Go a little deeper
Continuing a series through Revelation, Pastor Keith Kirkpatrick turns to chapter 20, which he calls one of the most confusing and debated passages in the book. He reminds the church that Revelation is apocalyptic literature—signs, symbols, and numbers meant to stir the imagination and turn attention to Jesus—and that John writes the way the prophets did. Working through the chapter, he covers the dragon bound in a bottomless pit, the thrones and first resurrection, and Satan's brief release for a final rebellion that is quickly ended.
Pastor Keith explains three primary millennial views—premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial—and says Journey has primarily taught premillennial while stressing that it will all "pan out in the end" because Revelation is about Jesus. He reads the thousand years as a time of peace, prosperity, and restored creation pictured by Isaiah and Amos, then turns to the great white throne, the second death, and Jesus' warnings about judgment, closing with an invitation to receive Christ and to set aside whatever blocks following him.
Take this with you
Apocalyptic imagery points to the living God
Pastor Keith explains that "apocalypse" means to unveil, and that John writes in the style of the prophets, using signs, symbols, and numbers. He reads the living creatures around the throne in Revelation 4 as an example: their many eyes suggest perception and knowledge, and their unending declaration of God's holiness announces that God is perfectly holy. The imagery is meant to send readers back to the wider Scriptures to know God more fully—the pastor calls this studying the whole counsel of Scripture.
Satan’s temporary imprisonment and later release
Pastor Keith interprets the pit in Revelation 20:1-3 as temporary imprisonment for Satan, distinct from his final punishment. The passage’s later release raises a question he does not claim to resolve fully. Drawing on Romans 8:28, he urges trust in God’s knowledge and purposes beyond what people can presently understand.
Three views of the thousand years
Pastor Keith explains three primary readings of the millennium—premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial—and says Journey Church has primarily taught premillennial, which he connects to 1 Thessalonians 4 and to a literal thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth following the tribulation. He also notes that Scripture uses "a thousand" hyperbolically, as in Psalm 50:10, and describes ten as picturing perfect authority, with a thousand presented as a perfect number in this context. He sums up his own position as the "pan" theory: it will all pan out in the end, because Revelation is about Jesus and God will fulfill every promise he made.
Restoration pictured by the prophets
Pastor Keith brings Isaiah 9, 11, and 65 together with Amos 9 to describe his expectation of the millennium. He emphasizes peaceful rule, abundant provision, and harmony among creatures. He presents these prophetic images as restoration of God’s original purposes for creation.
The great white throne and the gift of righteousness
Pastor Keith interprets Revelation 20:11-15 as a final judgment with lasting consequences. He connects God’s justice with the warnings Jesus gives in Matthew. Turning to Romans 3:22-23 and Ephesians 2:8-9, he teaches that acceptance by God is received through trust in Jesus rather than earned by effort. He uses John 5:24 to offer assurance of eternal life to those who trust Jesus.
The conversation,
in their words.
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she can shout amen while you're taking a seat amen that means so be it that means let it be amen well we're in the book of revelation would you just shout revelation revelation the book of revelation comes from the greek word apocalypse eva shout apocalypses come on apocalypses apocalypses defined in the greek means to unveil it means to reveal so the very premise of revelation is to unveil it's the revealing it's where we get the word apocalypse the book of revelation is all about jesus if you're just joining us i welcome you today as we
study this book of revelation we want to turn our hearts and remember this is about jesus and jesus always offers hope there's hope for everyone it does not matter how young you are or what your age is or what season of life you find yourself in there is hope in jesus and if you're new to the bible there are 66 books that make up the book of the bible and the book of revelation is the last of the 66. as we turn to the book of revelation we know some of this information there's so much that we can know yet there's so much that we do not know and that's okay because god wants us to grow he wants us to know who he is he wants us to study this book more carefully
john the author writes in a unique way throughout the book of revelation he uses what's called apocalyptic literature it's what we find in some of the prophetic books of the old testament and in apocalyptic writing you find great imagery there's signs and symbols and numbers and the reason john uses this apocalyptic writing is to turn our attention to history that we would look back and learn from the writings of old that we would actually examine and study the scriptures to get to know god even greater ultimately john this author the revelator pastor john wants us to use our imagination the lord god is creator and he wants us to use our creativity to to know him even more for example in
revelation chapter 4 when john is caught up in heaven he gets a glimpse of the first thing he sees is a throne and as he describes these things in revelation 4 verse 6 he says and around the throne on each side of the throne are four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind the first living creature as a lion the second living creature like an ox the third living creature with the face of a man and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight and the four living creatures each of them with six wings are full of eyes all around and within and day and night they never cease to say holy holy holy is the lord god almighty who was and is
and is to come now when you read a text like that you don't just continue reading it forces us to think about these creatures you've got to wonder what is john trying to tell us is there anything else like this in the bible and when we look back in ezekiel we see some living creatures like this and we start to learn and understand what do these things mean and do these creatures have meaning and eyes we better understand using this apocalyptic imagery helps us understand it means to perceive to know and if these creatures have eyes all around they can know what do they know well they tell us that god is holy holy holy symbolically the number three throughout the scriptures means
perfection and if that's the case god is perfectly holy he's set apart and as we turn our attention today to revelation chapter 20 we want to use our imagination what god has given us we want to awaken our hearts to who he is as we turn to one of the most confusing and even debated of all the passages of the book of revelation we want to look back and say god would you give us greater faith would you help us to have imagination to understand who you are even greater we left off last week in revelation chapter 19. it was the battle of armageddon where the armies of the antichrist go against jesus the antichrist anti-meaning against
christ come against jesus and jesus wins we see two suppers in the book of revelation one is a bit morbid it's flesh those who lost in the battle of armageddon and the birds come and devour the flesh and it's a grotesque imagery but what we see is in the end flesh will fail it's those who go against jesus those who reject god's free gift of grace and then we see a second supper earlier in the book of revelation and this one is incredible it's the marriage supper of the lamb and it's an incredible feast it reminds me of david's words found in the book of psalms verse chapter 23 in psalm 23 david
describes god in this way the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me besides still waters he restores my soul some of us need that now he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for you are with me your rod and your staff they comfort me you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies you anoint my head with oil my cup overflows surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and i shall dwell in the house of the
lord how long forever this is a prophetic picture of jesus david points forward to the future that jesus is our shepherd jesus himself said i am the good shepherd now when you believe in jesus he's with you in the good times and the difficult he's with you in those dark valleys he's going to get you through it and at the end of psalm 23 david points forward to the future says one day there will be a table and it's the image of a great meal and i love this as we consider this wedding now the wedding that we read in revelation 20 is the the wedding of jesus as the groom and the church is the bride it's this
metaphoric apocalyptic image of what will happen one day a union a celebration no more waiting no more engagement period one day we'll be with god in what psalm 23 verse 5 says you prepare table before me in the presence of my enemies this is an image of victory one day we will win we will celebrate before our enemies that we have victory in jesus now aren't you glad that we get to eat one day with god i mean we're talking no more calories no more cholesterol no more saturated fat no more added fat we don't have to wonder what kind of sugar this is is it processed is am i allowed to eat this one one day there's going to be a feast and we read about that in
revelation 19 what david points us forward and one day everywhere you look there's goodness and mercy chasing after you god's going to be with you we're going to learn that more next week as we look at the very end in revelation 21 and 22 heaven is going to be awesome no no darkness not even a shadow everywhere you turn there god is it's going to be great you want to eat go ahead and eat when when you want to dance go ahead and dance we're gonna see it's going to be wonderful and today we turn our attention to revelation 20. it's known as the thousand years and we see at the end of this this this culmination of history this thousand-year period unlike anything that has ever existed in all of
history found in revelation chapter 20. let's turn our attention now as we study this revelation 20 verse 1 then john says i saw an angel coming down from heaven holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain and he sees the dragon that ancient serpent who is the devil and satan and bound him for a thousand years and threw him into the pit and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended after that he must be released for a little while here once again john uses this apocalyptic imagery that
our imaginations would be stimulated that we would capture fully what's happening i want to turn for just a moment from preacher keith to teacher keith so i want to use a whiteboard all right let's let's let's try to learn and better understand what's going to be said in today's teaching so we have here this description of satan throughout the book of revelation john has used these images so that we would better understand who god is and the ways of this world we start here today with a dragon now if you've been in this series the dragon is who shout it out satan well done
i've been teaching you that it's always safe to shout jesus at church but this is one of those occasions where we want to get this right so the dragon is none other than satan now is satan an actual dragon no it's used as a metaphor as an image so that we would better understand satan is like a creature that represents death in fact he's described here as an ancient serpent or some translation say an old snake when you come across a snake on a trail typically people don't run to the snake and pet it and say oh this thing is great a serpent typically represents uh something deceptive or or death now we have a pet snake in our house people think we're crazy that's because typically when you think of a dragon or a serpent you don't think of life satan represents death he's he's a
deceiver he's a thief he's he's a liar he's a fraud he's an adversary of god and here john introduces us and says there's an angel that's going to take a key and he's going to take satan and he's going to put him in this bottomless pit now this bottomless pit is not hell this bottomless pit has been mentioned in revelation 9 revelation 11 revelation 17. uh we would understand it today in our terms like a prison it's not forever it's a penalty for a time and satan will be placed in this bottomless pit for how long 1 000 years john begins this journey of a thousand years starting by saying satan will be locked up for a thousand
years now is this time period literal or figurative this is where scholars debate what this actually means is this is this a literal thousand years or is this a figurative thousand years as we read the scriptures we see figurative language used with a thousand years for example when god says through the psalms in uh chapter 50 verse 10 for every beast of the forest is mine the cattle on a thousand hills does god only have a thousand hills no it's a it's a hyperbole meaning it's all his it's it's everything is the lord's david says when he describes his relationship with god in psalm 84 verse 10 for a day in your courts so a day with god is better than a thousand elsewhere so we see this used as an exaggeration to say
a thousand is a long time so is that what john the author of revelation intends for us will satan be locked up for a long time or will it be a literal thousand years we'll look at that more carefully in just a moment but then john says at the end of verse 3 after this after the thousand-year time period he's going to be released for just a little while but until then there'll be a long period of time whether literal figurative where there is no satan now could you just imagine what a world without satan would look like no one can say the devil made me do it
we can no longer look at our present reality and blame others all of us can look at our families and say you know i'm a product of my environment that's what psychologists like to say that somehow were were created by what was around us so if you grew up in a dysfunctional family which we all did can we just agree every family's dysfunctional some just put the fun and dysfunctional which we like to do at journey church we can no longer say it's because of my environment that has now been removed all temptation gone all evil will be gone because satan now will be gone for a thousand years we're gonna see he will have no place on earth for he will be locked
up for a thousand years now i want you to imagine if you will what this will look like i want to ask you to do something that might feel a bit odd and if you're watching at home we want you to do this as well unless of course you're driving i want you to close your eyes i want you to just close your eyes first for just just a moment maybe a minute or two i want you to close your eyes i want you to imagine in your mind right now what does a world with complete peace look like just get it in your head are you on the beach and it's it's a calm day with just a slight breeze clear blue skies can't be burned by the uv rays oh that's going to be good okay maybe you're not a beach person you're on top of the mountain and you're looking down in the valley you see the hills and the mountains down
below it's majestic okay you're not a mountain person you're in a field of flowers out in the sight slight breeze brings the flowers colors to life as they dance in the wind i want you to open your eyes now with me a professor once asked his class to go through that exercise close your eyes and imagine a world with complete peace and then he asked the students with their eyes closed now tell me what you see in this world with complete peace and one by one they began to give examples like i just shared with you i imagine just being alone on the beach i imagine being on a mountaintop i imagine being in a field of flowers and the professor noted that every single person
imagine a world with peace without people no one said a world with peace is my house on thanksgiving day no one said a world of peace is my home it it all appeared to be without people now john lennon famously wrote the song imagine imagine this world imagine and he comes to the conclusion imagine a world without god it's it's god it's religion that must divide people it must be people's religious beliefs that come to this place and john wants you to imagine this in revelation 20 and he goes on to describe this thousand-year time in revelation 20 verse 4. then i saw
thrones and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed also i saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of jesus and for the word of god and those who had not worshiped the beast or images and had not received the mark uh received its mark on their foreheads or their hands so he's referring to those that did not give into the beast the beast throughout the book of revelation is the metaphor for the antichrist it's not a literal beast it's to point us to a supreme leader that will unite the world and come against jesus he'll want to be worshipped instead of point people to worship jesus it's the abomination of desolation so those who did not do that but lost their lives because of their faith in jesus they are with jesus now during this thousand years they came to life reigned with christ for a thousand years
the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended this is the first resurrection blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power but they will be priests of god and of christ and they will reign with him for a thousand years now when we read text like this can we just acknowledge this is some strange stuff like if you read this for the first time you don't just say man that was easy to understand i totally get everything that's being said as a staff we read through the text usually a week early and we talk about it and pray about it and discuss it together and sometimes we'll read a chapter and then we'll just jokingly say like oh that speaks for itself because none of us have a clue what was
just said we've got to study it we've got to look at the whole counsel of the scriptures to better understand what's being said now i want to relate it to our lives in present day a year and a half ago when the pandemic first started i remember saying out loud this is so weird there were just things happening in my life that i had never experienced when easter was shut down for the entire world that was weird for me as a pastor not to come to church on easter sunday i just kept saying this is weird but clearly it's going to go back to normal in just a few days and then it was weeks and then it was months and then the summer came and masks were mandatory for everyone i thought to myself no one will actually do this
and then of course i did it because i didn't understand what that would look like i didn't know what the world could look like with everyone wearing masks and how that would be and what that would look like and and then even to this day when you walk by and someone walks around you i still say to myself this is so strange and it's strange because i've never been through something like this before it's strange because it's a new experience for me and typically i go off of what i know just like it would have been for those who went through the great depression those who went through world war ii or any type of traumatic experience it's only weird because it's not your normal so as we read through the book of
revelation much of it is weird because it's not our normal we've never experienced this this is a time unlike any other time in history so just because we don't fully understand it right now does not mean that god can't give us the revelation of who he is and the times to come as we look at this thousand-year time it's often been referred to as the millennium millennium comes from two latin words mill which is a thousand and a m which is years it's a thousand year time so i'll now refer to this as the millennial time as we look at what does this time mean this debated amongst scholars about is this time literal or is it metaphoric i want to teach you three primary views of this millennial time period
there are more than just the three but i'll just look at these three for the primary views the first is pre millennial the second is post and the third is ah or a millennial i want to look at those for just a moment for it really shapes your theology and your views of what takes place in the entirety of the rest of revelation chapter 20. pre-millennial is what we've primarily been teaching here at journey church through the study of revelation it says that jesus will return pre the millennium and actually take his church with him first thessalonians 4 says at a trumpet sound at a blink of an eye christ will come and take his church
it's been referred to as the rapture which comes from the latin word which just means to be caught up in the air so it will be caught up that the rapture will happen and then there'll be a seven year tribulation time that we've studied through the book of revelation starting with chapter six verse one through chapters 18 verse 24. those who are left on the earth are the unbelievers in jesus yet many will come to faith in jesus during this time and will even lose their lives for following jesus during this tribulation time period at the end of the seven year tribulation time jesus will return on a white horse with the church we read this in revelation chapter 19 and this will then trigger the 1000
year reign of jesus on the earth literally jesus will be on the earth with the the believers it's called the first resurrection that we just read those who believed in jesus and died for their faith in jesus during the tribulation they will be resurrected and will reign with jesus on the earth in that utopia that we imagine in our minds a world without satan now a post-millennial view is just what it sounds like there will be a thousand year time period and it's debated exactly what that looks like some have concluded that it's when the gospel has has gone out to all the world and this will be a thousand year time period when the kingdom has come on earth jesus does not reign literally on earth
but it is a literal thousand years and christ will come at the end of that thousand years now both of these views at the end of the thousand years we read this in revelation 20 jesus will judge all humanity in all history the amillennial ah just simply means none means the thousand years is not literal it's completely figurative there's nothing literal about it in fact as we read the book of revelation it's all metaphoric it's meant to stimulate just our imagination and nothing is literal so at christ's death and resurrection the millennial reign started christ is ruling because he defeated death he rose from the grave therefore he defeated satan as one scholar says if a millennial is
the true theology of point for the millennial reign then that chain that is around satan in that great abyss the bottomless pit is a long chain because he's still roaming the earth as peter writes he says look out for the devil for he roams around like a lion seeking to devour jesus warns that satan is like a thief he's come to steal kill and destroy as we look at these different theories pre-millennial post-millennial amulet we've got to look at all the scriptures and say well what exactly does this mean would god want to confuse us well our god is not a god of confusion yet he certainly uses different examples to teach us the truth jesus in the sermon on the mount gives
an example of sin when he says in matthew 5 verse 29 if your right eye causes you to sin tear it out throw it away for it is better for you to lose one of the members then that your whole body be thrown into hell he continues in verse 30 and says if your right hand causes you sin cut it off throw it away for it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell now does jesus really want you to gouge out your eye and get rid of it does he really want you to cut off your hand and throw it throw it away now if that was the case that would be a really gross service this morning jesus is using hyperbole to exaggerate a point for you to see that if you have sin in your life
if you're drawn to go back to what you used to do before you believed in jesus you need to do something drastic do not keep doing the same thing or you're going to keep getting the same results jesus is letting you know when you follow him your life will be different there will be a defining line and so as we begin to look at this teaching in our lives we wonder is is this just a figurative time it's just just something that that god wants us to believe this is just a long time in history in fact as we begin to understand this number greater through the scriptures we start to see the meaning of numbers some would say well this is clearly figurative because
the number 10 is similar to the number three the number three is perfection the number 10 is perfect authority we see the number 10 throughout the scriptures there are 10 commandments it's god's perfect authority so that we would understand his law how many plagues were there on egypt good job studying your bible there's ten plagues that were brought upon egypt and pharaoh when when god instructs us to trust him in our finances we're to to start with a tithe a tithe is ten percent it's saying god has authority over all and when you trust him by giving a a tithe you're saying i believe it's all his so as we consider the number a thousand and we consider perfection if we took ten times 10 that's how many
100 words just do basic math no tricks right now okay 10 times 10 is a hundred so 100 times 10 equals come on thousand basic math here right so if we were to look at god's perfect authority and plan that he's going to lock up satan he's going to rule and reign on earth this is the perfect number so it once again bows the question is this literal is this just figurative now i already mentioned i've given you my perspective of what i believe in this life but i i want to give you probably the most important theology that you're going to get today and we've really studied this well at journey church and you won't hear this in many books today and preachers won't preach this but
this is the theology that if i was to really have you walk away with understanding what in the world does revelation 20 mean we believe in the the pan theory here all right the pre is important post you study it ah all the but this is more important now what is the pan theory the pan theory is it will all pan out in the end and i tell you that because the book of revelation is all about who come on jesus so if jesus is real and if john wanted us to know more about this millennial period he may have spent more chapters describing it like he did with the seven year tribulation i believe john tells us much about the seven year tribulation because he wants us to know what happens with god's
perfect judgment for he is perfectly just he's sovereign which means he's completely in control now i'm gonna go from teacher back to preacher all right so we could understand what's being said john the author wants to lead us to the understanding that all of god's promises will be fulfilled what do i mean by that there are so many covenants that god made throughout the scriptures he made it to noah abraham moses some of those covenants have not been completely fulfilled in the book of revelation chapter 20 if what's said here happens all of god's promises will be completely fulfilled he will do what he said he would do now when we look at god's track record he does what he says he will do jesus when he teaches us how to have a
relationship with him in the sermon on the mount and matthew chapter 6 teaches us to pray prayer is simply talking to god it's not meant to be a formula it's not been meant to please other people it's meant for you to have an intimate relationship with god as he teaches us he he tells us in matthew 6 9 he starts by saying our father in heaven god wants you to have an intimate relationship with him like a daddy he wants you to know him he knows you he loves you he can be your heavenly father but you don't just treat him ordinarily hallowed be your name god's name is holy he's a holy father he's set apart then jesus tells us your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven jesus does not want want you to wait to get to heaven to start to experience heaven you could start to pray it right now and experience god's kingdom
now as it will be one day forever then he teaches us give us this day our daily bread all of your provision has come from god he is as described jehovah jireh which means lord provider and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors if you've been forgiven you practice that forgiveness that's why one of our core values at journey church is to be grace givers if we receive grace we give it to others and then jesus says and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil acknowledge that the enemy is real you need god's help don't act naive as if somehow you're not going to be tempted don't act as if this couldn't happen to you but pray that god would help you now i want to bring your attention back to
verse 10 for just a moment your kingdom come and your will be done what we see at the end of revelation is the end of history god's promises through prayer are fulfilled how good is this you're going to see exactly what god's kingdom will look like on earth in revelation 20. now we may not know exactly what that looks like but we don't have to wait until someday to experience that we could start praying right now as we study this we imagine in our mind what does righteousness look like what does peace look like what does joy look like what does love look like god doesn't want you to wait until someday to start experiencing that world of peace right now you put it into practice through jesus as we look forward to this god gave us a glimpse of what this looks like throughout the bible
in isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 isaiah the prophet looks forward to this through jesus the christ he says for to us a child is born to us a son is given normally this scripture is attributed to christmas it's attributed to christmas where we celebrate the birth of christ the word christ means messiah it's god's chosen one but he doesn't stay a little baby the christ is meant to do so much more isaiah tells us and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father and prince of peace of the increase of his government and and of the peace there will be no end and on the throne of david and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold
it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the lord of hosts will do this so what will happen in the millennial reign there will be much peace because of jesus not only will there be peace there will be prosperity amos 9 13 says behold the days are coming declares the lord when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed the mountain shall drip sweet wine and all the hills shall flow with it everything you would ever need is at your disposal we saw this earlier in the book of revelation that jesus is the great reaper of the grapes of wrath and he is the one that will allow us to have all that is actually his
all that you work for now we'll actually be free in god's kingdom this is a wonderful thing as we look forward to no more poverty no more people that are poor we're going to see god is going to give us everything we need isaiah talks about the longevity of life imagine what this looks like in chapter 11 verse 6 when isaiah says the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leper shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fat and calf together and ah look at this beautiful picture and a little child shall lead them i just wonder what is the child writing on the back of a lion on the wolf or is it maybe like a giraffe i mean this is going to be awesome children will be able to be with the animals he explains us more in chapter 65 verse 25 the wolf and the lamb shall graze
together the lion shall eat the straw like the ox this is great there'll be no more documentaries on the discovery channel of the lion eating that little gazelle in the back no more alligators coming out and ripping that little little buffalo just trying to get some water you know why they'll be perfect peace all that god originally created on the earth and we're going to see the culmination of all these things coming together they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountains says the lord you see we're going to see the restoration of all that is wrong will be made right today when an animal harms a person when an animal devours somebody or does something causes harm what we do now is we
kill that animal we say we don't we don't want them to hurt anyone else well one day that will never happen one day we actually look forward to what god's gonna do and during this thousand year reign we remember satan is no more he's been locked up in a bottomless pit but we're also told that will not last forever revelation 20 verse 3 remember after that he must be released for a little while now why in the world would god do this i've asked myself that question over and over come on god why would why would you release him just for a little bit just keep him locked up or put him in hell right now why would you wait to you know he's not in hell right now he's roaming this earth why would god do what he's doing now and the only conclusion i could come up with and i've thought about this a great
deal and i continually come back to the same conclusion i've prayed about this and god has answered my prayer through this answer because god is god and i'm not i typically like to tell the lord what my plans are because they seem better than his and a part of that is because god is eternal which means he's eternal and knowledge he can see what i can't see so he'll allow things right now to accomplish his will in the future that i can't see right now but all i can see is the present reality so i want the present reality to be comfortable i've come to my own conclusions but since god is eternal and knowledge and he's perfect in power we know that his ways are right that's why paul says in romans 8 28 that god works all things together for good that when you love the lord you
know that you may not understand it now but you can trust him it'll all pan out at the end you know that god is going to work this out and so we see god's grace even at this final culmination of history in verse 7 and when the thousand years are ended satan will be released from his prison and 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 there's one last battle god's people against those who are against god and they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city and fire but fire came down from heaven and consumed them 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 so after this 1 000 year time period of no riots no pre protests no racism no hatred no political division no crazy elections just jesus satan is released and it looks like he has one last chance to do what he does so well draw attention to himself try to destroy god's people try to make god look bad and in this last battle it will be short it will be swift quickly we will see it comes to an end now who in the world is gog and magog magog historically speaking is the grandson of noah in genesis chapter 10. we see gog and
magog wage war on israel and ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. this will happen during the tribulation gog and magog come from the north to israel this is not the same gog and magog that we read about in revelation 20. this is a reflection of those who who rebel against god that's what the picture of gog and magog are we see those who rebel against god will come from all the four corners of the earth to wage war against god and his people and what we see is in just a moment of an eye satan who has run amok for a very long time will be locked up not temporarily but forever in hell and as we begin to ask these questions in our hearts why does god allow the things that he allows why doesn't god just do it right now lock satan up right now that's what i
prefer i'm tired of satan wreaking havoc on my family on my life on on this great nation that we live in i'm tired of watching satan work around the world why doesn't god do it right now well as we look back at even who satan is he's a created being he was one of god's created angels god did not create robotic angels that would worship him because he forces them to worship him they worship him because god is worthy of worship he's worthy of praise and satan instead of giving worship to god wanted to be worshipped and he deceived a third of of of heaven to join him and satan was cast out of heaven just like one day he'll be cast out of the earth forever and we begin to understand that god is giving us an opportunity to trust in him and during this thousand years there'll be wealth
there will be health it will be awesome but those are not the reasons you worship god when job had health and wealth and a great family satan says that's the only reason job is worshiping you god and so god says you can take those things away and he took away his family he took away his wealth he took away his health and god is still enough when jesus was approached by a rich young ruler who seemed to have it all he was young he was wealthy he comes to jesus and says good teacher how must i inherit eternal life and jesus began to ask him questions so that he would come to a conclusion of who he is do you really want to know what eternal life is or do you want a comfortable life and one by one jesus asked him about the ten commandments he
says i've done that i've done that and jesus knew what was stopping him he said sell all your possessions and give it to the poor and you'll have eternal life and it says the man put his head down sad and walked away see many of us want to worship god when he gives us something if you just let me win the lottery one time lord i'll follow you the rest of my life and we begin to barter with god if you just remove that cancer i will do this for you we begin to say god i will give you my heart if you do this but i'm here to tell you god is worthy of praise if all those things are stripped following him is worth it because one day we'll be with him forever this is why you need to come back next week but until then we're reminded revelation 4 8 holy holy holy is the lord god almighty that's why we worship him in the holy song in revelation 15 verse
4 will you who will not fear o lord and glorify your name that's the question who wouldn't want to worship god for you alone are holy all nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed see the lord is worthy of your life because of who he is and he loves you and he welcomed you to have a relationship with him now does that just happen by believing in god that's not enough for god cannot tolerate sin in heaven there's nothing unrighteous allowed in heaven god is completely holy and pure so how then do you get to heaven can you be good enough can you follow enough rules can you go to the right church be born into the right family to get into heaven no the bible says he is holy so you have to be holy like he's holy so how do you get that holiness it's found in jesus when paul writes to the romans he shows
us he demonstrates how we can experience this wonderful gift the righteousness of god romans 3 22 the righteousness of god through faith in jesus christ is for all who believe see when you believe in jesus you exchange your sin for his righteousness so when you get to heaven you're not judged based on your sin and what you've done you're judged them based on what jesus has done for you and there's no distinction this is for all nationalities this for for all gender for this is for all ages there's no distinction when you believe in jesus for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in christ this is free it's a gift and it's yours if you
open it if you use it to all that hear me today this is yours in jesus today is the day of salvation you no longer have to wait for another day a better day it's yours in jesus by believing him you get god let me just tell you a quick story as we we consider what we're looking at a few months ago i was feeling tired and someone on our team had coveted and so others on our team started getting kova tests and they were all negative so i thought i'm probably negative as well and as the week went on i progressively got tired and when saturday came i was exhausted and felt like i was hit by a train you see see that metaphor there just like paul apocalyptic riding until i i was i was hit by a truck and a train i was sore physically and i thought to myself is it covered or am i just tired because i was running on all cylinders and you know when you run on all cylinders you just kind of get tired and i'm like
i think i'm just tired but i have church tomorrow and i'll be preaching and i just want to make sure so i went to the urgent care and i took a covet test and they said you only need to take this one we'll tell you in a day or two if you're positive i said no i need to take the rapid one they're like that's only 40 accurate i need to know today if i'm positive so uh they let me pay for the rapid test and they came back five minutes later said you are positive you have coven and so i i went home and i isolated myself i didn't get to hug and kiss my wife we didn't have to have one last date together i isolated myself from my own family i know that sounds good to some of you but after a while after a while that gets old you know like hey can someone bring me a water they bring it at the door you open it and sanitize everything and it's a long lonely season but i tell you this story for for this reason when it comes to jesus and
understanding eternal matters paul just told us in romans 3 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god you do not need to stick a stick up your nose to know that you are sinner the bible tells us if if you would be willing to listen to this it says you have sinned you have a problem you need to do something about this problem and i want to ask you this what are you going to do because if you ignore it you're going to affect others and it's not going to lead to a healthier life now i know this is a poor analogy because of everything that we're going through but jesus is the vaccination to cleanse you of all your sin he doesn't just make the symptoms less he removes it so that you don't infect others but you get to share the hope of who he is
ephesians 2 8 9 for by grace you've been saved through faith by believing in jesus you get this grace and this is not of your own doing it's a gift of god not a result of work so that no one may boast you see when you reject god's gift of grace there's an eternal consequence and one day every person will be judged by jesus we learn from revelation he's all-knowing and this is what john tells us then i saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them and i saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened and then another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done and the sea gave up their dead who were in it death and hades gave up the dead who were in them
and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done then death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire that's hell this is the second death the lake of fire and if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire all of us will face the judge and the judge is jesus it's not like our western way of a court system today where there's a jury we have a defender and a prosecutor there's just you and the judge now when you have jesus you're coming before that judge [Music] now today there's a movement that's known as progressive christianity that says we've got to adapt to the times the way you find in the scriptures
some of it is literal and some of it's figurative and we get to choose what that's like and it's a manageable religion and it makes sense because if god is loving then why would there be hell but in this progressive christianity there's there's a movement right now and you'll hear terms like this to deconstruct your christianity that if you were taught a particular way that you need to go back and reconsider this deconstruct this that hell does not need to be a literal place it's a state of mind it's not a real place i want you to consider if you will that if god was manageable he would no longer be god [Music] i don't like the idea of how any more than any other person but god is loving and if we really consider this
if god is love how how could hell not be real because god is perfectly just he knows everything and if you've rejected him how could he allow you to experience the eternal life of who he he cannot tolerate sin he's perfect he's holy jesus cared so much about this because he's god in the flesh he spoke more of hell than he did heaven over and over to the centurion who had faith that means he's a gentile a pagan he commended him for his faith because he put his faith in jesus and then he went on to say in matthew 8 12 while some will be thrown into the outer darkness there's going to be a weeping and gnashing of teeth jesus described that over and over matthew 13 would be weeping and gnashing of teeth
he describes it like this fiery furnace matthew 22 verse 13 bind them hand and foot cast them into the outer darkness would be weeping and gnashing of teeth matthew 24 jesus gives a picture of judgment that he is the judge and he says there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth mark 9 verse 48 look at this picture the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched ever revelation 14 verse 11 there's this picture of hell it's the torment that goes up forever and ever so some might want to deconstruct this and say can we just love each other can we just say this is not real jesus warned the religious leaders of his day he said you serpents you brew to vipers how
are you to escape being sentenced to hell these are religious people religion doesn't lead you to life religion is man-made god just wants a relationship with you now some look at that word hell here and say the original greek is gehenna and it's translated hell in english gehenna was a physical place outside of jerusalem it's what we would equate to a dump you would literally take all your waste because they didn't have a sewage system and the waste would go to gehenna all the dead animals when the an animal was dead the carcasses would brought be brought to get hannah and they would light it on fire it was a morbid disgusting place and if you got close to gehenna which was in this valley it would cause you to gnash your teeth because of the smell you couldn't stay there long and jesus
uses this graphic imagery see i don't want you to go there gives an invitation in john 5 24 it's the last scripture i'll share with you today jesus said truly truly i say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life he does not come into judgment but is passed from death to life this is the greatest invitation jesus gives so many invitations hey you're heavy heavy laden and burden come to me i'll give you jesus says this you want eternal life you come to me and you'll skip judgment see that's the second resurrection that john speaks of in revelation 20 the the first resurrection are those
believers during that tribulation time the second resurrection are all those that died without believing in jesus they come before the great judge and there will not be a second chance for they were given chance after chance after chance he's the god of not second chances but a million chances but when your heart stops beating you have rejected that free gift of grace and today you have the opportunity to know with confidence the hope is found in jesus i so look forward to next week as we look forward to the life that's found in eternity jesus says this all things will be new that what you long for in your heart right now for that which is wrong to be made right it will be better than you could dream or fathom that god's going to restore all the he's going to wipe away every tear from our eye he's going to recognize the pain that you've been
through will be worth it because you're going to be glorified this is going to be great as you get god himself and the question for you today is have you passed from death to life do you know jesus because you can it starts and ends with prayer prayer is just talking to god it's not a magic prayer it's not the right words it's simply acknowledging you need a savior and when you do you are sealed by god himself the holy spirit and you receive the free gift of eternal life it's yours you may not always feel different but you have the promise of god you can keep coming back to the reality it's going to all pan out because i have jesus and you want others to know jesus you want others to put their hope in jesus and so you you don't stop there if
there's something stopping you from knowing jesus you cut it off you get rid of it now jesus teachings come alive you can't just accept christ and keep living the same way so i have two invitations today one is for those who have never received jesus today you can right now the second invitation for those who have accepted jesus but you've got to change something you've got to get rid of something in your life that's stopping you from eternal life for god's kingdom to come maybe it's pornography maybe it's alcohol maybe some other substance maybe it's resentfulness that you keep holding on to maybe it's gossip maybe it's just a cynical heart right now because of all that we've been through i want to give you a chance to get right with god so would you just close your eyes right where you are lord we come before you with all hearts if there's someone that needs to receive
you for the first time now is the time if that's you in this moment of prayer would you throw up your hand so i can pray with you i would like to know if you want to receive jesus today if you're watching online you have a host that's going to give you a phone number and a link that we can connect with you i want to pray with you right now if that's you would you pray something like this in your heart lord i need you i confess my sin today i want to follow after you i receive that free gift of eternal life and when you pray you pray in jesus name first the name above all names now i want to just talk to those who have already received jesus today is an opportunity for you to change to leave it with god and i want to ask you right now bring that before god you could do it in
the silence of your heart but i'll tell you be a waste of your time today to come to church and leave the same so lord we give you our hearts we confess our sins we repent and we run to you we thank you that you're the god that embraces us like a loving father we thank you for your grace your grace upon grace and so lord i pray you would start a fire in this room right now for those who can hear me now may we turn to you may we receive what you have for us that by the power of your spirit you would light us on fire that god we wouldn't want the whole world to know the hope that we could have in you jesus we thank you for this gift that's found in you we thank you lord in jesus name amen amen amen if you made that decision today
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Reading Revelation as revelation
Pastor Keith begins by translating apocalypse as unveiling and describing John's use of imagery, numbers, and symbols borrowed from the prophets. He works through Revelation 4 as an example: the creatures' many eyes suggest perception and knowledge, and their unending declaration of God's holiness announces that God is perfectly holy. He asks the church to let the imagery drive them back to the wider Scriptures to know God more fully, citing the value of studying the whole counsel of Scripture.
Revelation 4:6-8
- What does Pastor Keith say the many eyes and the repeated declaration of holiness tell us about God?
- How does the pastor suggest the imagery of Revelation should send us back to other passages of Scripture?
The binding of Satan and his brief release
Pastor Keith interprets Revelation 20:1-3 as describing Satan’s temporary imprisonment, distinct from his final punishment. He acknowledges debate about whether the millennium is literal or figurative. He does not claim a complete explanation for the later release, but uses Romans 8:28 to urge trust in God’s knowledge and purposes.
Revelation 20:1-3 · Romans 8:28
- How does Pastor Keith describe the bottomless pit, and how does that differ from hell?
- What reasons does the pastor give for trusting God when we cannot understand why he allows something?
Three views and the number thousand
Pastor Keith explains the premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial readings of the thousand years, names Journey's primary lean toward premillennial, and connects it to 1 Thessalonians 4 and a literal reign of Jesus on earth. He points out that Scripture uses "a thousand" hyperbolically, as in Psalm 50:10, and describes ten as picturing perfect authority, presenting a thousand as a perfect number in this context. His stated bottom line is that it will all pan out in the end, because Revelation is about Jesus and God will fulfill all his promises.
1 Thessalonians 4 · Psalm 50:10
- How does Pastor Keith describe each of the three primary views of the thousand years?
- What does the pastor mean when he says his bottom line is that it will all pan out in the end?
Peace, prosperity, and restored creation
Pastor Keith brings Isaiah and Amos together to describe peaceful rule, abundant provision, and harmony among creatures during his expected millennium. He presents this as restoration of God’s original purposes. Connecting it with Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6, he urges believers to pray and live in ways that reflect God’s purposes now.
Isaiah 9:6-7 · Amos 9:13 · Isaiah 11:6 · Isaiah 65:25 · Matthew 6:9-10
- Which pictures of restoration does the pastor draw from Isaiah and Amos, and what do they say about God's intent for creation?
- How does Pastor Keith connect Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6 with the way believers live now?
The final judgment and the invitation
Pastor Keith interprets Revelation 20:11-15 as a final judgment with lasting consequences. He connects God’s justice with Jesus’ warnings and uses John 5:24 to offer assurance of eternal life to those who trust Jesus. His invitation stresses receiving salvation rather than earning it. For believers, he applies Jesus’ forceful illustration in Matthew 5 as a call for decisive changes in conduct, explicitly explaining it as hyperbole.
Revelation 20:11-15 · John 5:24 · Ephesians 2:8-9 · Matthew 5:29-30
- How does Pastor Keith describe the judgment scene at the great white throne and the book of life?
- How does Pastor Keith explain the assurance Jesus offers in John 5:24?
- Why does Pastor Keith understand Matthew 5:29-30 as hyperbole, and what change in conduct does he say it calls for?
Answers from this recording
Start a conversation.
Why does Pastor Keith keep emphasizing that Revelation is about Jesus?+
The message returns to the meaning of apocalypse—unveiling—and to the claim that the whole book is about Jesus. That framing lets Pastor Keith acknowledge the genuine difficulty of chapter 20 while keeping the focus on God's faithfulness. He reads Revelation 20 as a promise that everything God said will be fulfilled, and his stated bottom line is the "pan" theory: it will all pan out in the end, because God does what he says he will do.
Is the thousand years literal or figurative in this message?+
Pastor Keith answers honestly that faithful scholars differ, and his own church has primarily taught a premillennial reading, connecting it to 1 Thessalonians 4. He explains the premillennial, postmillennial, and amillennial positions and notes the symbolism—ten picturing perfect authority, a thousand presented as a perfect number in this context—as well as the hyperbolic use of "a thousand" in Psalm 50:10. His stated bottom line is that it will all pan out in the end, and he rests that on Revelation being about Jesus and on God fulfilling his promises.
Why would God release Satan after locking him up?+
This is one of the questions Pastor Keith says he has asked repeatedly and prayed about. His conclusion is not a detailed explanation but a posture: God is God and we are not. Because God is eternal in knowledge, he can allow events we do not understand to accomplish purposes we cannot yet see, while we see only present circumstances. Pastor Keith ties this to Romans 8:28 and to trusting that God's ways are right.
Why does Pastor Keith take judgment so seriously?+
Pastor Keith interprets Revelation 20:11-15 as a final judgment with lasting consequences. He argues that God’s justice means sin matters and draws on Jesus’ warnings in Matthew and Mark. He then turns to John 5:24 as an invitation to trust Jesus and receive eternal life.
How does someone respond to this message?+
Pastor Keith connects Romans 3:22-23 and Ephesians 2:8-9 with receiving acceptance by God through trust in Jesus rather than earning it. He uses John 5:24 to offer assurance of eternal life and invites hearers to confess sin and receive salvation. He also applies Matthew 5:29-30, which he explains as hyperbole, as an appeal for believers to make decisive changes in conduct. His closing prayer asks God to work in listeners and make them eager to share their hope.
