Want to welcome Westco, want to welcome Rancho.

Actually, give them a big shout out, would you, because it's pretty special.

We love what's going on over at Westco with Matt Chavez and now over at Rancho.

If you've never been to either one of those campuses, beautiful campuses, beautiful facilities, great campus pastors, really encourage you to pay it a visit sometime.

Now, we're in a series called Shocking.

I want you to turn to Revelation 20, the easiest book in the Bible.

No, probably the most difficult.

What I've been trying to show you in this series is there are truths we find in the book of Revelation that should cause us to take a real pause and ask ourselves who we really are, what we're trying to achieve in our lives.

The reality is that most of the world, a majority of the world does not believe that the king is ever going to come back, that Jesus actually was crucified on a cross.

They may believe that, but they don't believe that he came back from the dead.

that he launched this beautiful movement called the church and that one day he's going to return.

And what most of the world definitely does not believe is that all of us are going to stand before God one day and give an account for the lives that we've lived.

If those who do believe that believe that they're basically good people, so they have nothing to worry about.

Totally subjective, no objectivity in it at all.

When John wrote the book of Revelation, it is important to remember that he's writing to a group of Christ followers who are being heavily persecuted under the Roman Empire.

So if he's going to write the book to encourage them, think about this, it seems to me that they would have to understand what he's saying, right?

Otherwise, they're not going to be encouraged.

And the thing I've tried to say to you is we've made the book of Revelation far more difficult than we need to.

Now, I'm not suggesting that there aren't difficult sections of it.

There are.

In fact, nobody has the monopoly on truth when it comes to Revelation.

It is signs and symbols meant to communicate what is going to happen from the time Jesus established his church until the time he comes again.

So it is difficult.

However, there are things that we can know with certainty.

Now, there is a shocking truth that we find in Revelation 20.

And let me let the cat out of the bag right up front.

When I take you through this, you're going to realize you've got much more power than you ever dreamed.

that you do not have to be a victim to circumstances, that you do not have to be a victim to the world system that's kind of pulled you into its vortex, that when we read this, you're going to realize your position in Christ and the power that you have in your life is far greater than you ever imagined.

And I just hope that we don't have to wait until the Lord returns to realize that.

Now, in order to understand Revelation, we have to understand the code.

that the people of John's day would have most definitely understood.

They would have been shaking their heads.

Yeah, I get that.

I get that.

So on the screen behind me is kind of the code for understanding the book of Revelation.

I realize those of you who study eschatology, some of you may not agree with everything I say.

The truths you'll agree with, but there are different positions on this because it's very difficult.

Here's my take.

And the reason I have this take, let me just say that before I get to the screen.

When I was in seminary and I was taught the book of Revelation, obviously was taught multi-views, so they gave us all four or five views.

I was so enamored with it that I always asked the question, okay, this is how we look at the book of Revelation today.

What I wanted to know, how did the early church fathers look at the book of Revelation?

See, that's important because they were only 100 plus years removed from it.

You and I are 2000 years plus removed from it.

So I'm thinking if I can get inside their heads and there's plenty of information to know how they looked at the book of Revelation.

They looked at the book of Revelation as if it was cyclical.

Now, cyclical means, well, let me give you an example first.

Remember Joseph in the Old Testament had two dreams, remember?

One concerned the wheat and the corn bowing down, and then the other concerned the stars in the heavens bowing down.

So he had two separate dreams in which God used two different symbols to communicate the same message.

Same message, different symbols.

The oldest understanding of Revelation is that it is cyclical in the sense that the writer, through the revelation given to him by the Spirit of God, receives six visions in a row.

And each of those visions represents the types of events that are going to happen from the time Jesus established the church until the time he returns.

And they're going to increase with intensity.

So you'd have all these symbols that would communicate a truth.

And then the second coming, you would wipe the slate clean and start again with another vision that basically communicates the same thing of the first vision, only in a different way.

That's why you have, as you read the book of Revelation, you'll notice that Jesus comes back six times.

At the end of every vision, it gives us a picture of the types of things that will occur when Jesus returns.

Because of that, many of the early church fathers looked at the book of Revelation.

For instance, they looked at the numbers.

The number seven, anytime you see seven, it's not literal in Revelation.

It's a figure of perfection.

When you see the number 10, it is completion.

When you see heads, when you see these weird beasts with seven heads and 10 heads, Well, that means they have perfect or complete authority or power.

And then sometimes they have horns on their heads.

And again, that's a symbol and sign of power and authority.

It comes directly out of the Old Testament.

Now, when it comes to understanding the timeframe of all of history, the early church fathers, through the cyclical approach, saw that all of time was represented in seven years.

Three and a half years between creation and Jesus, and three and a half years between Jesus' first coming.

and Jesus' second coming, which would make perfect sense because in the book of Revelation, you have 42 months, 1260 days, three and a half years, time, times, and half a time.

But all of those numbers represent the same time period, three and a half years.

42 months is three and a half years.

1260 days is three and a half years.

Time, times, half a time is three and a half years.

And three and a half years is three and a half years.

And so the events in the book of Revelation as they are described, will often refer to 42 months, 1260 days, three and a half years, time, times, and half a time to try to communicate the same thing that the book of Revelation is meant to show us the types of events that are going to happen between the time Christ established his kingdom until the time he returns.

So if you look at the seven seals, you've got war and famine, but the gospel goes out in conquest.

If you look at the bowls of wrath, if you look at the trumpets, You've got...

Anti-God governments, you've got anti-Christ religions, you've got earthquakes, you've got the decay, the second law of thermodynamics, you've got the decay of planet Earth as it moves toward the end.

It just gives you different visions to show you the same thing, everything that's happening in our world right now.

By the time you get then to Revelation 20, the reason this is crucial is because it's the end of the end.

It tells you what is going to happen.

When Christ comes, and according to Scripture, you and I are called up to meet in the air, right?

The dead in Christ rise first, and it tells you how things end.

It is the end of all things.

Now, it doesn't tell you everything.

It just tells you some of the things because the other visions will add on, and you get a complete picture of the types of things that will happen.

But as you read Revelation 20, not only do you discover how things are going to end, you discover who you are meant to be.

what you were supposed to be doing and how you were supposed to be living when Christ returns.

That's kind of an important issue.

So here we go.

Let's read the text.

I'm in verse 1 of chapter 20.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

And he cast him into the bottomless pit.

and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

But after these things, he must be released for a little while.

Now to understand the paragraph, we have to understand some terms.

First, we're told that during this thousand years, whenever that time is, Satan is going to be bound.

But the Greek word is a very interesting word.

It does not mean that he is totally weak.

It just means he's restricted in some way.

And the picture that I can give you, the word picture, is when someone's in prison but still runs his empire on the outside.

He's restricted, but he's not completely weak.

Do you remember El Chapo?

Was it El Chapo?

Wall Queen Guzman?

He ran this massive, massive operations for the cartel while incarcerated in Mexico's maximum security prison.

So what you're going to discover, in my view, is that we come to the book of Revelation, we've got all these numbers that are symbolic, and for some reason that I will never understand, suddenly we think the thousand years is literal.

Now, why would we think the thousand years is literal when we don't translate any other number in the book of Revelation as literal, but as symbolic?

I'm suggesting to you that take the number a thousand.

It's multiples of 10.

So 10 times 10 is 100.

10 times 100 is 1,000.

10 is the number for...

completion or perfection.

And when you combine 10 with the number three, 10 times 10 times 10, the number three, all through the Bible, especially John's readers would have understood this, is divine completion and perfection as in the Holy Trinity.

Anytime Satan tries to mimic or to ape or mock God, he does so in threes.

We'll determine that just in a few moments.

A good example of that, if you've ever read Revelation 7, you've heard that 144,000 people go to heaven, right?

Now, nobody takes that literal except perhaps the Jehovah Witnesses, but most people don't take that literal because you're in the book of Revelation.

So how can it be that the Bible tells us 144,000?

Well, it's from two numbers.

It's from the number 12 and the number 10.

The number 12 represents the people of God, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples, 12 apostles.

When you see the number 12, it's the people of God.

And the number 10, when you have those combined and multiplied, the number 10 is perfection.

So when you see a number like 144,000, the Bible is trying to tell you who goes to heaven, all God's people.

Okay?

So when we come to the word or the number 1,000, what I'm suggesting into you.

I'm going to stay the course with symbolic apocalyptic literature and tell you that once again, the Bible is trying to communicate to us that the Lord will return when he's good and ready, when it's the perfect completion of everything he's wanted to accomplish.

Just like Jesus came in the fullness of time, he will come again in the fullness of time when all these events have come together.

Now, if I'm right about that, and nobody's right about everything in Revelation, then I'm suggesting that the thousand years is represented by the time Christ establishes kingdom until he returns.

It's not a literal thousand years.

It's symbolic, just like 42 months, 1260 days, times and a half a time, and three and a half years.

It's the perfect amount of time.

But if I'm right about that, that would mean, according to the text, that Satan is bound now.

Now, is Satan bound now?

Well, yes.

I'm only telling you what Jesus said in Matthew 12.

But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man?

I don't know of any scholar that doesn't agree that the strong man is Satan.

He's the prince of the power of the air and the work of the Christ bound him so that he could no longer deceive the nations.

So in a real sense, yes, he's not totally powerless.

He still has a lot of influence.

He's like the guy that's incarcerated running his empire.

However, he's already been defeated in one sense.

He is not given complete freedom.

He has been bound.

As a matter of fact, folks, he can't come in here unless you bring him with you.

Think about it.

If Satan's not bound, my goodness, if he wasn't restricted, he'd do a lot worse damage than he does now.

So what does the Bible say the binding?

accomplishes, the restriction accomplishes, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

In other words, during our time, while we're waiting for the return of Christ, he can't stop the work of God.

He can't prevent the gospel from going out.

Folks, do you know what's going on right now in our time in Europe and Asia?

There are 170,000 conversions to Christ every day.

Satan's not having his way in the world.

It may look like he's having his way in the West, but in Asia, in post-USSR, even in the South Pacific.

So if it's true then that the gates of Hades will never prevail against the church, he has no power over the church, that prayer works, James 5, 16, that the effective prayer of a righteous man or woman releases the divine energy of God.

If it's true that the word does not return void.

Now, please hear me.

That means that you and I...

have a lot more power than we've ever, ever assumed.

That the strongholds in our lives can only be there if we don't speak against them and imply and employ the name of Jesus.

Everybody in the room has a stronghold of some sort.

I mean, you know this because you're like your mother and you don't want to be.

The very thing you said you'd never do, you hear yourself talking to your kids and it reminds you, man, that's what my mom used to say.

Or as a father, even though there were things about your father you detested, it's amazing how they're just passed down generation after generation.

Psychologists and counselors tell us that if your family went through a divorce, chances are high that you will.

That if your parents had an addiction, chances are high that you will have an affinity toward that same addiction or one similar to it.

That if there was abuse in your family, chances are high you'll repeat the cycle.

If your parents were fearful or filled with anxiety or depression or doubt or worry, chances are high they're going to pass that down to you too.

Yeah, they pass good things down to you, but they pass these things down to you that were strongholds that passed down to them.

What the Bible tells you though is that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world, and the power in you is far greater than any kind of stronghold.

But you have to understand how it works and you have to speak the name of Jesus.

I've been saying this.

When you speak the name of Jesus, the Spirit then combines with the Word of God, the knowledge of the Word that is in you, and it's amazing what starts happening all around you.

As a matter of fact, do you remember what happened in Luke 10?

Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Is Jesus seeing right now?

What John says has happened.

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.

Those are symbolic.

Nevertheless, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

And then we're told in Isaiah 54, long before the New Testament, no weapon formed against you shall prosper.

And every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.

Listen to this next part.

And their righteousness is from me, says the Lord, because here's what we do.

We say, well, Pastor Jeff, I want to speak the name of Jesus into my strongholds, but I've got sin in my life.

I'm not walking with God the way I should.

There's all kinds of issues happening.

Listen, the righteousness that you have is not from you.

It's from Jesus.

So that when God sees you, he sees you as righteous.

which means you have the power and authority that's been given to you by grace to speak the name of Jesus against any stronghold and rise above it.

We're not blinded and deceived.

He cannot overpower us.

Yes, we weep, but not without hope.

We doubt, but not without certainty.

We fear, but not without courage.

In fact, what I'm about to show you, the Bible says two wonderful, beautiful things.

Number one, you've already experienced a resurrection.

It's a spiritual one, but you've already risen from the dead and your eyes are open.

And the second thing is you're actually ruling right now.

Right now, it may not look like it, but right now we're told that we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.

And I'm going to show you how that works according to scripture.

But not only are you awake, your eyes have been opened, but you are ruling in the kingdom of God, the kingdom, the only kingdom that is not fading away.

And so the next verse says, and I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was committed to them.

So there's a break there that you don't see in the English translation.

So there's one group of people, and then a second group of people.

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

And then he refers back to the they in the first part, and they, lived and 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.

Now let me explain this.

First, he says that there are going to be those who receive the mark of the beast.

If you were here last week, we said it's not that difficult for John's readers to understand what he's saying.

That in the Old Testament, they wore phylacteries.

And phylacteries were scripture, the word of God tied around their head and around their wrist.

It symbolized they are thinking the thoughts of God and doing the deeds of God.

When John's readers would have heard that there's a mark of the beast, who we already know represents the devil, they would have automatically gone back to the phylacteries and assumed, oh, we're sealed with the Holy Spirit, but the people of the world are sealed with the mark of the beast.

They do the thoughts of the evil one, or sorry, they think the thoughts of the evil one, and They do the deeds of the evil one.

You don't have to be a Satan worshiper to have the mark of the beast.

You're just not sealed with the Holy Spirit, which means you're going the way of the world, the flow of the world.

There's a prince of the power of the air, right?

Right?

Prince of the power of the air.

The whole world lies under the sway of the evil one.

So if you're not marked with the Spirit of God and you've not experienced the first resurrection, you may not be a Satan worshiper, but whether you realize it or not, you're going his way, the flow of the world, that is not with God, but against God.

Against Christ his Messiah.

So if all of that's true, if the thousand years, listen now, if the thousand years represents...

That Satan is bound during the time Jesus establishes his kingdom to the time he returns.

He's restricted to a great degree.

And during that time, there will be people who are sealed with the mark of the Holy Spirit and those who are sealed with the mark of the dragon or the beast, which is to think the thoughts of the world and to do the deeds of the world.

Then that tells me there's going to be people right now who, as a result of having the mark of the beast, cannot buy or sell.

Folks.

That happens all over the world right now.

We just live a privileged life.

You go to Africa, you go to many parts of Asia, you go to Iraq, you go to Iran.

If you're a Christ follower, you cannot trade, you cannot get a job, you cannot buy and sell in the marketplace.

You are abused, you are persecuted.

We are so coddled in the West that we think somehow this is going to happen somewhere in the future.

But if I'm a Christian in Angola or Nigeria or Iraq, or Iran, or many parts of China.

I'm already experiencing this.

I already know that by being a Christ follower, my economic livelihood is in jeopardy.

So what I'm saying is that you and I are alive.

We've come alive.

Romans 6, 4, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life.

Colossians 2, 13.

and you, being dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him.

Let me say it again.

You've already experienced what the Bible calls the first resurrection.

Read John 3 and the experience with Nicodemus and Jesus.

You've been born again.

Folks, listen.

Have you ever talked to a friend of yours or a neighbor about your faith in Christ and what Jesus is doing in your life?

As you talk to them, their eyes just gloss over.

They have no idea what you're talking about.

They're thinking, what planet are you from?

Do you know why?

Because they're still dead.

They can't see what you see.

Do you realize if you see the simplicity of the gospel, if you feel the presence of God in worship, if you have a passion and desire to be with God, you didn't do that in and of yourself.

It was given to you by the Spirit of God.

He has awakened you, and you ought to be dancing.

You ought to be dancing because no matter how hard your life is here, you're part of a kingdom that the only kingdom that will never end and you are ruling with Christ.

Now, wait a minute, Jeff.

What do you mean ruling with Christ?

Because I'm living a simple life in a modest home and I can barely make ends meet and you're telling me that I'm reigning?

Well, Ephesians 2, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions.

It is by grace you have been saved and God...

Raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.

That's the present reality.

You and I in a real way are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm.

Now what does that mean?

That was one of my big questions when I started understanding Revelation as cyclical.

Well, Jesus said these words to Peter in Matthew 16, I tell you the truth that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Do you realize that the church of Jesus Christ, insofar as it accurately views scripture, do you know that we are the ones that declare what is sinful to the world?

We are the ones who are ruling.

It may not look like it to the world, but we're the ones who decide what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

We don't pay attention to culture.

Now, we don't decide apart from the objective word of God, but we are the ambassadors of Christ on planet earth.

Jesus told Peter, and not Peter himself, but the church of Jesus Christ, it is our job, it is our commission, it is our responsibility to model to the world what is right, what is wrong, what is good, what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable.

In that way, you and I are reigning with Christ in the heavenly places.

In John chapter 5 verse 24.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

So we are reigning and we are alive.

We're alive.

Although sometimes I look at some of you and wonder, I got to tell you, you're alive, man.

We're not the frozen chosen, right?

Oh, you should have seen what I just saw.

Yeah, right.

We're not the frozen chosen.

Are you still talking?

We're not the frozen chosen man.

We're alive in Christ.

We're seated at the right end of the Father and we're reigning with Him.

Now notice in verse 5 what happens.

And they, referring to the first day, they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years, so we are reigning.

But the rest of the dead, this is beautiful, the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.

This is the first resurrection.

Okay, here's what this means.

There are two deaths and two resurrections.

Death one is when you die to your old way and you're resurrected to anew in baptism.

You've experienced a spiritual death, right?

The second death is physical, when you die at the end of your life.

Now, there are two resurrections.

The first resurrection is when you come out of those baptismal waters, you have now been raised with Christ to walk in the newness of life.

And the second resurrection is after you physically die because of Christ's resurrection, everyone will rise from the dead.

Death has been defeated.

The question is, as you live again, will you live in heaven with Jesus or will you live in hell apart from him?

Only two choices.

In Revelation 20 verse 6, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

Over such the second death has no power.

I love this.

We don't need to fear death.

If you experience the first resurrection, you have no fear of death because in your next life, as you're risen from the dead the second time physically, you are going to live the life that you were always meant to live in full and complete community with Christ.

Now, what that tells me, on the other hand, is there's a lot of zombies walking around.

Oh, yeah.

That means all around us, there are dead people, dead man walking.

Dead woman walking.

You may have all the money in the world, but you're dead man walking.

You may have all the prestige.

You may have all the beauty and looks that anyone could ever want, but you're still dead man or dead woman walking.

If you buy into this world system, you know, folks, you can come to church every weekend and be dead man walking.

Did you know that?

If you're the type of person that says, you know, I'm a good person.

I go to church.

Do you think being good and that's what gets you into heaven?

Do you know why you think that?

Because you're a dead man walking.

You have not experienced the spiritual resurrection, because if you had, you'd not be talking like that.

So in a way, this is going to be harsh, in a way, you might look like a lamb, but you're talking like the dragon.

You say, I pray and read my Bible from time to time.

You think that's going to get you into heaven?

I'm glad you do.

But you think that's what gets you into heaven?

And if you do, it's because you're spiritually dead.

You just don't get it yet.

And we love you and we hope to bring you along, but you're not there.

Man, when you have a spiritual awakening, when you have a Jesus revelation and your eyes are open, you know what?

The first thing you realize is this, man, I am not good.

I need a savior.

And you drop to your knees and you give your life to Christ.

In verse six, verse six, blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

Over such the sacred death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

I know of no biblical reference that suggests there's the priesthood of all believers in heaven.

So I have to assume that's talking about the here and now, which means you and I are priests, every single one of you whose eyes have been opened.

You don't need to go through me to get your sins absolved, do you?

You go straight to Jesus.

You don't need a priest.

There is one mediator between God and man.

It's the man, Jesus Christ.

So what does that mean?

Well, in 1 Peter 2, we're told you're a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

And then in Revelation 5, they sang a new song.

You are worthy to take the scroll to open its seals.

Because you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God and they will reign on earth.

You know you're a priest, right?

Not my words, the words of Jesus himself.

Folks, do you realize right now we are living in a time when the priesthood of all believers is on warp speed?

Don't just look at what's going on here.

If you look at what's going on in Europe, in Asia...

in post-USSR countries, even places in the South Pacific.

If you look at what's going on there, you can't help but to think that people, individuals are taking their call to speak the gospel into their circles of influence, equipped with no seminary education or Bible college degree or Bible training, with only their Bible in their hand and a love and passion for those who are far from God.

They have learned to articulate the simple message of the gospel and and they're starting Bible studies in their homes, and lives are being transformed.

170,000 people a day.

Do you know what's going on in the...

Okay, so maybe in our universities it's not happening yet, but do you know what's happening in the American prison system?

You caught up with those stories yet?

It's amazing.

Let me give you one example.

Revival is sweeping through the prisons in Texas.

They're having mass baptisms, worship nights, inmate-led churches.

It's gained significant momentum, both in death row and maximum security.

In fact, I just read an article reporting on this that says half of the 160 plus men on death row have converted to Christianity.

Now, when I read that, you're probably thinking the same thing I did.

I thought, well, sure they did.

They're trying to get off death row.

But then you read the article and you discover...

that those who have been converted to Christ realize they need to stop denying the crimes they committed, confess them, and they do indeed deserve the punishment assigned to them.

That's how you know your conversion is real.

You're not looking for a loophole.

You're looking for a Savior.

I'm amazed at what Paul said in Philippians, folks, when he said, now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel.

As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I'm in chains for Christ.

He says, you know what?

This prison experience, it's given me a new sphere of influence.

And I am now able to articulate the gospel in simplicity to those otherwise I would have never met or never known.

What about you?

Folks, in Europe, Africa, and Asia, in places that would be tough for a missionary to go, There is this organic movement of God happening when Christ followers realize they are ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and they have launched Bible studies.

They've learned to articulate the simplicity of the gospel, and people are getting saved every single day.

Now, here we go.

Verse 7 of chapter 20, when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth.

Gog and Magog.

Actually, to our Hebrew friends, it's actually Gog and Magog, and to gather them for battle.

Here's what I want to do.

I want to explain what the battle of Armageddon is, and then I want to make my last comments, okay?

Everybody take a deep breath.

In Revelation 16, the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates.

I wish we had time.

If we had time to go through all these, I could...

I can describe to you how Euphrates represents the land of barbarianism.

We can go through every little verse and every little, but we can't do that.

So let's try to stay on the big picture.

Its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the east.

Then I saw three impure spirits.

Remember what we said?

Satan always apes God.

So we have the divine holy trinity.

Here we have the unholy trinity.

I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon, which we know is Satan, the mouth of the beast, anti-God governments, the mouth of the false prophet, anti-Christ religions.

They are demonic spirits that perform signs and they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

Look, I come like a thief.

Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.

Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called, what's it called?

Armageddon.

Only time in all of scripture that word is used.

Let me please explain to you what the word means.

Armageddon is a transliteration of Har-Megadon.

And Har-Megadon is an Aramaic rendering of the Hebrew Har-Megiddo, which is well known.

It means the mountain of Megiddo.

Har means mountain.

Megiddo is the name of the valley, the Jezreel Valley, where most of the Old Testament battles were fought, where the people who opposed God tried to destroy the people of God.

John, when he's writing this to people who needed encouragement under the persecution of Rome, would have understood completely, in my humble opinion, what John was trying to say because here's the problem.

There's no such place as the mountain of Megiddo.

Doesn't exist.

Why does John not talk about Megiddo?

Why does he talk about Har-Megiddo?

Because it's symbolic.

There is the valley of Megiddo and it's quite famous.

between the Jezreel Valley and the pass.

through the mountain of Samaria and Judea, and it sits right next to the Carmel mountain range.

It's kind of a choke point if you're traveling north to south of the land of Israel on the Mediterranean side, and it serves as the place.

It's this large, beautiful valley.

It stretches through the Jezreel Valley, and again, it's the site of most of the Old Testament battles.

So according to these two texts in Revelation 20 and Revelation 16, the place is Har Megiddo, but the battle is actually the battle of Gog and Magog.

Let me read it again in Revelation 20.

When the thousand years are over, Satan is released from his prison.

There's no restriction.

He will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, but he throws in this Gog and Magog.

Now, there's a couple of things here.

Number one, if this is a literal, earthly, physical, human battle between human forces.

There is no way there's enough room in the Jezreel Valley for how many warriors need to come to this place according to popular eschatological views.

But regardless, even if there was enough space, Har Megiddo is a problem because there's no mountain of Megiddo.

In Revelation 20, when we're given the imagery of Gog and Magog, it's directly related to Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39.

where we have the worst assault against the people of God in Old Testament history.

So that by the time John uses these terms, Gog and Magog, rabbis are already using this term as a kind of a shorthand to refer to the enemies of God.

Gog and Magog, anti-God authorities empowered by Satan to destroy the ways of God and the people of God.

What I'm suggesting to you, okay, the cyclical approach to the book of Revelation, the oldest view, Armageddon, Har Megiddo is not a physical human battle.

It's the final battle between Jesus, the rider on the white horse, and the armies of Satan.

That's what Har Megiddo is.

Man reaching up one final time as they did in the power of Babel to usurp the authority of God and to defeat the people of God.

In Revelation 19, 19, then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse.

Now, some of you are going to say, well, it says right there, he's going to gather the beast and the kings of the earth.

Remember what we said in Revelation 13, that the real power and authority behind anti-God governments and anti-Christ religions is what?

Satan, the dragon.

He gives them their power.

He gives them their authority.

And now they're going to face the rider on the white horse.

Now, come on now.

Who is the rider on the white horse?

Let me read it.

He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood.

His name is the word of God.

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.

He will rule them with an iron scepter." Who is this?

All right, question for you.

Question.

Jesus is on the right on the white horse, got the armies of heaven behind him.

They're on horses too.

If you're a human army and you go...

face to face with Jesus, how long is that battle going to last?

If I'm Jesus, I'm just going to go, it's over.

It's done.

In fact, we're told in number, they are like the sand of the seashore.

So we're talking about demonic forces here.

They march across the breadth of the earth.

They're so big.

They cover the breadth of the earth.

I don't know, any human army, symbolically or literally, and they surround the camp of God's people.

but fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

That's the end.

We're talking about the dragon, Satan, the kings of the earth, or demonic forces behind anti-God, anti-Christ governments and religions, and their armies, which is legions.

Okay, so what?

What does all this mean?

Well, even though Satan has been bound, At the end, and nobody knows when the end is the end, because these things intensify, earthquakes, floods, famines, anti-God governments, anti-Christ religions.

They increase, they increase with intensity until the end comes, but no one knows exactly when that is.

But one day there's going to be, listen, this is important.

One day there's going to be a final battle.

Christ is going to show up on the white horse.

And man, it's going to be intimidating.

And it's going to be the ultimate final battle.

And the only thing you and I really need to be concerned about is if our name is written in the book of life.

Here's the shocking truth of Revelation.

You do realize that no matter what you've done, no matter what's been done to you, how broken you are, or even if you're responsible for someone else's brokenness, every day you live and breathe is a day of grace.

When you come to Jesus, your sins are forgiven.

You're sealed with the Holy Spirit of God.

You are marked with the mark of God, sealed with the sign of entry into the unshakable kingdom.

But here's the other side.

And I wish we had time to read all the passages in the book of Revelation, because we live in a time when I hear people say, you know, the God I believe in is only a God of love.

Well, good for you, but that God doesn't exist.

He's loving.

As a matter of fact, He's so loving, you can't imagine how loving He is.

We're told that He has a name that no one knows but Himself.

That's a way of describing that as much as we know about Jesus and has been revealed to us by God the Father through the Scripture, there's still so much about Him we'll never know in our finiteness, the depth of His love and His grace and His mercy.

When we come face to face with him, there's this intimidation factor.

I promise you, just as happened in the garden when they realized who Jesus was, when you and I see Jesus the first time, you're going to fall.

You're going to fall.

But judgment is also coming, right?

Judgment is coming.

Folks, it's been the lie of the devil from day one to convince you that judgment is not coming.

that it doesn't matter how you live your life.

Hey, I discovered something kind of cool this week and I'm going to put it in this message, but I found it interesting.

You know, in the garden, you've got the snake that represents who?

Are you afraid of me?

Do you know who that is?

You know who that is.

Did you know that the snake represents evil, Satan, his work on earth?

Basically what he said to Eve was what?

Did God really say that, right?

It's the oldest sin in the book, God didn't really say that.

So when you tell people as the church that the Bible claims this, it's always the same thing.

No, the Bible doesn't teach that.

Do you know that antivenom...

Of most poisonous snakes is made out of lamb's blood.

Did you know that?

Yeah, I know you're going to go home and Google it and feel free to because I did my homework.

I did my homework.

You know, major anti-vitamin for most snake bites originates its popularity, its commonality with lamb's blood.

Isn't that amazing?

Just amazing.

I'm full of amazing little things, meaningless things like that.

What I'm trying to tell you is you're either going to be marked with the Spirit of God or you're going to be marked with the mark of the beast.

And if you're marked with the mark of the beast, it doesn't mean you're a Satan worshiper.

It means you just pursue the same thing everybody else in the world pursues.

You value what the world values.

You watch what they watch.

You go where they go.

You think their thoughts.

Can I be a little harsh here for a moment?

Okay, do you know why you can sleep together outside of marriage and feel no guilt or shame?

Because you're not born again.

That's why.

If you can sleep with someone outside of marriage and you feel no guilt or shame, you're not sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Do you know why you can engage in same-sex activities without guilt or shame?

Do you know why you see the Bible as guidelines rather than authoritative, the Word of God?

Do you know why your heart is never melted by worship?

Do you know why you have no real passion for the Word, for prayer, or the Spirit?

Same answer, because you're still dead.

Do you know why you're not appalled by sin but rather are entertained by it without guilt or shame or remorse?

You're a dead man walking.

And you know why it is you think you're good enough to get into heaven and you're going to take your chances because you're basically a good person?

Because you have no clue of the gospel and the Holy Spirit has not sealed you.

Now, if that's true, then alternatively, these things are true.

Do you know why you have same-sex attractions, but you're trying desperately to remain pure?

It's because you're born again.

Do you know why your heart is melted by worship?

Why you have a passion for the Word, for prayer, the Spirit?

Even though there are seasons you neglect these things, but you feel a certain sense of responsibility and guilt and some shame when you fail?

But it's not about being perfect, folks.

It never is.

But you feel that guilt, shame, conviction because you're born again.

And when you find yourself being sucked into the vortex of the world and you make a decision that you're going to make some changes, you do that because you're born again.

And the reason you feel compelled to give and to serve and to sacrifice is because you're sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Can I tell you something?

If...

If the thing in your life...now let's remove the church for a moment because if I don't, you'll think I'm manipulating you.

So forget about the church for just a moment.

But if there is no sense of generosity in your life, no sense of generosity, no sense of sacrifice, if money is the thing that drives you and what gets your temper up, you're still serving the God of mammon and you can't serve both God and money.

Now, because of time, I got to end this.

I really want to encourage you to go home today and read Revelation 20, verse 11 through 15.

In that passage, you'll discover that there are books that John sees, and then there's a book.

Books, plural, and a book.

The a book is the book of life.

And if your name is written in the book of life, go live your life.

Don't worry about what's coming and what's not coming.

Live your life.

Live your life the best you can.

Depend on God.

Follow him.

But don't worry about China and Russia and Iran.

You can pray, but don't worry.

If your name is in the book of life, it's kind of got a ledger on this side and the name Jesus Christ and then your name.

Jeff Bynes.

Of course, it wouldn't be first come, I'm V, I'm at the end.

But the point I'm making is it's not like on this side are all your sins.

No, because your sins have been separated as far as the East is from the West.

It's Jesus and then the names who have been spiritually resurrected, who see things and feel things and do things the world does not see, feel, or do.

And if your name is in that, Jesus said, it's even greater than having the demon and submit to you.

that your name is in the book of life.

But if your name is not in the book of life, it's in the books.

And the books are books where people have decided to relate to God on the basis of their own goodness and merit.

So in that book, all your sins are listed.

And at the end, when you stand before God, you will be condemned to a Christless eternity.

There is no other way.

And the reason some of you struggle with that is because you've been sucked into the vortex of the world and the lie of Satan, God didn't really say that.

There is only one way, one way into the kingdom of heaven.

There is only one way, and it's through the one who rose from the dead, who gives you the power over death, to give you the wonderful gift of living forever.

Either your name is in the book of life or it's in the books where you are judged by what you have done and by your deeds.

And none of us in this room can stand before God if we are judged by our deeds.

None of us, right?

So I pray in heaven's name.

That if you're in this room or in any of our campuses and you've heard this message and you know there's something in your heart that's just not right, you're not motivated, you're not moved by the Spirit of God, your heart is never moved, and you're pretty arrogant in the sense that I'm pretty good person.

I don't care what pastor says.

I'm a pretty good person.

That's all I...

I pray you get on your knees and you ask Jesus to reveal himself to you so that first and finally you see who you really are.

And when you see who you really are, you will beg Christ for his forgiveness and your name, the Bible says, immediately written into the Lamb's Book of Life.

Father, thank you for this short series on the book of Revelation and the shocking truths.

I pray that we would be reminded there's a power in us.

Oh, a beautiful, wonderful power.

Where Satan is bound, he is limited to a great degree, and he cannot have victories in our lives unless we allow him to have victories.

We can speak the name of Jesus and overcome whatever it is in our marriages, in our relationships with our children.

We speak the name of Jesus.

We speak it again and again and again.

By his blood, there is power, not only in salvation, but in sanctification and reconciliation.

Pray that eyes would be opened and lives would be changed.

In Jesus' name, in this moment, right now, and everybody said, amen.