4th Doom THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN NATIONS
Rev.
19:21.
"And the remnant were slain with the SWORD of Him
that sat upon the Horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and
all the fowls were filled with their flesh."
So
great will be the destruction of human life in the Battle of
Armageddon, that God will prepare for it in advance less the stench
of the unburied dead should breed pestilence.
"And I saw an
angel standing in the sun ; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to
all the fowls that fly in the midst of Heaven(Buzzards,
Vultures, Eagles, etc.), Come and
gather yourselves together unto the SUPPER OF THE GREAT
GOD,
"that ye may eat the
flesh of Kings . . . Captains . . Mighty Men, and the flesh of horses
and of them that sit on them (common soldiers), and the flesh of all
men, both free and bond, both small and great." Rev. 19 :
17, 18.
This "Feast" is also described in the Old Testament.
THE INTERVAL BETWEEN THE "FOURTH" AND "FIFTH" DOOMS.
1. SATAN IS BOUND FOR A THOUSAND YEARS
Rev. 20: 1-3.
"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 1000 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 1000 YEARS should be fulfilled: and after that he shall be loosed a little season."
Here Satan is called by four different names—"Dragon," "Serpent," "Devil," and "Satan." From these and from the fact that he can be bound, we see that he is a "PERSON," because you cannot bind an "influence" or a "principle of evil."
While Satan is the "Prince of the Powers of the Air" (Eph. 2: 2), and the "God of this Age" (2. Cor. 4:4), and the "Ruler of the Powers of Darkness" (Eph. 6: 11-12), and whose position is so exalted that even Michael the Archangel dare not insult him (Jude 9), and while he has great power and influence, yet he is not omnipotent, for ONE Angel, and he is not called a strong angel, is able to seize and bind him. This Angel, who has the "Key" of the "BOTTOMLESS PIT," is the same "STAR Angel" that is seen by John when the "Fifth Trumpet" sounded (Rev. 9: 1-2), who seems to be the custodian of the "Key" of the "Bottomless Pit."
The Underworld
Final Hell
Revelation
20:1-3
Peter
tells us that "God spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus,
and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment" (2 Peter 2:4).
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Our
translators also call Tartarus "Hell," as if Tartarus,
Hades, the Abyss, and the final lake of fire were
all one and the same thing. The truth is, that they are each distinct
and separate, though all departments of the underworld.
The
burning lake (Lake of Fire) is the only true Apolei (Gk),
perdition, destruction, second death, or the final Hell.
It
too has its own proper name. It is called "Tophet" in
the Old Testament (Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31-32). In the New it is twelve
times called "Gehenna," which,
in the Greek, is the same as Tophet in Hebrew,
from
denoting a place of horrible burning on earth, it came to be used to
denote the place of final punishment. Our translators have uniformly
translated Gehenna by the word "Hell." But
Gehenna is altogether a different Hell from Sheol, Hades, the Abyss,
or Tartarus.
Thus
the Saviour says, that whosoever indulges malignant and devilish
spite toward his brother "shall
be in danger of Gehenna fire"(Matt 5:22);
that it is much better to sacrifice a
right eye or a right hand in this world than that "the
whole body should be cast into Gehenna" (Matt 5:29-30); that
we are not to fear them which kill the body, but rather to fear
him "who
is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Matt
10:28); and that
"it
is better to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes to be
cast into Gehenna fire" (Matt 18:9).
This
Tophet or Gehenna, as will be seen at once, is something different
from Hades, Tartarus, or the Abyss. It is manifestly the same which
John here calls "the
lake of fire which burneth with brimstone," and
into which the
Beast, the False Prophet, Satan, Death, Hades, and whosoever is not
found written in the book of life, are finally cast, and swallowed up
forever; that is, it is the ultimate Hell of full punishment. (from
The Apocalypse: Exposition of the Book
of Revelation)
Lake of Fire
Into
this final Hell no one has yet ever entered.
It
is "prepared for the Devil and his angels;" but
none of them is there now.
The
first persons that ever go into this place are the Beast and the
False Prophet, at the time of the battle of the great day of God
Almighty (Rev 19:20).
The
next to get into it is Satan himself, more than a thousand years
afterward (Rev 20:10), where the Beast and the False Prophet are
represented as still alive and suffering at the time when he is cast
in with them.
And
then follows the casting of all the wicked, along with Death and
Hades. (Rev 20:14-15).
(from
The Apocalypse: Exposition of the Book of Revelation)
Hell
is real brothers and sisters. I feel so sorry for all those misguided
and disillusioned people, be they suicide bombers, terrorists,
corrupt politicians who have amassed millions at the expense of the
poor and needy in this world, etc.
Satan's purpose is to
turn people against God and confuse them on the 'truth' just like he
did in the beginning with Eve. The bible states that the thief
(referring to the Devil) "does not come except to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy."
Let's look at his modus
operandi:
Gen 3:1
1
And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not
eat of every tree of the garden'?"
3
...God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest
you die.'"
4
Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely
die."
Millions
today feel that they "will not surely die"!
However
the white throne judgment is real, hell is real, and they need to get
right with God soon before its too late.
2. The 1st Resurrection
Rev
20:4-5
4
And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was
committed to them. 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 they lived and reigned with
Christ for a thousand years.
5
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first resurrection.
The
Tribulation martyrs will be raised from the dead and given glorious
thrones and rewards. The church will share in this reign, as
symbolized by the twenty-four elders. Some Bible students believe
that the Old Testament saints will also be a part of this "first
resurrection".
The
phrase "general resurrection" is not found in the Bible. On
the contrary, the Bible teaches two resurrections: the first is of
the saved and leads to blessing, the second is of all the lost and
leads to judgment (note especially John 5:28-29; Dan 12:2). These
two resurrections will be separated by 1,000 years.
Rev
20:6 describes the special blessings of those who share in the first
resurrection. These resurrected believers will share Christ's
glorious life, reigning as kings and priests with Him, and never
experience the "second death," the lake of fire (hell, Rev
20:14).
Rev 20:6
describes the special blessings of those who share in the first
resurrection. These resurrected believers will share Christ's
glorious life, reigning as kings and priests with Him, and never
experience the "second death," the lake of fire (hell , Rev
20:14).
3. The Millennial reign of Christ
NB: We are still between the 4th and the 5th Doom; which is yet to come.
Rev 20:4
And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
During the Millennium, the inhabitants of the earth will include not only glorified saints, but also citizens of the nations who bow in submission to Jesus Christ (see Matt 25:31-40; also 8:11). Because of the earth's perfect conditions, people will live long lives (Isa 65:17-25, especially v. 20). They will marry and have children who will outwardly conform to our Lord's righteous rule. But not all of them will be truly born again as the Millennium progresses; and this explains why Satan will be able to gather a great army of rebels at the close of the Kingdom Age (Rev 20:8).
For many centuries, man has dreamed of a "golden age," a "utopia" in which the human race will be free from war, sickness, and even death. Men have tried to achieve this goal on their own and have failed. It is only when Jesus Christ reigns on David's throne that the kingdom will come and the earth be delivered from the oppression of Satan and sin.
