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1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,
having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand
a great chain.
2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent,
who is the devil, or Satan, and
bound him
for a thousand years.
3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked
and sealed it over him, to keep him from
deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years
were ended.
After that (1000 yrs),
he (=Satan) must be set free for a short time.
- At the beginning of the
Millenium reign, Satan is bounded -
so he can no deceive any one
- So the Millenium reign will be a
very peaceful time
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4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who
had been given authority to judge. And I saw
the souls of those
who had been beheaded because
of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God.
They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not
received his mark on their foreheads or their hands.
They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
- These people have been
martyred for their
unwavering faith in Jesus
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5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life
until the thousand
years were ended.) This is the
first resurrection.
- So this is the
first resurrection...
I can hear you scream "What ?"... there are
more than one resurrections ?
Didn't the Bible teach that the dead will be
resurrected on Judgement day ?
Yes; they will be resurrected on the
same day - in God's 1000 yr as 1 day
way of looking at a day.
- There will be two kinds of people
in heaven
The first kind are the martyrs
for Jesus.
The second kind are those who were
not killed
for their faith in God.
- Correspondingly, there are
two resurrections
The first kind of followers are
resurrected at the start of the
Millenium reign
The second kind of followers will be
resurrected at the end of the
Millenium reign
(In God's perspective of 1000 yr being a day,
both kinds of followers are resurrected in
the Day of the Lord)
- (I bet that your paster has not teach you this...
It's is very politically incorrect
to teach that some believers are "better" than others -
but that is what the Bible teaches...)
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6 Blessed and
holy (= set apart)
are
those who
have part in the first resurrection.
The second death has no power over them,
but they will be priests of God and of Christ
and will reign with him for a thousand years.
- The second death is
when you get tossed into the
Lake of Fire (and get tormented for eternity):
- Rev 20:14 ... The lake of fire
is the second death.
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- The one that are part of the
first resurrection
have given their life
for their faith...
Surely, these followers of Jesus will
not be tossed into
the Lake of Fire; therefore:
second death has no power over them
- Now the Millenium Reign is
not the same as heaven -
we are still on earth
(in fact, there will be a final war at the
end of the Millenium Reign)
- Jesus will use
Administrators to
help Him govern His kingdom on earth...
Those that are part of the
first resurrection
are Jesus' Administrators -
and will
reign with him for a
thousand years.
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What is the Millenium Reign like ? |
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Isa 65:17 For, behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth:
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
- This prophecy in
Isaaih
is talking about what it is like to live in the
Millenium Reign
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Isa 65:18 But be ye
glad and rejoice
for ever in that which I create:
for, behold, I create Jerusalem a
rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people:
and the
voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her,
nor the voice of crying.
Isa 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days,
nor an old man that hath not filled his days:
for the child shall die an hundred years old;
but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
- In this time, if a
"child" dies at 100 yrs of age
he will be called
accursed
- In other words, people will
live a long time...
(probably several hundreds of years old !)
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Isa 65:21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them;
and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
Isa 65:22 They shall not build, and another inhabit;
they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days
of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall
long enjoy the work of their hands.
- There will be plenty of food...
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Isa 65:23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble;
for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their
offspring with them.
- The inhabitants will multiply greatly in numbers...
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Isa 65:24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call,
I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
- God will answer their calls...
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Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock:
and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall
not hurt nor destroy in all
my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
- The holy mountain is
God's kingdom on earth... during the
Millenium Reign
- Peace will reign on earth -
because Jesus
is here !
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7 When the thousand years are over,
Satan will be released from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations
in the four corners
of the earth -- Gog and Magog -- to
gather them for battle.
In number they are like the
sand on the seashore (= a lot !)
- Yep, the devil is released one last time...
- Note during the Millenium Reign,
there will be people born (and some may die).
Because they live so long and the land is so fruitful, the
population has
increased tremedously
- Eventhough Jesus reigns on
earth, there will be wicked people
The wicked people
dare not rebel against Jesus
- But that is going to change when
the devil is
set free...
The wicked people
will be persuaded by
Satan that they
can depose
Jesus...
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9 They marched across the breadth of the earth
and
surrounded the camp of God's people,
the city he loves (= Jerusalem).
But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
- Satan leads another army to Jerusalem to
fight Jesus and His people...
- He will be defeated; the final time...
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10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into
the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and
the false prophet had been thrown.
They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 Then I saw a great white throne
and him (=Jesus) who was seated on it.
Earth and sky fled from his presence,
and there was no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne, and
books were opened.
Another book was opened,
which is the book of life.
The dead were judged according to what they
had done as recorded in the books.
13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it,
and death and Hades gave up the dead that
were in them, and
each person was judged
according to what he had done.
- The Bible says that
the dead, great and small -
are being judged.
It never said that
"the unbelievers", great and small - are being judged.
- Furthermore, the
book of life
is present at the judgement.
Here is how the
book of life is used
in the judgement:
- Rev 20:15 If anyone's name was
not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
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If "only unbelievers" are being judged in the
great white throne judgement,
you do not need to use the
book of life -
since none of their names will be written in the
book.
- So the teaching that
only unbelievers
are judged at the Great White Throne judgement
is a lie
- Make sure you notice what the Bible say on
how you will be judged:
- each person was
judged according to what he had done
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God could not care less about what you say -
He only care what you have done
- So Christians: when you are persecuted in the
Tribulation and are given the option to
convert to Islam or
be killed -
God will look very closely at what you
do... and not what you say...
If you try to escape death by
"pretending to convert to Islam" -
God will not care what you said
(what you said was "it was not a conversion; just a pretense").
Well, God looks deeper -
at what you did...
What you did say that
you love your life more than you love God...
And that's why the angel say in Rev 21:
- Rev 21:8 But the cowardly, ...
their place will be in the
fiery lake of burning fire.
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14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
... The lake of fire is the second death.
15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
- So get your acts together and
keep the faith
no matter what...
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