Reading for Today:

• Zechariah 13:1 Chapter 13 1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. –14:21
• Psalms 149:5-9 5 Let the saints exult in glory: Let them sing for joy upon their beds. 6 `Let' the high praises of God `be' in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand; 7 To execute vengeance upon the nations, And punishments upon the peoples; 8 To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; 9 To execute upon them the judgment written: This honor have all his saints. Praise ye Jehovah.
• Proverbs 31:1-9 Chapter 31 1 The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him. 2 What, my son? and what, O son of my womb? And what, O son of my vows? 3 Give not thy strength unto women, Nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes `to say', Where is strong drink? 5 Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice `due' to any that is afflicted. 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, And wine unto the bitter in soul: 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more. 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb, In the cause of all such as are left desolate. 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, And minister justice to the poor and needy.
• Revelation 20:1-15 Chapter 20 1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut `it', and sealed `it' over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and `I saw' the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is `the book' of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, `even' the lake of fire. 15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

Notes:

Zechariah 13:7 My Shepherd,…the Man who is My Companion. God spoke of the True Shepherd, that mighty Man who is His intimate associate; thus He identified Christ as His coequal, affirming the deity of Christ ( John 1:1 Chapter 1 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ; 10:30; 14:9). Strike the Shepherd. In 11:17, it was the worthless shepherd who was to be struck; now it is the Good Shepherd (12:10) whose death was designed by God from before the foundation of the world (Is. 53:10; Acts 2:23 23 him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: ; 1 Pet. 1:18–20). sheep…scattered. Jesus applies this prophecy to the disciples who defected from Him after His arrest (Matt. 26:56; Mark 14:50 50 And they all left him, and fled. ), including Peter’s denial (Matt. 26:33–35, 69–75). the little ones. The same as the “poor of the flock” (11:7). The reference is to the remnant of believers, among the Jews, who were faithful to the Messiah after His crucifixion. Turning God’s hand “against” them could mean they would suffer persecution, which they did ( John 15:18 18 If the world hateth you, ye know that it hath hated me before `it hated' you. , 20; 16:2; James 1:1 Chapter 1 1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion, greeting. ), or it could be translated “upon” and refer to God’s protection of the faithful.

Zechariah 14:3, 4 His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. To prevent the eradication of His remnant, the Lord will personally intervene to fight against the gathered nations. Just as He fought for His people in the past, so He will do in the future as the ultimate Warrior-King. Jesus will literally return to the Mount of Olives, located east of the Kidron Valley, just as the angels announced at His Ascension ( Acts 1:11 11 who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven. ).When He does, there will be a tremendous topographical upheaval (perhaps an earthquake), a phenomenon not uncommon when God announces His coming in judgment (Mic.1:2–4; Nah.1:5; Rev.16:18–21).The reaction of people is given in Revelation 6:15 15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; –17.

Revelation 20:5 first resurrection. Scripture teaches 2 kinds of resurrections: the “resurrection of life” and “the resurrection of condemnation” ( John 5:29 29 and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. ; Dan.12:2; Acts 24:15 15 having hope toward God, which these also themselves look for, that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust. ).The first kind of resurrection is described as “the resurrection of the just” ( Luke 14:14 14 and thou shalt be blessed; because they have not `wherewith' to recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. ), the resurrection of “those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:23), and the “better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35). It includes only the redeemed of the church age (1 Thess. 4:13–18), the Old Testament (Dan. 12:2), and the Tribulation (v. 4).They will enter the kingdom in resurrection bodies, along with believers who survived the Tribulation. The second kind of resurrection, then, will be the resurrection of the unconverted who will receive their final bodies suited for torment in hell.

Revelation 20:12 standing before God. In a judicial sense, as guilty, condemned prisoners before the bar of divine justice. There are no living sinners left in the destroyed universe since all sinners were killed and all believers glorified. books. These books record every thought, word, and deed of sinful men—all recorded by divine omniscience. They will provide the evidence for eternal condemnation. Book of Life. It contains the names of all the redeemed (Dan. 12:1). judged according to their works. Their thoughts ( Luke 8:17 17 For nothing is hid, that shall not be made manifest; nor `anything' secret, that shall not be known and come to light. ; Rom. 2:16), words (Matt. 12:37), and actions (Matt. 16:27) will be compared to God’s perfect, holy standard (Matt. 5:48; 1 Pet. 1:15, 16) and will be found wanting (Rom. 3:23). This also implies that there are degrees of punishment in hell (Matt. 10:14, 15; 11:22; Mark 12:38 38 And in his teaching he said, Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes, and `to have' salutations in the marketplaces, –40; Luke 12:47 47 And that servant, who knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did according to his will, shall be beaten with many `stripes'; , 48; Heb. 10:29).

DAY 30: What is the Millennium?

In Revelation 20:2 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, , Satan is bound for “a thousand years.” This is the first of 6 references to the length of the millennial kingdom (vv. 3,4,5,6,7). There are 3 main views of the duration and nature of this period:

1) Premillennialism sees this as a literal 1,000-year period during which Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies (e.g., 2 Sam.7:12–16; Ps.2; Is. 11:6–12; 24:23; Hos. 3:4, 5; Joel 3:9 9 Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. –21; Amos 9:8 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah. –15; Mic. 4:1–8; Zeph. 3:14–20; Zech. 14:1–11; Matt. 24:29–31, 36–44), reigns on the earth. Using the same general principles of interpretation for both prophetic and nonprophetic passages leads most naturally to Premillennialism. Another strong argument supporting this view is that so many biblical prophecies have already been literally fulfilled, suggesting that future prophecies will likewise be fulfilled literally.

2) Postmillennialism understands the reference to a 1,000-year period as only symbolic of a golden age of righteousness and spiritual prosperity. It will be ushered in by the spread of the gospel during the present church age and brought to completion when Christ returns. According to this view, references to Christ’s reign on earth primarily describe His spiritual reign in the hearts of believers in the church.

3) Amillennialism understands the 1,000 years to be merely symbolic of a long period of time. This view interprets Old Testament prophecies of a Millennium as being fulfilled spiritually now in the church (either on earth or in heaven) or as references to the eternal state. Using the same literal, historical, grammatical principles of interpretation so as to determine the normal sense of language, one is left with the inescapable conclusion that Christ will return and reign in a real kingdom on earth for 1,000 years. There is nothing in the text to render the conclusion that “a thousand years” is symbolic.

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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