HomeARC ML 1620
THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG! GP 1620 Compiled 6/83
--Part 12 of "The Book of the Future!"
(Compiled by Apollos from the writings of Father David)
1. DURING THE MILLENNIUM, WE'LL HAVE HALF THE BATTLE WON JUST BY THE LORD BEING HERE, & THE OTHER HALF WON BY THE DEVIL NOT BEING HERE!--Which ought to make it pretty easy for us to run the World without his evil spiritual influences, with nothing but good spiritual influences. As you recall from our last lesson, Satan will be bound & out of the way for this entire 1,000-year period:
2. "AND I SAW AN ANGEL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, HAVING THE KEY OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT & A GREAT CHAIN IN HIS HAND. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, & Satan, & bound him a thousand years, & cast him into the Bottomless Pit, & shut him up, & set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: & after that he must be loosed a little season." (Rev.20:1-3.)
3. THINK OF THAT!--NO PROBLEMS WITH DEMONS OR DEVILS FOR ONE THOUSAND YEARS! THEY'RE ALL GOING TO BE IN PRISON WITH THE DEVIL, THANK THE LORD! It's going to be a much nicer World then, with no more Devil & the curse largely lifted.--A beautiful, wonderful, Heaven-on-Earth!--Except for one little problem: There are going to be some people there who don't really belong in Heaven!
4. ALTHOUGH WE WON'T HAVE TO BATTLE WITH THE DEVIL & HIS SPIRITUAL FORCES DURING THIS MILLENNIAL PERIOD, we'll still have to grapple with the rebellious nature of some of the people we're going to be ruling over!--The unregenerate, unsaved, rebellious, wilful hearts of men who will still have free choice to do good or evil. They won't be influenced by Satanic or demonic spiritual influences any longer, but they will still have their own wicked hearts if they are unsaved.
5. THERE WILL STILL BE FREE WILL & THERE WILL STILL BE PEOPLE WHO DISOBEY, even whole countries & nations that will rebel & refuse to yield! And as a result, the curses of God are going to fall on them & they're going to have drought & famine & all kinds of judgements.--The nations which refuse to obey & are rebellious will be punished! (See Zech.14:16-19.)
6. THROUGHOUT THE MILLENNIUM, WE, THE RESURRECTED SAINTS, WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH SUCH PEOPLE, FORCING THEM TO BEHAVE & OBEY! We & Jesus will be the rulers of the Earth, & together we shall reign with a rod of iron! They're going to have to obey us then & they're going to be compelled to do that which is right, & whether they like it or not, "righteousness shall cover the Earth as the waters cover the seas"! (Is.11:9.)
7. SO ALTHOUGH SUCH WICKED & REBELLIOUS & UNYIELDING MEN WILL STILL BE IN EXISTENCE, they will be under our rule & they will be compelled to obey & to do that which is right.--They won't want to, but they will be forced to. If nothing else, at least they will be punished & subjugated, conquered & suppressed for a thousand years, while we run the World & establish "peace on Earth".
8. AS WE BROUGHT OUT IN OUR LAST LESSON, THOSE WHO OBEY & SUBMIT WILLINGLY TO THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL BE BLESSED FOR IT, & THOSE WHO REBEL WILL BE CURSED FOR IT! So it's definitely going to be another trial period, another testing period, another chance to repent. God will be giving them a second chance, & thank God, He is going to somehow manage to salvage some that are a little more worthy than the others.
9. GOD IS ALSO GOING TO TRY TO SHOW THE WORLD WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE & HOW THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE IT, how they should have behaved, & what His Kingdom would have been like if they had obeyed Him. The Lord & we will mercifully & patiently try this for a thousand years, but even after all that, some of them will still stubbornly refuse to learn!--And now we're going to show you what will happen as a result!
THE "LITTLE SEASON"--SATAN'S SECOND COMING!
10. WE'VE ALREADY LEARNED THAT AT THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE MILLENNIUM, immediately after Jesus Christ & His Heavenly forces conquer the Antichrist & his forces at the Battle of Armageddon, Satan will be bound in the Bottomless Pit "till the thousand years should be fulfilled: & after that he must be loosed a little season."--It is this final "little season" that we are now going to deal with:
11. "AND WHEN THE THOUSAND YEARS ARE EXPIRED, SATAN SHALL BE LOOSED OUT OF HIS PRISON, & shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the Earth, Gog & Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the Earth, & compassed the camp of the saints about, & the beloved city: & fire came down from God out of Heaven, & devoured them. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire & brimstone, where the Beast & the False Prophet are, & shall be tormented day & night for ever & ever." (Rev.20:7-10.)
12. SO AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM, SATAN IS GOING TO BE RELEASED FROM HIS PRISON IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH WHERE HE'S BEEN HELD FOR A THOUSAND YEARS! He'll be given his freedom only very briefly--just long enough to deceive the nations again, the unconverted wicked over whom we have been ruling with a rod of iron.
13. "HE SHALL GO OUT TO DECEIVE THE NATIONS WHICH ARE IN THE FOUR QUARTERS OF THE EARTH, GOG & MAGOG, TO GATHER THEM TOGETHER TO BATTLE." Now where have we heard about Gog & Magog before?--It was back in our study on the Antichrist & his invasion of Israel & the great Battle of Armageddon, as described in Ezekiel 38 & 39. But be careful you don't get these two battles mixed up, because although they both involve "Gog & Magog", they are a thousand years apart!
14. THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON IS LED BY "GOG"--a name given to the Antichrist in Ezekiel 38--from "the land of Magog"--Russia--& occurs at the end of the Wrath of God period. This is when we conquer his forces & take over the Earth at the very beginning of the Millennium! But this Battle of Gog & Magog takes place at the very end of the Millennium, after the thousand years is over & Satan is released from his prison for "a little season".
15. THE FACT THAT GOG & MAGOG FEATURE IN BOTH THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MILLENNIUM & THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM shows that it is going to be an attempted revival of the same empire & the same forces over which the Antichrist & the False Prophet ruled. Only this time, the Devil won't be using the body of a man as he did with the Antichrist, but the Devil himself will personally try to revive his anti-Christ Satanic kingdom, the kingdom of Gog & Magog that he had before the Millennium.
16. REMEMBER, A LOT OF THE PEOPLE THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE RULING OVER ARE REALLY HANGOVERS, LEFTOVERS FROM THE ANTICHRIST'S KINGDOM who somehow managed to live through the Wrath of God & survive it & will still be around when we start ruling & reigning with the Lord over all the Earth. And in spite of the visible, all-powerful Kingdom of Christ on Earth for a thousand years, an awful lot of these people are obviously still not going to receive Jesus as their Saviour & will again be deceived & misled to follow the Devil when he comes back at the end of the Millennium.
17. SO THIS BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG IS SORT OF LIKE THE DEVIL'S SECOND COMING!--He comes back to lead his people again, & they certainly will be his people if they didn't receive Jesus! Imagine, even after a thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ in person, with us as His personal officers & police & guardian angels, they will still rebel against the King of kings & His Heavenly Kingdom on Earth!
18. IT REALLY SHOWS YOU HOW CLEVER THE DEVIL IS & HOW GULLIBLE THE WORLDLINGS ARE!--How stupid they are to think that they could actually overthrow the Kingdom of Christ after a thousand years of its supernatural, miraculous, visible, personal reign on Earth! It shows you how totally under the control of the Devil the unsaved are, that they will just do whatever he tells them to do, no matter how ridiculous or impossible it may be!
19. IMAGINE, MOST OF THE SAINTS WILL HAVE LITERALLY COME BACK FROM THE DEAD! There will be millions of us, perhaps billions, who will have returned from the dead to rule & reign with Christ on the Earth over the Worldly people who are left after the horrors of the Holocaust! They will see us, they will hear us, they will feel us, & they will feel & see & know the miraculous supernatural powers that we have as rulers of the Kingdom of God! They will see it demonstrated, they will know it's true, they will know God exists, they will know that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah! They will know it's all true, & yet they will not receive it!
20. TIME DOESN'T HEAL IN THIS CASE, IT DOESN'T CHANGE THE NATURE OF THE TRULY WICKED, it doesn't change the nature of those & their descendants who had followed the Antichrist & the Devil, who refused to receive & accept & become a part of the Kingdom of God. So in this Heaven on Earth of Christ's Kingdom on Earth, they're going to be uncomfortable misfits, odd-balls, constantly resenting it & grumbling, complaining & murmuring, & finally rejoicing to see the Devil himself let loose so they can follow him to the full again, in open rebellion against the Lord & His Government!
21. THERE ARE JUST SOME PEOPLE WHO SEEM TO BE ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE, INCORRIGIBLE, TOTAL REPROBATES WHO WILL NEVER CHANGE & can never be won, no matter how much mercy you show them! No matter how much God's personal power is shown to them, they still hate Him & thus want to try to get rid of Him & His Kingdom & His people! Even today, there are many people who believe in God & Christ & the Bible, but nevertheless reject Him & harden their hearts & refuse to receive Him because they're in open rebellion against Him!--They hate Him & curse Him daily!
22. BUT IN THAT DAY THEY WILL EVEN SEE GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH IN VISIBLE POWER & GLORY! And yet, though they see it, know it, & in the lighter sense of the word "believe", will believe it--they can't help but believe it when they see it before their very eyes--they will not truly believe it in the sense of receiving it, drinking it in, accepting it & submitting to it.
23. GOD WILL HAVE MERCIFULLY SHOWN THEM IN EVERY WAY, BY HIS & OUR OWN PERSONAL RULE, HOW THE WORLD OUGHT TO BE RUN & WHAT THEY OUGHT TO BE LIKE. They will see us & the Lord & His angelic officers & know His righteousness & the beauty of His Creation, a restored Creation with the curse lifted & even with very little death, for a thousand years! Surely you would think they all would receive Him then!--But not all do, sad to say.
24. SO WHEN GOD FINALLY TESTS THEM & LETS THE DEVIL LOOSE AGAIN, JUST TO SEE WHO HAS REALLY CHANGED & REFORMED & GOTTEN CONVERTED & SAVED & who really loves the Lord & is really following Jesus, to sift them & to winnow them, the Devil's going to find a lot of rascals who are willing to again follow him, who believe his lies & think he can win, who didn't like the bondage of the Kingdom of God & God's strict rules of behaviour & love! And they will rebel again!--They will go along with the Devil & try to actually destroy God's camp of the saints!
25. SO AGAIN, GOD WILL HAVE SIFTED THE TARES FROM THE WHEAT & SEPARATED THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS! By giving the wicked who want to rebel a chance to rebel, they will come out into the open at the end of the Millennium & follow Satan into the Battle of Gog & Magog & openly show their rebellion, the rebellion they had in their hearts all the time.--Their refusal to become citizens of the Kingdom of God & their refusal to be in subjection to the rule & reign of Christ & His saints on Earth!
26. "WHEN THY JUDGEMENTS ARE IN THE EARTH, THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS."--Thank God some will learn & will receive it! But, "let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, & will not behold the majesty of the Lord!" (Is.26:9,10.)
27. IT'LL BE THE LAST GREAT TEST FOR MANKIND ON EARTH!--And just as Adam & Eve were deceived in the Garden of Eden, & just as the World will soon be deceived by the Antichrist, these rebels who are on probation during the Millennium will again be deceived by the Devil when he's released & will follow him into battle against the Kingdom of God!
28. THROUGHOUT THE MILLENNIUM, WE & THE LORD ARE GOING TO BE SAVING WHOM WE WILL, those we think deserve it & those who do deserve it! (Jn.20:23.) And when we've done the best we can & salvaged all we can during that thousand years, God's going to let the Devil loose for a little while to go out & deceive the ones who are left, to sift them again.
29. THE UNCONVERTED WICKED WILL THEN REBEL AGAINST GOD & ALL HIS GOODNESS & WILL ENDEAVOUR TO THROW OFF THE CHAINS & THE BONDAGE OF HIS KINGDOM, the restrictions of the rule & reign of Christ & His people on Earth. We're given a good picture of this in the second Psalm: "Why do the heathen rage, & the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the Earth set themselves, & the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, & against His anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, & cast away their cords from us!' He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His Wrath, & vex them in his sore displeasure!" (Ps.2:1-5.)
THE "CAMP OF THE SAINTS" & THE "BELOVED CITY"!
30. AFTER THE DEVIL HAS GONE THROUGHOUT THE EARTH & GATHERED HIS INNUMERABLE COMPANY OF WICKED, KINGDOM-OF-GOD-REJECTING FOLLOWERS, it says, "And they went up on the breadth of the Earth, & compassed the camp of the saints about, & the beloved city: & fire came down from God out of Heaven, & devoured them!" (Rev.20:9.) The only city that could be called "the beloved city" here is Earthly Jerusalem, which Jesus is going to take over & from where He's going to reign as King of the Earth during the Millennium.
31. THE HEAVENLY SUPER-CITY "NEW JERUSALEM" WILL NOT COME DOWN TO EARTH UNTIL AFTER THE MILLENNIUM, IN THE NEW HEAVEN & THE NEW EARTH. (Which period we will soon cover in a later lesson!) So this cannot be referring to the Heavenly City but must be Earthly Jerusalem, the Beloved City which is mentioned many times by the Prophets as being the Headquarters of the coming Millennial Kingdom of the Messiah.
32. AND WHAT ABOUT THIS "CAMP OF THE SAINTS" THAT THE DEVIL'S FORCES COMPASS ABOUT & SURROUND?--Is that referring to us, the resurrected saints of God, who have been ruling the Earth for the past thousand years? If we are already "equal unto the angels" (Lk.20:36), as Jesus said we'd be, then what the Hell would we be doing camping out? We could just go pshhhhhht!--& they'd all be gone!--Or we could just disappear or fly away! We wouldn't have to be camped down on the ground & threatened by the forces of evil & natural human beings under the leadership of the Devil! They couldn't touch us!
33. WE WILL HAVE SUPERNATURAL, IMMORTAL, UNTOUCHABLE, RESURRECTION BODIES!--WE'RE CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO BE CAMPED OUT SURROUNDED BY THE DEVIL! Think about it! We will be angelic beings, we'll be able to fly, disappear, & they won't even be able to touch us! So who will Satan & his forces be fighting against?--Who else could it be than those who are also human beings just like them, those who are also still in human bodies, still tangible, still in mortal flesh, with whom they can fight!
34. NOW REMEMBER, IT APPEARS FROM THE BIBLE'S DESCRIPTION OF THE MILLENNIUM THAT THERE ARE GOING TO BE MANY WHO WILL RECEIVE CHRIST'S KINGDOM ON EARTH & will obey & will be blessed by the Lord, in spite of the many others who rebel. And it sounds to me like those who come into faith & belief & loyalty to God will be the ones who make up this camp of the saints at the Battle of Gog & Magog!--The nations & the forces who are loyal to us & the Lord, who will resist Satan & his renegade, reprobate rebel forces!
35. SO IT LOOKS LIKE THIS "CAMP OF THE SAINTS" THAT SATAN'S REBELS TRY TO SURROUND & DEFEAT AT THIS TIME IS GOING TO BE THE NATURAL NORMAL PHYSICAL HUMAN BEINGS WHO ARE SAVED DURING THE MILLENNIUM!--Those who have obeyed & followed God & Christ & refused to join the rebellion! I can't prove it, but that's what it sure sounds like! You read it!
36. HERE'S A WHOLE NEW BREED OF CHRISTIANS, A WHOLE NEW RACE OF CHRISTIAN MORTALS HAVING TO AGAIN WITHSTAND THE ANTICHRIST FORCES! It even calls them Gog & Magog again, as it's almost the exact same situation & they are again led by the Devil & his demons!--The rebels of the Millennium, fighting against the saved of the Millennium! What else could it be? I just can't picture us, who will be as powerful & as great & as supernatural & as miraculous as the angels of God, huddled-up, surrounded by the Devil & his mere human forces of human rebels!
37. BUT I COULD SEE HOW IT COULD AFFECT THEM, THE CHRISTIAN MORTALS! Because during the Millennium, the sheep will be divided from the goats & this will be the final reaping, the final separating of the tares from the wheat. And at the end, the Devil & his forces & all the wicked rebels will try to wipe out those who have been obedient & have gotten saved & followed Christ & been in submission & accepted by the Lord! Wow!
THE DEVOURING FIRE!
38. IT SAYS THEN THAT "FIRE CAME DOWN FROM GOD OUT OF HEAVEN, & DEVOURED THEM." (Rev.20:9.) Got the picture?--Here is the Camp of the New Saints, the Millennial Saints, the Saved of the Millennium, surrounded by the forces of the anti-Christ, anti-God Devil--Satan in person on Earth again!--This time not even disguising himself as the Antichrist, but leading his human forces personally.
39. AND THIS TIME GOD IS SO FED UP WITH THEM THAT HE JUST SENDS DOWN FIRE OUT OF HEAVEN TO DEVOUR THEM COMPLETELY! He annihilates all the anti-God, anti-Christ wicked remaining upon the face of the Earth! In fact, He causes such a horrible fire to come down from Heaven that it completely wipes out the entire Earth! Not the ball itself, but the entire surface of the Earth will be completely burned over & burned out & purified from all the horrors of man, & God will start all over again with a new creation, as we'll read in a following chapter!--A New Earth!
40. HE PROMISED NEVER TO DESTROY THE WORLD AGAIN WITH A FLOOD OF WATER, but this time, at the very end, He's going to destroy it with a flood of fire! He's going to purify it & destroy the pollution, the germs, the contamination, the wicked, the curse, & all evil, & remake the surface of the Earth into another Garden of Eden.
41. HE'LL PURGE THE WHOLE SURFACE OF THE BALL! That's the only way He's ever going to get rid of all the nuclear wastes & toxins & pollution & all, not to mention all the junk flying around in the air! There are already around four or five thousand satellites above the Earth, besides all the pieces of junk, spent cartridges & spent rockets, etc.! No wonder He's got to destroy both the atmospheric heavens & the Earth!
42. THE HEAVENS SHALL BE ROLLED BACK LIKE A SCROLL, HE SAYS, & DEPART WITH A GREAT NOISE! (Rev.6:14; 2Pe.3:10.) It's all going to be exploded & burned up, & the whole surface of the ball is going to be completely burned up & recreated! God will then rebuild a new World on the ashes of the old, & His great holy Space City will be able to safely come down through the New Heaven to rest upon the New Earth! (Rev.21.)
43. FOR "THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, & THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, THE EARTH ALSO & THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP! Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation & godliness, looking for & hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, & the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for New Heavens & a New Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (2Pe.3:10-13.)
44. WE KNOW THAT THIS TERRIFIC, CATACLYSMIC, CATASTROPHIC JUDGEMENT OF GOD THAT WILL WIPE OUT THE WICKED MILLENNIAL REBELS IN ONE FINAL GREAT EXPLOSION is only going to burn up & destroy the surface of the Earth & the atmospheric heavens, because God's Word says that the Earth is established forever! (Ps.78:69.)--And that His eternal Heavenly Space City will come down to this Earth, where God will dwell with men forever! (Rev.21.)
45. NOW IF GOD'S GOING TO SEND DOWN FIRE FROM HEAVEN TO DEVOUR THE FORCES OF THE DEVIL, can you possibly imagine, by any stretch of your imagination, that this fire devours not only the Devil's forces, but also the camp of His Own saints? Do you think He's going to allow His Own children to die in fire & flame, even if they're saved & would go to Heaven afterward? Do you think He's going to let them be devoured by fire?--I don't believe it!
46. I'M CONVINCED THAT ALL THESE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN WON TO THE LORD & HIS KINGDOM ON EARTH DURING THE MILLENNIUM & are following Him & living righteously & in cooperation & in submission to Him & His saints will be spared in some manner at the end of the Battle of Gog & Magog when this fire comes down from God to destroy their enemies & even the whole surface of the Earth! In some way they will be spared!--Because the fire is to destroy their enemies, not them!
47. SOME CLAIM THERE'S GOING TO BE A SECOND RAPTURE OF THESE NEW SAINTS! Well, how God does it, I don't know, because it's not explained exactly. But obviously the fire is not to devour them, but their enemies & the surface of the Earth, so that the whole ball can be totally purified from all its pollution & contamination & horrors & wreckage & the mess that still remains at the Battle of Gog & Magog.
48. AFTER ALL, IF HE'LL RESCUE US AT THE END OF THE TRIBULATION WITH A RAPTURE, SPARING US FROM THE WRATH OF GOD, WHY SHOULDN'T HE RESCUE HIS MILLENNIAL SAINTS WITH A RAPTURE ALSO, & spare them from the devouring fires that wipe out the forces of the Devil at the Battle of Gog & Magog? There must be some way He's going to save them & take them out! It seems to me that since they're alive & haven't died yet, He wouldn't necessarily have to have a Resurrection. So why couldn't He just rapture'm? That's the way He took the first Saints out, what's the matter with a repeat performance? If it worked the first time, why not the second time?--Under even more difficult circumstances!
49. I'VE BEEN READING THE BIBLE & I CAN'T FIND IT, BUT I DO FIND THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS THERE SURROUNDED BY SATAN & HIS FORCES--obviously the rebels of human nature of the Millennium--surrounding some people who are obviously not supernatural or angelic or able to escape from his forces any other way except by a supernatural miracle--like a Rapture!
50. NO DOUBT BOTH THEY, THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS, & WE, WHO HAVE BEEN SAVED IN THIS PRESENT DISPENSATION & will reign with Him during the Millennium, will all be raptured out of those devouring fires & will be enjoying the Heavenly City! After all, why shouldn't these newly converted Millennial Saints enjoy the Heavenly City along with us? They got saved & fought the Devil & his crowd just like we did, suffered for their faith just like we did, so why shouldn't they get raptured just like we did? Why shouldn't they go to Heaven? Why shouldn't they even go to the Heavenly City? They bucked the Devil's wicked crowd during the Millennium, so why not?
SATAN GETS HIS!
51. WHILE THE SAINTS OF THE LORD ARE SAFELY TUCKED AWAY IN THE HEAVENLY CITY SOMEWHERE OUT IN SPACE, the surface of the Earth & the atmospheric heavens will be destroyed in the great fire which burns up the forces of Gog & Magog who had attacked the Millennial Saints at the end of the Millennium. Satan's forces will be destroyed by that fire & Satan himself will be cast into Hell! Like the Antichrist & the False Prophet, the Devil won't need or deserve any judgement--his judgement has gone on before & he will be cast straight into the Lake of Fire! (1Ti.5:24.)
52. "AND THE DEVIL THAT DECEIVED THEM WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE & BRIMSTONE, WHERE THE BEAST & THE FALSE PROPHET ARE." (Rev.20:10.)--In other words, where they already are at this time. They had been cast into the Lake of Fire after the Battle of Armageddon a thousand years previously. They'd already been in Hell for a thousand years, & the Devil is now cast in with them to join them!--At last he receives his punishment!
53. SATAN'S MORTAL FOLLOWERS ARE AT THIS TIME ONLY SLAIN & KILLED BY THE FIRE, whereas the Devil himself is cast into the Lake of Fire, "& shall be tormented day & night for ever & ever!" (Rev.20:10.) And as we'll bring out in detail in our next lesson on the Judgement & Hell, this term "for ever & ever" literally means "for an Age & an Age", which undoubtedly is a very, very long time, but like every Age, does have an eventual end.
THE LESSONS LEARNED!
54. THIS FINAL WAR OF ALL, THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG, is going to prove once & for all to you & to them & to God & to the Devil & to the whole Universe of angels, that though mercy is even shown to the wicked, yet they will not receive it, they'll not believe, they'll not repent!--They will still rebel!
55. THERE WILL STILL BE THOSE WHO ARE SO INCORRIGIBLE & SO STUBBORN & SO REBELLIOUS & SO WICKED & SO UNREGENERATE--that bunch that follows the Devil right at the end of the Millennium--that they're going to merit Hell! After all that, they are going to really get what they deserve, & everybody in the World & the Universe is going to know that they deserve it! They had every chance to repent & change & receive & believe & obey, & yet they rebelled against Christ's visible Kingdom!
56. THINK OF IT: AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST & US PERSONALLY OVER THEM, having learned what real righteousness is & what the Kingdom of God is like, they will still backslide & go back under the Devil! After having that much Light, that much time, that much love & that much mercy, they are going to deserve the World's final flood, a flood of fire, which will totally destroy the surface of the Earth & burn them all up!
57. ALL OF THIS IS ALSO GOING TO PROVE THAT ENFORCED RIGHTEOUSNESS DOESN'T WORK, THAT YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE RIGHTEOUSNESS--EVEN WITH THE IRON RULE OF LOVE! The stern discipline of the personal presence of the Lord & us & His utterly fair, just, merciful Government in a beautiful restored Garden-of-Eden World still can't make people be good. The minute the Devil is let out of his prison, away they go after him & rebel against God again!
58. IT WILL SERVE AS A GREAT LESSON TO THE WHOLE UNIVERSE THAT THE WICKED, ONCE THEY HAVE DECIDED TO BE WICKED, WILL REMAIN WICKED! This great Millennial Drama on Earth will manifest the heinous sin of the confirmed rebels, the utter reprobates. Like the Scribes & the Pharisees & the Chief Priests & the religious leaders of Jesus' day, even though they saw Jesus & watched Him perform miracles & heard His Words & saw the results & everything--even saw Him raise the dead & saw Him raised from the dead--they still rejected Him & wouldn't receive Him as their Messiah!
59. JESUS SAID, "IF THEY HEAR NOT MOSES & THE PROPHETS"--THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD--"NEITHER WILL THEY BE PERSUADED, THOUGH ONE ROSE FROM THE DEAD!" (Lk.16:31.)--Millions are going to come back from the dead, perhaps billions, & yet they're not going to be persuaded! God's going to rule over them personally in the form of Jesus Christ for a thousand years, & yet they will not receive Him! "Let favour be shewed to the wicked," Isaiah says, "& yet they will not learn righteousness!"--(Is.26:10.)--They will not repent!
60. IT'S GOING TO PROVE THAT IF THEY WOULDN'T RECEIVE HIM WILLINGLY NOW, NEITHER WILL THEY DO IT WILLINGLY THEN, EVEN IN HIS PERSONAL PRESENCE!--Even with Jesus Christ's personal, present, visible reign, & with us as His officers, like angels, supernatural, miraculous, & all this visible power of God!
61. NOW HE'S INVISIBLE & HIS POWER'S INVISIBLE, & MOST PEOPLE HAVE TO BELIEVE PURELY BY FAITH, WITHOUT SEEING. "For without faith it is impossible to please God!" (Heb.11:6.)--Although, in most cases where they truly, genuinely, honestly believe, though having not seen, they will see some evidence, some proof, some change, if nothing else than in their own lives as God rewards their faith.--They will feel it, they will see it!
62. BUT THEN, EVEN WHEN THEY SEE IT, EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE TO HAVE FAITH TO BELIEVE IT, THE TRULY WICKED WILL STILL REJECT IT! So the Millennium is going to prove that the wicked, no matter how much mercy & favour is given them, are still going to be just as bad & just as rebellious & just as selfish & they will still be unworthy of His Kingdom & plenty worthy of His judgements & punishments, which are next on the prophetic agenda & which we will cover in our next chapter!
63. SO HOW ABOUT YOU?--Are you believing, receiving, obeying & submitting to Jesus Christ & His loving Kingdom by faith today?--If so, you have a wonderful future to look forward to! God bless you with faith & yieldedness to Him Here & Now, so you can rule & reign with Him & us There & Then! PTL!--See you there!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
