Judgments At the End of the Millennium

Greetings, brethren! This is day seven of the Feast of Tabernacles, so today ends the Feast of Tabernacles, but there's one more day because God has more in His Plan than just the Millennium and the things pictured by the Feast of Tabernacles.

Of course, from the very first preaching of the apostles, they preached the coming Kingdom of God and the reign of Jesus Christ. And we've seen how it's going to be, and we know that this is something that not only did the apostles preach, but it's also as Peter says, 'in all the prophets.'

We're going to find out what the Millennium end is going to be. Because it's going to be quite different at the end than perhaps maybe some people have thought.

Acts 3:19: "Therefore, repent and be converted in order that your sins may be blotted out, so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Him Who was before proclaimed to you: Jesus Christ Whom the heaven must indeed receive until the times of restoration of all things, of which God has spoken by the mouth of all His Holy prophets since the world began" (vs 19-21).

That's really quite a message! Daniel preached it. Jeremiah preached it. All of the minor prophets in one form or another, preached the Kingdom of God, and the time that it will be. As we've seen, it's going to be a time of:

• peace
• prosperity
• building
• conversion of people
• knowledge of the Truth of God as it covers the whole earth

We are going to have a tremendous and absolutely fantastic society. we are going to be a part in bringing that!

Let's just review one section in Micah 4. It's very interesting. These words are almost identical to those in Isa. 2, which I think is very interesting and perhaps very profound: God can cause the same message, the same words to be prophesied through one prophet or another. The Word of God was never at any time done by the will of man. But it was of Holy men, moved of the Holy Spirit of God, and they spoke the words that God gave to them, and they wrote the words that God inspired them to write!

Now you might want to compare Micah 4 with Isa. 2, and you will see how identical it is, until we get down to one of the verses toward the last of the section here.

Micah 4:1: "But it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths'—for the Law shall go forth out of Zion, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (vs 1-2).

This is going to happen all during the Millennium. And there aren't going to be any nations that are going to raise themselves up and become adversaries, and become enemies and have war. No, because the Prince of Peace is going to be reigning and ruling, and all the saints will be right there with Him making sure that everything is done for a whole thousand years.

Verse 3: "And He shall judge among many people, and will rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

I think if you just start removing all of the modern things that we have today, which cause people to be led away from God, even the good things such as we have here that we're able to use with the technology to record these videos ahead of time so you can have them for the Feast.

Even that (modern technology) is polluted and perverted because of sin and the use of it. People are going to have to learn the right use of everything. They are going to have to choose:

• the right way
• walk in God's way
• learn of God's way

and salvation will be offered to them!

As a matter of fact, during that time the Tree of Life, or the way of God is going to be available to all human beings! That is going to be a fantastic thing, indeed.

Here's where it's different from Isa. 2; v 4: "But they shall sit each one under his own vine and under his own fig tree; and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken."

So here we have a way that is absolutely fantastic! Everyone is going to have enough space, enough food. They're going to be protected by God. They're going to learn of God's way! Just think: for a thousand years this is going to go on, and it's going to be absolutely astounding!

Verse 5: "For all people will walk, each one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever."

Let's understand something here. When we are born into the Family of God, we will be the sons and daughters of God. If we are, then we shall be equal with God—

• not in power
• not in ability
• not in majesty

--but in life!

Is this saying that they're going to walk in the name of the 'God' who's in charge of them, not necessarily worshipping him. But just as it's not wrong to worship Christ, would it necessarily be wrong then to worship the sons of God? There are some people who say yes, it would, because all worship should go to God!

At this time then we are going to be one with Christ, and one with God the Father! So, it's a possibility. We won't cast that away. But we know for sure that they aren't going to be walking in the name of pagan gods because there won't be any pagan gods at that time.

Verse 6: "'In that day,' says the LORD, 'I will gather the lame, and I will gather the exiled ones, and those that I have afflicted. And I will make the lame into a remnant, and she who was cast off into a mighty nation; and the LORD shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth, even forever" (vs 6-7).

This shows that it's going to bring salvation to all people. It's going to open up the opportunity for them to have eternal life, as well.

It's tremendous, brethren, all the things as we covered here yesterday, how much there is in the book of Isaiah concerning:

• the Kingdom of God
• the Millennium
• the reign of Christ
• the bringing of salvation
• universal salvation to all people

Isa. 55—this is a type of the Millennium. It's also a type of God's planting, of growing of God's Spirit!

Isaiah 55:10: "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Word be which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do" (vs 10-11).

All during the Millennium this is going to be happening because the Law is going to go out of Zion, the Word of God is going to go out from Zion. All people are going to learn of God's way. It's going to bring forth just like the physical plants, and the physical things around will prosper and be blessed, so all human beings will be, too. They will have:

• the knowledge of God
• the knowledge of salvation
• the understanding of the reason for the purpose of their existence

which people today just do not understand!

Verse 12: "For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break out before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

In other words, everything in the whole environment is going to be blessed, and have the blessing of God, and in harmony with God's ways.

Verse 13: "Instead of the thorn, the fir tree shall come up; and instead of the brier, the myrtle tree shall come up; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off."

Notice how all of this continues right on into all eternity. That's what we find when we come to tomorrow, that God's Plan is opened up for all eternity at that time. He hasn't written very much about that for us to understand. It's all we can do to grasp and understand what He's given to us at this time.

Isa. 19—let's see something that is prophesied here which has never happened, showing the kind of peace, showing the kind of harmony, showing the kind of love that there will be between people, between nations as it comes from God. Now let's understand that God says it's going to accomplish what He desires, and here's part of it:

Isaiah 19:23: "In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt shall serve with Assyria…. [that means they're going to serve God] …In that day Israel shall be the third… [not in rank, but the third one] …with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; Whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, 'Blessed be My people Egypt, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance'" (vs 23-25).

When you read about Egypt in the prophecies of the Old Testament, and even in the New Testament, it likens Jerusalem unto Sodom and Egypt. Egypt is the epitome of the worst of the nations. And remember what God did in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt from their bondage. He told the children of Israel:

• don't go back into Egypt
• don't go back to their gods
• don't let the king go down to Egypt and purchase horses and chariots, and marry the daughter of the Egyptians

Look, here they are all blessed, all working together in peace and in harmony and in cooperation.

All the efforts of the whole world today cannot do that in the Middle East. It just seems to be an intractable situation that is insoluble. It's going to take Christ to solve it! It's going to take the power of God to force them to do the things that they need to do. So that's really quite something!

What I want you to understand, and for us to have in mind is that these things are going to continue for a thousand years!

Isaiah 25:6: "And in this mountain the LORD of hosts shall make a feast of fat things for all the people, a feast of wines on the lees… [it won't be grape juice] …of fat things full of marrow, of refined wines on the lees."

Remember the first miracle that Jesus did was change water into wine; and remember that the governor of the wedding feast said, 'Why did you keep the best to last?'

Verse 7: "And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering, which covers all people, and the veil that is woven over all nations."

God is going to lift that spiritual blindness; God is going to take it away! As we saw in Ezek. 36, He's going to give the people—instead of a heart of stone—a heart of flesh, meaning that they will be:

• sensitive
• hear God's way
• repent
• be converted

This ties right in with 1-Cor. 15 and Rev. 20.

Verse 8: "He will destroy death forever…" Not only is that going to apply to the Millennium, but that is going to apply to the Great White Throne Judgment, or the Last Great Day.

"…and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces. And He shall take away from all the earth the rebuke of His people, for the LORD has spoken it" (v 8). That's really quite a thing when we really understand how these things come along here!

Verse 9: "And one shall say in that day, 'Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.'"

Of course, that's applying to us because we have waited for God and we rejoice in His salvation!

Really, at that time, much more so than any time at all in our lives, because today the righteous shall suffer persecution. It's through much tribulation now that we enter into the Kingdom of God! But then it will be different.

Let's see this because of all the things that God is going to do it's going to be a marvelous time!

• can you imagine a whole society where there is no crime, no robbery, no rape, no murder, no stealing?
• can you imagine a society where everyone loves each other?
  • husbands and wives will love each other
  • children will love their father and mother
  • children will love their neighbor's children
  • everyone is filled with the Spirit of God and salvation and joy

that's going to be an unheard of thing

• there will be no jails
• here will be no hospitals

It's going to be a society that is going to be astounding!

Then at the end of life there's the opportunity for salvation instead of dying an ignominious death, or instead of suffering all the pains and things that we do today in old age. It's going to be an entirely different society!.

Isaiah 54:9: "'For this is as the waters of Noah to Me; for as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn from being angry with you and from rebuking you… [to the physical people of Israel] …for the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed,' says the LORD who has mercy on you. 'O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones among colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires. And I will make your high towers of ruby, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones. And all your children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of your children'" (vs 9-13).

That's a fantastic thing! Just think about all the things that have happened to children today. All the suffering of:

• war
• famine
• the crimes committed against children

It's just absolutely a terrible and awful thing, that's to say nothing of abortion that they don't even have a chance to start their lives.

Verse 14: "'In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression; for you shall not fear; and far from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they may gather together against you, but not by Me; whoever shall gather against you, he shall fall for your sake. Behold, I have created the smith who blows the coals in the fire, and who brings out a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed against you shall prevail; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment, you shall condemn. This is the inheritance of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me,' says the LORD" (vs 14-17).

This shows one of the reasons why we qualify to be priests and kings, right here, because in our lives we have the enemies against us. But in the Millennium there won't be any enemies at all. None whatsoever.

We're going to have an educational system that is going to really be absolutely marvelous. We won't have to worry about taxes and vouchers. The only tax will be the tithes of God, and those will go back to serve the people and take care of the schools and training and everything like that. There's going to be handcrafts, and there's going to be building, and making and inventing, and designing of things that will pale into insignificance what we have in this life now.

Isaiah 30:19. "For, O people, who dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, you shall weep no more; He will be very gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you. And though the LORD gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction…" (vs 19-20).

There will be some trials. We all learn by some trials. But they won't be the kind of trials that we have today.

"…yet, your teachers shall not be removed into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying…" (vs 20-21).

This doesn't mean that we're going to be like the spy in the sky, walking behind everyone. They're going to hear the word. Now what is this going to be? This is going to be because they have been taught by their teachers, and this actually means that they will have a consciousness of this. So, when they start going to the right hand or the left hand, they will remember:

"…'This is the way, walk in it,' when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left" (v 21). Because just like today with us:

• God leads us with His Spirit
• God teaches us with His Spirit
• God gives us consciousness when we start doing things that are wrong, and we say to ourselves, 'Uh-oh, this is not right.'

This is what it means!

It doesn't mean a tyrannical type of teachers peering over the top of your head, just kind of walking around watching over people to make sure that they do it, because if that's the case then there is no opportunity at all for them to learn by their mistakes.

There are still going to be mistakes. There are still going be sins to be repented of. But in that time, what we would say would be minor sins, will be major sins, because all of the other factors are going to be removed. So, even that which is small will loom large, because then they will understand what sin really is.

Psa. 132 talks about what we are going to do. This talks about our job in helping and serving.

I don't know about you brethren, but I'm blessed because I get to give these sermons twice. So it helps me, it inspires me even more to understand more of God's way.

Psalm 132:8: "Arise, O LORD, into Your rest… [into the Millennium] …You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness …" (vs 8-9).

Those are the garments of the saints, the white linen garments are the righteousness of the saints! Being priests and kings we're going to be clothed with righteousness.

• Isn't it going to be a wonderful thing to have the nature of God?
• Isn't it going to be marvelous indeed that we won't have to fight human nature?

It's going to be an absolutely fantastic thing, that because of what we've experienced in this life, as kings and priests during the Millennium, we are also going to help people to be able to overcome their human nature, because they'll still have it; they'll still have to overcome it. But it won't be to the degree that we have because God says He's going to take away the stony heart. So, it's going to be quite a thing! Really!

Let's look in the book of Proverbs about the righteousness of God. These are the things that are going to be taught. I just imagine that we're going to have books, we're going to have teaching things. Can you imagine what a tremendous intellect that the people are going to have where they have pure food, pure water, pure instruction, a pure society? It's going to be something, indeed!

Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness exalts a nation… [think what it's going to do to the whole world] …but sin is a reproach to any people." They're all going to learn righteousness vs sin.

We will see another principle that is applied all during the Millennium. Remember that Christ is going to sit on the Throne of David forever.

Proverbs 16:12: "It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for the Throne is established by righteousness…. [righteousness is going to be 'the girdle of His loins'] …Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him who speaks what is right" (vs 12-13).

That's what we're going to do. We're going to love God the Father and Jesus Christ. We're going to teach the right things. We're going to have learned the lesson of Satan the devil. We are going to have learned the lesson of human nature. All of these things we can teach and impart to these people. Absolutely marvelous! Let's begin to understand more about the Millennium:

Isaiah 32:15: "Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high…"

That's what's going to happen all during the Millennium: Instead of Satan being the prince of the power of the air, it's going to be Jesus Christ and the sons/daughters of God! It's going to be the Spirit of God that is going to prevail everywhere and in everything!

"…and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field…" (v 15).

Here again we see that all the environment is going to be restored. Of course, we don't know what a true, good, pure well balanced, blessed environment really is, and how productive that it can be.

"…and the fruitful field is thought to be a forest. Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace… [Christ is the Prince of Peace; He is the King of Salem, which is the King of Peace] …and the result of righteousness shall be quietness and confidence forever" (15-17).

We can look out and we can see these things. We can understand them 'through a glass darkly.' But what is it going to be like to live there and experience it? We are going to have the blessing and joy of seeing what it's going to be like for physical human beings to live under God's rule and reign all during the Millennium!

What a fantastic thing that that is going to be, indeed; marvelous! But we're going to see a little later on, some people are not going to be satisfied with that. We'll learn that in just a little bit here.

Verse 18: "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable home, and in secure dwellings and quiet resting places. The hail shall flatten the forest; the city shall be razed to the ground. Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey" (vs 18-20). Again, showing how everything is going to be done!

Isaiah 33:5: "The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure" (vs 5-6). We see this over and over again!

However, there's going to be a problem that will develop! Toward the end of the Millennium we are going to have by far, the greatest problem of Laodiceanism that has ever been in the history of mankind. The reason is, everyone will be born into this kind of society. Right at the beginning of the Millennium they'll be able to see the comparisons all the way down, because they have come through all the time, of trouble, war, death, upheaval, and everything like that.

When we get toward the end of the Millennium, there have been 900 years of peace, stability, growth, salvation, and people being converted; most of them! There will be very, very few who will commit the unpardonable sin during that time. If they do, they will be cast into the Lake of Fire at that time, which will be their first death.

But people will get complacent, because that is the nature of human beings! Just like today, we have no conception of what it was like to live when there were just no automobiles, no electricity, no television, none of the modern conveniences that we have. That's why when you look out and you see the society today, because of that, people are spoiled rotten. The only way that you can handle things of blessing and prosperity for a long time, is if you have the Spirit of God!

When we come down to the last generation of the Millennium, we're going to have people that will not want to receive salvation, because it's going to be a choice. God is not going to make anyone receive salvation who doesn't want to! Just like today, there will be people who will not want salvation. They will want to have 'freedom and express themselves.'

• What is God going to do in cases like this?
• How is God going to handle it?

Let's see how God did it with Adam and Eve! I think we can find that that's how God is probably going to do it

We have in Gen. 3 & 4 how God handled sin when, in the face of Righteousness and Truth they refused. God is going to do something. We're going to see that in that last generation of the Millennium that God is not going to punish them with their first death, whether it be an execution, or whether it be the Lake of Fire, or whatever it may be.

God is going to do it differently so that there is going to be a lesson for all of mankind, a lesson for the Family of God forever, and a lesson for Satan the devil.

What did God do when Adam and Eve sinned? Let's first of all start out where we began. Peter said there's going to be the restoration of all things. Adam and Eve began in the Garden of Eden. We know from the other Scriptures that the whole world is going to be more or less like the Garden of Eden. Maybe not exactly entirely the whole world, but nearly the whole world, if you put it that way.

When Adam and Eve were there, walking with God, talking with God, knowing His way, and they determined that they wanted to go their own way and eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What did God do with them? The wages of sin is death, that is true. But it doesn't mean that the wages of sin is death instantaneously.

So the first thing God did was put them out of the Garden of Eden. They were cut off from God, removed from His presence, removed from His blessings! They were on their own!

They were not allowed to continue in the Garden of Eden, and then  God put the two cherubim there to guard the way so they couldn't come back in. When they sinned, then that removal represents an exile. They were put out of the land. They were removed out of the land of the Garden of Eden to the East.

At the entrance of the Garden of Eden was probably where there was an altar, and the two cherubim were guarding it. That's where Adam and Eve would come, probably on the Sabbath Day, to offer offerings, talk with God and receive instruction. But they couldn't go back into the Garden of Eden.

Their choice was such that even though there may have been repentance of it, they could not recover to go back into the Garden of Eden. That doesn't necessarily mean that Adam and Eve at this time were cut off from salvation. So, we can't draw the parallel completely from the Garden of Eden.

Let's look at what happened with Cain and Abel. We find that there was sin.

Genesis 4:5. "But He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering. And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell. And the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted?'…." (vs 5-7).

If they did what God wanted, He would accept them even with the law of sin and death in them, even with the things that they would do, they could come to the presence of God at the garden, but they couldn't live with God!

God continues telling Cain: "…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it!'…. [we know what happened]: …And Cain talked with his brother Abel. And it came to pass that when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him" (vs 7-8).

God did not administer the death penalty to Cain. Just like the coward that all criminals are when he got caught… Let's look at the penalty that God gave him, because this becomes quite an important thing here.

Verse 9: "And the LORD said unto Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' And he said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' And He said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the earth, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you, and you shall be a wanderer and a fugitive upon the earth.' And Cain said to the LORD, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out from the face of the earth today, and I shall be hidden from Your face. And I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth, and it shall be that anyone who finds me shall kill me'" (vs 9-14). No, God did not allow Cain to be slain.

But the thing that is important here is this: when there was sin, God removed Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. When there was sin in the area outside of the Garden of Eden, then God drove Cain further away and into what is call the land of Nod, or the land of wandering.

We don't know exactly where that was geographically on the earth, but he was sent out there to be on his own. He developed his own society, and so forth, and we know the results of that, as we read the rest of the first chapters of the book of Genesis.

So, we can conclude that when God desires not to execute the death penalty on people because of sin, He sends them away in to exile. In exile then they are cut off completely from God. Of course, Cain had no repentance. So this would be with those:

• who are not repentant
• who have rejected salvation
• who will not obey God
• who desire to go their own way in spite of everything that they have heard

Now let's see a prophecy that there will be some people that, regardless of what you do to try and teach them, they will not receive the Truth, astounding as that may be.

Here is a principle of human nature that can be applied now, that can be applied during the Millennium, and especially toward the end of the Millennium because we're going to see that God is going to do a separation of the righteous and the wicked! He is going to exile the wicked.

How long that is going to be, we don't know. There are even some people who think that even during the Millennium there may be a place of exile where people can be sent out. If they repent they can be brought back, and if they don't repent then they die there. All of those who are the incorrigible wicked must die twice.

Isaiah 26:10: "Though favor… [grace] …is shown to the wicked, he will not learn righteousness; even in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD."

So, there are going to be some people that it's going to be almost impossible to deal with them; they must be separated from the righteous!

As we learned on the Day of Atonement, Satan is put away, because you see you can never, never get rid of sin as long as Satan is there. Human beings will still have the law of sin and death within them all during the Millennium. Everyone is going to be given an opportunity for salvation. God isn't going to force anyone, because eternal life is based on:

• choice
• love
• obedience
• righteousness
• the Spirit of God.

The angel came, Revelation 20:2: "And he took hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years."

• Why not just remove Satan all at once?
• Why bind him a thousand years.

Here we find a very difficult to understand section of Scripture:

Verse 3: "Then he cast him into the abyss… [the spiritual prison]…and locked him up, and sealed the abyss over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were fulfilled; and after that it is ordained that he be loosed for a short time."

• Why must he be loosed a little season?
• How long is a little season? We don't know how long a little season is!

We can guess and speculate based on other Scriptures that perhaps it might be 3½ years!

• Why must he be loosed?
• What is the object of that?
• Where is he going to go?

Verse 7—we see where it's fulfilled: "Now, when the thousand years have been completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison; and he shall go out to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, of whom the number is as the sand of the sea, to gather them together for war" (vs 7-8).

It's very likely, if we put the Scriptures together properly, that in that last generation of the Millennium, those who refuse salvation will be sent into exile into the geographical area of Gog and Magog!Not just the people of Gog and Magog, because we dealt with that at the beginning of the Millennium. The people of Gog and Magog all during the Millennium will have an opportunity for salvation. But here we have a geographical area of Gog and Magog!

"…to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog…"

That means there's going to be a lot of people there! How many are going to reject salvation? Who knows? We don't know!

"…the number is as the sand of the sea…" tells us that it's going to be quite a number but how many billions of people will there be on the earth at that time, toward the end of the Millennium. I mean, you just consider. I'm sure there are going to be far more people on the earth than there are today.

Here will be this area, just like it was the land of Nod for Cain. When he sinned a sin which is worthy of death, instead of executing him, he was sent further into exile. This is what we have here. These people are sent into exile. Notice what happens, immediately what happens. It's quite a thing!

They are deceived by Satan the devil! First of all, they've already deceived themselves out of salvation, haven't they? They've already said:

No, God, let me go my way. I don't want salvation. I want to know what it's like to get out and experience life on my own.

So, God says, 'All right, we'll send you there.' So they go to Gog and Magog, and they build their own society, and they do things their own way, because this is a good number of people.

It doesn't tell us how many, but it's a good number of people, well up into the millions. They set up their own way, set up their own society. They live! We don't know if they have children or not. We don't know whether that is the case. But anyway, they're going to be living there in exile. Satan is going to be loosed on them, and the first thing he does is deceive them into what?

Since salvation is a choice God will not allow people to be deceived out of salvation without an opportunity for choice! We'll see that's a very clear principle that God always operates on.

If people are deceived by Satan the devil before they've had an opportunity for salvation, that is a different story. Now we'll talk a little bit more about that tomorrow, about those people who have been down through history.

But now, we are dealing with people who with conscious volition and willful choice have made the decision they don't want salvation!

• What is the wages of sin? The wages of sin is death!
• What is God's final punishment on all sinners? The second death!

Since that is so, that means that they have to die twice, which means they have to live twice!

Here at the end of the Millennium you have all these people who have lived once, they have rejected salvation, now they must die their first death. God is going to bring that first death upon all of them, all at once, and He is going to use Satan the devil to lead them in it, and to deceive them into thinking that they can come and do the same kind of rebellion that Satan did, to go against God and still get what God promises by force of arms!

"…to gather them together for war. Then I saw them go up upon the breadth of the earth and encircle the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them" (vs 8-9). They died!

God's judgment against them: that's their first death! We don't know at this point, and it's very likely that there are people who accepted salvation in that last generation who may live on over into the beginning of the Great White Throne Judgment period. It's very possible. Because, as we have seen, it's also very possible that all during the Millennium, when a person reaches the end of their life, and it may perhaps be the equivalent of a hundred years, that there is no reason for them to die.

They can be changed from flesh to spirit just exactly in the same way that there are those who, when Christ returns, are still alive and they're not going to die, but they will be changed from flesh to spirit.

Only the sinner will die. The sinner will die accursed, and will know whenever there is the death of someone that way, that they will be waiting the second death. So, here we have all of these people out in Gog and Magog. So God uses Satan the devil to go out there, to deceive them, to gather them together for the battle. They are all consumed by the fire of God that comes out of heaven, and that is their first death.

Their second death is yet to come. When all the incorrigible wicked, at the end of the Last Great Day, 100-year throne judgment period, will receive the wages of sin, which is the second death.

Now then, something else takes place before the Great White Throne Judgment begins:

Verse 10: "And the Devil, who deceived them, was cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet had been cast; and they, Satan and the demons, shall be tormented day and night into the ages of eternity."

Satan the devil and the demons are those who are going to be tormented day and night forever and ever. Now what do we really have right here in verse 10? We have the final judgment on Satan the devil!

Before the fulfillment of the Last Great Day—the Great White Throne Judgment period—Satan has to be removed entirely. Notice that:

• he's not put back into the abyss
• he's not put into prison
• he is not shut up for a short time

He is removed completely and totally!

So, the very last thing that is going to be done to conclude the 1000-year period will be the judgment of Satan and his demons.

God is going to bring the final judgment against Satan the devil and the demons, and they are going to be tormented day and night forever in the Lake of Fire. Human beings are not going to be tormented day and night, because they're not spirit beings. They'll be burned up if they go in the Lake of Fire.

Satan's rebellion. We know about it from the Day of Atonement, don't we, that he wanted to be like God. Here's a prophecy of it here in:

Revelation 12:3: "And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads, and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth…." (vs 3-4).

Here's the rebellion of Satan the devil. He now is going to pay for it at the end of the Millennium and the last part, the last act that God is going to do is judge Satan the devil and the demons and cast them into the Lake of Fire for their rebellion.

Now, let's see that there are angels who have sinned, that God charges with folly. They are the demons that fell with Lucifer. They are the ones who are going to be cast into the Lake of Fire. We are going to see after this a very interesting thing.

Job 4:18: "Behold, He puts no trust in His servants, and His angels He charges with folly!" There were a third of the angels that fell!

Now then, we're going to do the judging. Christ and the saints are going to do the judging concerning Satan the devil. We've read this Scripture many times, but we have never really understood, or never really put it together when it's going to be that this is going to be done.

1-Cor. 6 has to do with judgment; it has to do with judging the world and with judging angels. All during the Millennium we're going to be judging the world, and we're going to judge the angels at the end of the Millennium.

That's why Paul says here to the brethren in Corinth when they had their problems that they weren't solving them the way that they should, he says,

1-Corinthians 6:1: "Does anyone among you who has a matter against another dare to go to a court of law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Don't you know that the saints shall judge the world?…. [we're going to judge the world all during the Millennium] …And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy of the most trivial of judgments?" (vs 1-2). That's why we have to learn to judge righteous judgment today!

Verse 3: "Don't you know that we shall judge angels?…."

That's something! We'll be there with Christ, and we will help Him to judge Satan and the demons before they're cast into the Lake of Fire. Maybe you never really thought of it that way.

But in order for the fulfillment of the Last Great Day to take place, Satan and his demons must be removed forever. So Paul says if we're going to judge angels:

"…How much more then the things of this life? So then, if you have judgments concerning the things of this life, why do you appoint as judges …" (vs 3-4).

What it means here, what they did, they were setting those to judge who were the least esteemed rather than those who should do the judging. Judgment is going to be a very important and profound thing that we're going to do. We're going to help judge the demons. Let's see, judgment is going to be given to us:

Daniel 7:26: "But the judgment shall sit, and his dominion…"

That will be Satan's dominion, obviously, completely gone. Not only of the beast power, which this is the prophecy of, but who's the power behind the beast? Satan the devil!

"…shall be taken away to be consumed and to be destroyed unto the end. And the Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, Whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him" (vs 26-27). This is going to be a tremendous thing!

Now let's see that in order to pave the way for the fulfillment of the Last Great Day, that Satan the devil has to be removed. All of those who are in the second resurrection, in order to receive salvation, will have already lived one life under Satan the devil.

They don't need to live two lives under Satan the devil; you need to understand that. That would be most cruel indeed!. So then after that is done:

Revelation 20:11: "Then I saw a great white Throne and the One Who was sitting on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and no place was found for them."

Now comes the second resurrection. Tomorrow we'll go through the meaning of the Last Great Day, and why it is called the Last Great Day.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Acts 3:19-21
• Micah 4:1-7
• Isaiah 55:10-13
• Isaiah 19:23-25
• Isaiah 25:6-9
• Isaiah 54:9-17
• Isaiah 30:19-21
• Psalm 132:8-9
• Proverbs 14-34
• Proverbs 16:12-13
• Isaiah 32:15-20
• Isaiah 33:5-6
• Genesis 4:5-14
• Isaiah 26:10
• Revelation 20:2-3, 7-10
• Revelation 12:3-4
• Job 4:18
• 1 Corinthians 6:1-4
• Daniel 7:26
• Revelation 20:11

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Isaiah 2
• Ezekiel 36
• 1 Corinthians 15
• Genesis 3

FRC:
(original transcriber unknown)
Reformatted: bo—6/2023