and here it is a powerful hand indeed that effortlessly “throws” him into the lake of fire. The hand of God.
Third, his fate is the same as the beast and the falseprophet before him, those enemies of Christ and the Church of Christ who shed the blood of the followers of the Lamb and deceived the nations for so long. They were Satan’s agents of deception and they were sentenced to Hell in Rev 19:19.
So fourth, this “lake of fire and sulfur” might not be a literal lake but it is a literal Hell. Jesus described this “lake of fire” as “"the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Mat 25:41)
Fifth, then, just as Jesus said the fire is eternal, so is the burning. It is not over quickly. It is never over. Verse 10 says “they will be tormented day and night”—that describes a process and unfolding of hour after hour of time, without pause or rest, around the clock “day and night”—and for how long? Verse 10 says, “forever.” The Greek phrase, literally “unto the ages of the ages”—a biblical idiom for an infinite succession of ages of time.[v]
This prophecy predicts the second to last great event before the utter end of the world. It shows in a remarkable way that what began in Genesis ends in Revelation; what began at Creation ends 1000 years after Jesus comes back to claim His Church as His own and the world for His Kingdom. Finally, at long last, the Devil will be held accountable for the death and destruction that followed from his lies. Finally, every enemy of God will be conquered by Christ and all that will remain is the final judgment of the wicked and the death of death itself.
"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." (1Co 15:24-26 ESV)
But in Revelation 20:7-10, in this prophecy of the future climax at the end of the world, the world will finally be set free from the presence of all sin. Is that something you expect to survive? You need to be thinking about that. It’s unwise not to give thought to your eternity. Will sin be the death of you or will Jesus be your life? It only takes a moment to make an eternal decision—like that thief when he confessed his guilt and prayed for Jesus to remember him in His Kingdom.