By Ron Graham
7/21/2011
“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.” Revelation 20:7-8. The number of those who will be deceived at the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ will be as numerous as the sand of the sea. Wow! These people have lived with Christ and seen Him in His glorified body. They know Him, yet they still follow Satan and rebel against Him. How does Satan do it?
The believers who live through the Tribulation will be mortal. They will live and repopulate the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Without the devastation of sin taking its toll, we can imagine the population increase during the Millennium will be enormous, almost incomprehensible. All those who are born during the millennium will enjoy the benefits and blessings of Christ's reign on the earth, but they will still be born with a sin nature, and they will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord.
Jesus Christ will take His rightful place on His Throne as the world’s monarch, only His monarchy will be perfect, unlike those of earth’s past. He will insure a perfect form of justice, while not tolerating the sin so prevalent in today's society “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee…I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron… Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Psalm 2:7-12. When Jesus comes back to set up His Kingdom on earth He will not come as a suffering servant this time around, but as a conquering King. In military terms, He won’t put up with any dissention in the ranks.
We can only imagine such a time of “heaven on earth.". With God on His earthly throne is there any doubt that the earth will be filled with all the provisions people will need such as food and water? Everything folks need to live a comfortable life will be abundant. No one will lack anything. We, His saints, will rule and reign with Him in various capacities. One of our duties will certainly be to instruct those born during the millennium about Jesus Christ and teach them what He did for His creation. The people born during the millennium will not need to have faith that Jesus Christ exists as His existence will be obvious. He will be here so all eyes can see Him, but they will need to believe in His death, burial, and resurrection, just as we do now. As the Old Testament saints were looking forward in faith to His coming, we (the Church) look back on the cross and believe; faith is the binding tie. The tribulation saints will also look to the cross, as will those who are born during the millennium reign of Christ. They must become born again to be saved and to be able to enter Heaven. Even during Christ’s 1,000 year reign He will still be the way, the truth, and the life, and no man will be able to come to the Father but by the Son.
Apparently, since so many will be deceived by the father of all lies (Satan) towards the end of the millennium, we are given a clue here that unbelief isn’t reliant upon Satan’s lies since He will be bound in the bottomless pit for most of that duration. Life will be good during the millennial reign of Christ on earth. We will live under His perfect justice without sin, and even though the curse which is currently over all of God’s creation will have been lifted, the sin nature inherent in all humans will be a determining factor in the mass rebellion against our Lord as the end of the millennium approaches its climax.
Let’s take a trip back in time and try to see a parallel between the Garden of Eden and the end of the Millennium. We read in the book of Genesis that apparently God enjoyed walking in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the day. Adam, being immortal before his huge stumble that brought about the fall of mankind, saw God; they spoke, apparently, face to face. If God were to show Himself to any of us right now, we being mortal would most certainly die. Adam did not need faith to believe God existed. Nor will the people born during the millennium need faith to believe that God exists since He will be present and they will be able to see Him as He exists today in His glorified body. Still Adam rebelled against God. Why? His wife, Eve, was beguiled by the serpent in the Garden. Adam blew it by even allowing his wife to speak to this being, let alone be beguiled by him.
“Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” Ezekiel 28:14-15. Lucifer was at one time the anointed cherub that covers, in other words he was God’s number one angel. His name means “light bearer”. He was an angel of light, the most beautiful of all angels. He probably beguiled Eve with his beauty. Yes, in Genesis he’s referred to as the serpent, but that word in the Hebrew is “nachash”, meaning the shinning one. That word can also be translated as diviner, someone who practices divination. He first shows up as a serpent, but this serpent could have been a very beautiful and beguiling being. Certainly Lucifer still had the ability to present himself as something that would not frighten Eve but convince her of his sincere desire to help her. This being (the serpent) had the uncanny ability to place doubt in Eve’s mind; after the doubt was established he went on with the lie, both of which he’s promoted over and over again for the past 6,000 years.
Lucifer asked Eve a question which instilled that first bit of doubt in her “And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1b. After he heard Eve’s response he blatantly lied to her while tempting her at the same time. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5. As I mentioned, this has been Satan’s modus operandi since the beginning. He’s good at it, and during the millennial reign of Christ, Satan will have a thousand years to perfect his craft to the nth degree.
Have you ever known a liar? I mean a real liar, one who is so convincing they could sell refrigerators to Eskimos? You know the kind of person I’m talking about, they are incredibly persuasive, they have a huge abundance of charisma, and many of them these days take up residency in Washington DC. But no matter how well a human works at perfecting their ability to lie and deceive others they can never best their father, the god of all lies. How will Satan convince those living during and at the end of the millennium to reject Jesus Christ and follow him? The same way he’s done it with multitudes of earth’s inhabitants of the past. First create doubt, and then put forth the lie. Many people would rather believe a lie than the truth. Many of the folks living in those still fleshly bodies will be just as susceptible to the doubt and lie as Eve was, even more so when we consider she was immortal and where she was living at the time.
In the beginning Adam and Eve were created immortal. When God proclaimed everything He had just finished making was very good – it was perfect in His thinking, no flaws, therefore we can conclude Adam and Eve were immortal. Yet they freely gave up their immortality for the taste of what they thought would be a better life, so will multitudes at the end of the millennium. They, being unbelievers, will want to taste the lie which will be promoted by the father of all lies, Satan himself. But it will be much worse for them than it was for Adam and Eve. Don’t misunderstand, there will still be those who come to Christ during the millennium, but the vast majority, just as it is today, will reject the Messiah and they will go down in flames. “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Revelation 20:9. They will have had more time than any other people of earth to discover who their King is and believe, but alas, many will make no such discovery as they will perish in unbelief.
Why is it easier or more fun to believe a lie? I imagine it’s like believing in evolution and the big bang theory. Throughout all the years these two impossible theories have been postulated there has never been a shred of proof to substantiate either theory. Yet, people believe them. Why? I suppose it’s like that old adage “Don’t confuse me with facts.” “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” Genesis 1:1. Yet this Bible verse is totally rejected by the majority of earth dwellers. Why? The lie has become the truth and the truth dismissed as merely fable or myth. The theory of evolution, as well as the big bang theory both are quite satanic in their totality. Even many professing Christians believe this lie. So, how will Satan deceive the vast majority of none believers at the end of the millennium? Isn’t it obvious?
Satan and his cronies will stop at nothing to try to defeat God. Impossible I know, but Satan has such a hatred for humanity that he can’t see the impossibility in his actions. That’s a lot of hate. And the longer we live on this planet the more his hate grows. Evolution, the big bang, and the creation of other gods are all part of Satan’s plan to convince man that there is either no God at all, or that there are many gods and many ways to Heaven. Either way, with these lies, he’s become the winner of many souls. These souls will occupy the same eternity as Satan (Hell). Satan has always opposed God, and God has done more to save His Creation than a billion Satan’s could even think to do. Yet Satan is still followed by the vast majority of earth’s populace. Most of God’s creation, even though God died to save them and keep them out of that horrible place (Hell), will continue in their rejection of His free gift of salvation. That free gift was not free for God as He had to give His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, to die for His creation. And die He did but thankfully He has risen and is alive today. We serve a living, loving God who would do anything to see us come to Him instead of to His adversary, Satan.
Jesus Christ will still be rejected by multitudes living during the millennium just as He is today. This is a hard pill to swallow for anyone who lives every day for Jesus Christ. Still the Bible is true and we can believe every word. Many will follow their father the devil right into Hell and probably without a second thought.
God bless you all,
Ron Graham twotug@embarqmail.com
All scripture is from the KJV and God breathed
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