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| Coventry Cathedral - UK |
4 And being assembled together
with them, He
commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the
Father, “which,” He said, “you
have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with
water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore,
when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said
to them, “It
is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own
authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
9 Now when He had spoken these
things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of
their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white
apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do
you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so
come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” – Acts
1:4-11
We are at
that time in Revelation. Jesus has come
down from heaven as He went up to it.
And He is at this time restoring the kingdom to Israel that the
disciples asked about. It is the
millennial kingdom. The doctrine of the
millennium, mentioned only here in Revelation 20, has generated controversy
throughout the history of the church and many Christians are divided over it.
1 Then I saw an angel coming down
from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his
hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of
old, who is the Devil
and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 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.
A few things that I notice. There is no war. The angel lays hold of Satan, bounds him with
a great chain, shuts him into a bottomless pit, and seals him there so that he
has no influence for 1,000 years. There
is no great war between the angel and Satan.
I can only assume, as stated in chapter 19, Jesus has come again and
with only His word, sent Satan to the lake of brimstone or this bottomless pit. It’s worth noting that God did not need our
involvement to overcome the evil in the world.
The saints got behind Jesus and He rode into the world for the 2nd
time and at the sound of His Word it was done.
A believer’s job, and while it is in no way seems easy but should be, is
to follow Jesus. Jesus carries the
burden of the fight.
This 2nd coming and reign
is the fulfillment of many promises.
Matthew 6:10, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The kingdom has come and His will has been
done on earth as it is in heaven.
Zechariah 8:3, “Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.’”
Micah 4:7, “The Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion
from now on, even forever.”
Isaiah 24:23, “The Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and
in Jerusalem.”
1 Corinthians 15:24 describes the end
events as they are described here. “Then the end will
come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed
all dominion, authority, and power.”
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