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The Thousand Years
These words are in themselves no more "blessed" than the word "Mesopotamia".
They may be a thousand years of misery for all that this term "Millennium" teaches.
Some of us have come to our conclusion as to the character of this Millennial kingdom
only by ignoring what is actually written in the Apocalypse. The prophetic clock does
not automatically stop at the end of the thousand years; what does come to an end is the
reign of the OVERCOMERS. "The King of kings" does not abdicate. The day of the
Lord is to be succeeded by the day of God, just as the Davidic kingdom characterized by
the presence of the enemy and of war, was succeeded by the Solomonic kingdom of
Peace. Is it too much to ask the reader, with these challenging statements before him, to
lay aside for the time being at least, whatever he may have held and taught, and approach
this important subject afresh? We turn therefore to the key passage:
"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless
pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more,
till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I
saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of
God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his
mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were
finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and
of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to
battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of
the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire
came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the Devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Rev. 20: 1-10).
The Three R's
Three features stand out in this record :
(1)
The Restraint of Satan.
(2)
The Reign of the overcomer.
(3)
The Rebellion at the close.
Here are three R's that are fundamental and ignored at our peril. Satan is only loosed
for "a little season" yet the response to his deception is immediate: "they went up". The
objection, that this is beyond the Millennium, is invalid. What takes place in 1958 is
intimately connected with what was done and thought in 1957. The nations who are thus
deceived are differentiated from the people of Israel. The nations are called Gog and
Magog, and inhabit the four quarters or corners of the earth, whereas Israel, we must