9/18/05 - “The Millennium – Part 2” – 25L
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Hello!  This is Richard Vaughn

Today’s subject – “The Millennium – Part 2”
Before we begin, let us seek God’s guidance, “Heavenly Father, as we study the second part regarding the millennium, I pray that You bless those listening today with the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we pray for wisdom, knowledge and understanding so that we may live in the center of Your revealed will, as we ask in Jesus Name, Amen.”
Right now, I continue to keep my pledge, to cry aloud and spare not, to lift up my voice like a trumpet and to show God’s people where they are transgressing God’s law.
In our last broadcast we introduced the intriguing subject of the millennium when no human sin or crime will be committed for a thousand years. By way of review, let’s establish the time when this period of peace will begin. We discovered that the resurrection was tied closely to this subject. The Bible speaks of two general resurrections from the dead. In Revelation 20:6 we read about one of them, the first one. Notice how it is worded:

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: ... (He) shall reign with him (Christ) for a thousand years.” In verse 4 we read that these righteous people, the blessed and holy people, come to life and reign with Christ a thousand years. Now, friends, notice that this is only the good people. In fact it’s in the next verse, verse 5, that we read about the rest of the dead, or the wicked ones, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” 

The millennium, then, is this period of one thousand years between the two resurrections. When does that first resurrection take place which introduces the millennium? In 1 Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” The righteous dead are brought out of their graves at this time and caught up to meet Jesus, and that is the beginning of their thousand year period of living and reigning with Him. 

The wicked are going to be slain at that time by the coming of the Lord Jesus. In 2 Thessalonians 2:8 we read that they will be cut down and destroyed by the brightness of His coming. The righteous living are translated, caught up to meet Jesus also in the air, and all the righteous go to heaven to live for that period of a thousand years. The wicked are left here dead upon the earth, scattered everywhere according to the Prophet Jeremiah. There will be no second chance, friends, for anyone to be saved after Jesus comes. Probation is ended. Every case has been settled for all eternity. The wicked are all dead, of course, and they certainly cannot accept Christ during this time; and the righteous have already been given immortality and are now in heaven. 

Now what about this earth? What will it look like during this awful period? Isaiah tells us a bit about it in chapter 24:1, 3, 19 and 20: “Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down. ... The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage.” Now listen friends, it will be just like a great giant reaching out and taking hold of a little toy. Everything will fly in all directions. The earth will be moved right off its axis and out of its orbit. That is because of the tremendous earthquake which the Bible describes as taking place at that time. Note in Revelation 16:18, 20, 21: “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” 

Think of it friends, it says that inhabited islands are simply going to disappear in the midst of the sea. Mountains will completely disintegrate. Hail stones weighing 57 pounds are going to come crashing down upon the earth. What escapes destruction of the earthquake will be made into kindling wood by the tremendous hail stones coming afterward. Perhaps you read about the earthquake recently that produced Tsunami waves where over 100,000 were killed, just simply drowned by the wall of speeding water. Ten or twelve thousand people died in an earthquake down in Chile some time ago. There was one earthquake in Italy a few years ago in which 75,000 people died in just ten seconds. In Japan at one time 250,000 people died in two minutes’ time. But these are child’s play compared to the one we just read about in Revelation 16. Jeremiah saw this earth afterward and he tried to describe it. He tried to put into human language the utter picture of desolation and complete destruction that met his eye in that vision. Let’s try to get it in mind as we read Jeremiah’s description of it in chapter 4:23, “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.” Listen, talk about your complete blackout—this is the time. We’re told that there will be no light even. Some time ago the electric generators failed in nine states and three provinces of Canada. Thirty million people had no electricity. 

Concerning that time we read: “I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man.” Verses 24, and 25. The sun has gone out. It will be completely blacked out and the earth will be in utter darkness. There will be no man simply because the righteous have been taken to heaven and the wicked are all dead, scattered over the face of the earth. “... and all the birds of the heaven were fled” so the Bible says in verse 25. Not even an animal left. Then in verse 26, “I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger.” You see, Christ has returned in this picture. At the presence of the Lord, all these things took place. The birds fled. Men were removed out of the earth. The sky was darkened. And the whole earth was blacked out during the awful thousand years. No wonder we read in the Bible that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. We have no conception, my friends, of what God will do to this earth as a consequence of sin. 

Now the question arises, Where is Satan during all of this great manifestation? Going back to Revelation 20:1-3 we read about the devil during the millennium: “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.” Now there it is, friends. The devil is bound for that thousand years and cast into the bottomless pit. I remember this subject being preached when I was a child and the impression came to me, What is a bottomless pit? I could see a great, big hole going right down through the earth and the old devil cast into one end and falling out down on the other side. What does it really mean, friends, and where is this bottomless pit located? Well, the Bible tells us. We don’t have to speculate about it at all. Look at the very first book of the Bible, Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Notice that we’re talking about a formless, shapeless world. Yes, the raw material was there. God had called it into existence, but it had not yet been shaped. Order had not yet come out of this earth. There was no form. It was still in darkness and the dark was upon the face of the deep. And that word “deep,” dear friends, is the word “abbusas” in the Septuagint Scriptures. We get our word “abyss” from that Greek word. Now listen, that very same word which describes this earth when it was all broken down and disorganized, before God called order out of it, that very same word “abussas” is used over in Revelation 20 and is translated “the bottomless pit.” So you see, this world in its chaotic condition, in its desolate form, is the bottomless pit. God called it that in the beginning and He calls it that again during the thousand years. Satan will be confined, then, right here on this dark, shapeless, torn-up world for this period of time while the saints of God are in heaven. 

Somebody asks, How are they going to bind Satan with a chain during that period? Well, friends, you don’t bind a spiritual being with a literal chain, do you? The Bible speaks about Satan being bound in chains of darkness. He’s confined here alright, and he’s bound with a chain of circumstances which prevents him from tempting a single soul. The time is coming when Satan will be bound, and he will deceive the nations no more until that thousand years is finished. That’s how he is bound—he’s not able to deceive anybody. Should you put him down into a literal pit, he could continue to do his work. He has a million imps to carry out his orders. The only way that Satan could not be able to deceive people is to have the people removed from his influence, and that’s exactly what happens. The righteous are taken to heaven and the wicked are dead here all over the earth. He’s not able to reach them or touch them until the end of the thousand years. 

I’ve tried to think of the old devil during that period. What is he going to do? The earth is covered with darkness. Dead bodies are everywhere and all is absolute confusion. For six thousand years the devil has been plenty busy. He has followed people around trying to devise their destruction. His chief employment for centuries has been to accuse and destroy. Suddenly, now he has nothing to do. They are all taken away and he is left with his own thoughts. What will he do? That will be the most miserable punishment Satan will have to suffer—forced to live with himself for a thousand years. No one to deceive at all, just thinking, thinking, thinking. I’m sure that he’ll remember some of his past deeds, and I’m sure also that he will ponder the future and what’s coming to him as far as future destiny is concerned. 

Listen, the devil is a good Bible student—don’t fool yourself for a moment. Let’s give him credit where it’s due. He knows the Bible better than you do. Oh yes, holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, but the devil was looking over their shoulder and memorizing every bit of it; and the devil knows better than we do that the Bible is all true. He knows that everything about heaven is true because he lived there once. He knows that it’s just as beautiful and wonderful as the Bible describes it, but he doesn’t want anyone else to believe that. If folks can just once understand that what the Bible teaches is true, Satan’s power will be destroyed. So I picture him thinking of these things and looking ahead to the future, knowing that his utter destruction has already been determined. The Bible declares that finally Satan will be burned and brought to ashes on the face of the earth.

Be listening next week as we discuss the sin God cannot forgive.

Until next week, Jesus said in John 5:39, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me”. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.