The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Revelation Chapter 20 Discussion Continued 2

The most frequently requested Christ in Prophecy television show episodes on Revelation have been pulled out of the vault and re-released!

Over the six episodes, Dr. David Reagan and guests Don McGee of Crown and Sickle Ministries and Dennis Pollock of Spirit of Grace Ministries go chapter by chapter through the book of Revelation, explaining that the book of Revelation isn’t difficult to understand, rather it is difficult to believe. But, if you will believe it for its plain sense meaning, you will understand it. For anyone who’s been born again and has the Holy Spirit residing within them, Revelation can become very clear.

Our teachers have been discussing the binding of Satan’s influence during the Millennial Kingdom. They’ll continue their discussion of Chapter 20 by celebrating in Jesus Christ’s Millennial reign right here on Earth.

Feel free to watch, listen, or read along by clicking one of the icons below.

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Revelation: Discussion of Chapter 20 (Continued)

[Read Chapter 20 in the NASB version via Biblegateway.]

McGee & Pollock

Dr. Reagan: I’d like to go back to a point you made earlier, Don, about a fellow that said to you, “God only says ‘thousand years’ once in the Bible and so it’s not going to be a reign of Jesus Christ here on the earth, and therefore it really couldn’t be all that important or it doesn’t really mean what it says.” As if God has to say something over and over! I’ve had people say the very same thing to me many times, and that’s just as false as it can be.

Revelation 20 is not the only place in the Bible where it says that Jesus is coming back to reign. The Bible is full of Scripture that talks about Jesus coming back to reign. People who say that Revelation 20 is the only place are people who primarily don’t know the Old Testament. You can turn over to the Old Testament and you can find all sorts of references. In fact, the whole book of Isaiah from beginning to end is primarily about one thing — the reign of Jesus Christ.

You don’t read the book of Revelation to find out about the reign of Jesus Christ. You read the book of Revelation to find out about the Tribulation. That’s what it’s about. But, if you want to find out the reign of Jesus, you’d better go over to Isaiah. Isaiah tells about the sociological aspects, the economic aspects, the political aspects, everything concerning Jesus’ reign. And so, the Bible is full of information about the reign of Jesus.

Dennis Pollock: Yes, Revelation describes the fact that there will be this Millennial reign. Isaiah goes into detail. He gives us some of the pictures of what it will be like with the animals getting along together, and the lamb and the wolf feeding together, and so forth.

Dr. Reagan: Beating the swords into plowshares.

Dennis Pollock: Yes, Isaiah describes a little child putting his hands into a snake’s den and it’s no big deal because the snakes are no longer poisonous and they no longer will bite. An incredible story! But again, some people say, “Hey, that really can’t be can it? I mean, would God do that? It just doesn’t seem right to me.” But, as we know, God doesn’t need to ask us how to do these kinds of things. He said that’s how it’s going to be and the safest thing we can do is simply believe God’s Word.

Dr. Reagan: I’ve had people actually quote to me Luke 24 and they say that Jesus said there in Luke 24:44, “These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” And they said, “See, all prophecy has been fulfilled.” I’ve heard people use that over and over and over. They’ll say, “Jesus Himself said that all prophecy has been fulfilled, therefore there are no prophecies left to fulfill.”

Don McGee: That’s not what Jesus said. He said all prophecy MUST be fulfilled.

Dr. Reagan: Amen!

Don McGee: And, they miss that little four-letter word. All prophecy MUST be fulfilled, but there is nothing anywhere that says it must be fulfilled prior to His ascension into Heaven. Everything didn’t end in AD 30. I promise you.

Dennis Pollock: The First Coming prophecies were fulfilled, but the Second Coming prophecies haven’t been fulfilled, and the Bible is filled with prophecies that have not yet come to pass. They will.

Zechariah 14 is a great example. The Lord’s going to go forth and fight against the nations that are coming against Jerusalem. His feet are going stand on the Mount of Olives. Has that happened yet? No, it has not happened. Also, it says the Mount of Olives is going to split in two, waters are going to gush forth, and has that happened yet? No, it has not happened. It will happen because God says it will. God’s going come and be king over the whole earth and in that day the Lord is one. His name is one. Has Christ ever come and become King over the whole earth? Has that been fulfilled? No. Will it? Absolutely!

Dr. Reagan: In Peter’s first sermon on Pentecost, the whole sermon from beginning to end was prophecy, just one prophecy after another concerning the First Coming. And he says, “Jesus has fulfilled all this.” And the people responded by asking, “What must we do to be saved?”

Peter’s second sermon recorded in Acts 3 begins to get into Second Coming prophecies. He says that, “Jesus has been sent and that Jesus was appointed for a time for you.” And he says, “He’s gone to Heaven, and he says Heaven must receive Him until the period of the restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of the Holy prophets from ancient times.” He’s talking about future prophecies yet to be fulfilled. Jesus will stay until it’s time for the restoration of all things.

Don McGee: A man asked a preacher one time about that passage that you were talking about, about Jesus doing all of these things on the earth. He asked about Zechariah 14, about the cleft there in the Mount of Olives. And this older gentlemen asked this guy and he replied, “Well, is there a cleft in Jerusalem in the Mount of Olives?” And the preacher said, “Why, of course there is! Absolutely there is!” Now, here is a man who knew better, who actually lied to this old man, knew that there was no valley on the Mount of Olives today, and because he could not answer this man’s question in the context of what he believed, he lied to this guy.

Dr. Reagan: Well, you don’t need to do that. The Scriptures are just as clear as they can be.

Don McGee: Very clear, very plain.

Dr. Reagan: Sometimes people refer to 2 Peter 3, where it talks about how the world was once destroyed by water and is being saved up for wrath to be destroyed once again by fire. They say it says here that when the Lord comes the Earth will be consumed by fire, and they conclude since there’s no mention of a millennial reign, therefore there is no millennial reign.

Dennis Pollock: If that was the only verse in the Bible, you would probably conclude that there wouldn’t be, because it talks about the Earth being destroyed by fire when the Lord comes back. When I teach this, I use this illustration: Imagine that you found a note that I had written referring to my wife saying she’s crazy. You might conclude that I thought my wife was insane. But, suppose you had a longer note that was all mushy and just filled with words of love and all the rest and you had to compare the two. So, you say, “Well, you know, I think that because of this longer note that is much more detailed talks about how much he loves her, and this little note says she’s crazy, I think we’re going have to make the little one blend in with the larger one.

Now, the truth of course would be that I said she’s crazy in the sense that she’s funny, she hilarious, she’s a joker. Well, yes, 2 Peter for a few verses does have this little section that does seem to indicate that the world’s going to burn up when Christ comes. But, when you compare it with a longer section such as Revelation 20 and in Isaiah and you put it all together, you have to conclude that we’re going to need to make the smaller section mesh with the larger, in which case, Peter was simply given an overview of the whole scenario from start to finish. There are time gaps in between.

Don McGee: Every Scripture has to be interpreted in context of the whole idea. You can’t take one verse out and stand on it and say this is everything that God has said about the matter. When you do, you get into big interpretation trouble.

In the next part, our teachers will continue on in their discussion of Revelation 20, addressing the Second Death.

Resource

Revelation RevealedRevelation Revealed DVD
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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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