LIFE AFTER UTOPIA

Revelation 20:7-15
Bob Bonner
May 28, 2006

According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, the term “utopia” was first coined in 1516 by Sir Thomas Moore in reference to “an imaginary and ideal country.” Over time, “utopia,” according to Webster, came to mean “a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions.” In other words, when people speak of a dream world in which there is perfect and immediate justice for all, food for all, equal rights for all, they are talking about a world we know presently does not exist. We all long for it, yet have very little hope it will ever come to be. However, according to the Bible, there is coming a kingdom on earth that will last for a thousand years that will be utopian in the sense of Webster’s definition. Jesus Christ will be the king and perfect justice will be the rule of the day. There will be jobs for all, equality and enough food such that no persons will be left hungry.

The question arises, “Why would God wait til the end of the world as we know it, to bring about this Millennial Kingdom on earth with Christ as the head ruler?” Furthermore, how and why will this kingdom come to an end after 1,000 years? What lesson is there in all of this that God would want us to learn?

I believe the answer to these questions and more are found in Revelation 20. In this relatively short chapter of fifteen verses there are many questions raised and I have categorized most of the important issues brought up in this chapter under five basic questions. Last time, I introduced these questions, of which we answered in part, only three of them. Those questions are: 1.) What happens chronologically right after the Battle of Armageddon? 2.) What is this “reign of Christ on earth” all about? In other words, how long will it be? What will characterize this period of time on earth? Who will be the citizens in His kingdom? 3.) What happens to the key players of this world during Christ’s reign on earth? What happens to Satan? His demons? The believers of all ages? The unbelievers of all ages? Closely related to that question is this fourth question, 4.) What is the ultimate destiny of all these key players?  And finally, 5.) What are the meanings of the following different terms used in the Bible: “hell,” “hades,” “Sheol,” and “Gehenna?” How do these terms relate to one another?

Allow me to briefly summarize what we covered last time, as well as give you a taste for what is ahead in our study for this morning. Last time, we learned this: Christ will return to earth at the end of the period known as the seven-year Tribulation. At that point, He will cast the Antichrist and his right-hand man, the false prophet into the eternal lake of fire, known by many as hell. The rest of the human rebels against God, the unbelievers will die, but will not be immediately judged. They will be gathered together with other unbelievers in the place of the dead, known as “hades” until the end of the next historic period known as the Millennial Kingdom on earth, which lasts for a thousand years, with Christ ruling on earth. In addition, Christ will make sure that Satan is bound in the abyss unable to affect human life on this remade, restored earth. 

At the beginning of this 1,000-year period, all believers, both Old Testament believers and those who put their trust in Christ during the Church Age as well as during the period known as the Tribulation will enter into the 1,000-year reign on earth, where they will serve Jesus Christ. This 1,000 years on earth will be as close as one can come to living in utopia on this earth. It will be a period of total justice, peace and prosperity. Everyone will have work to do. Everyone will be well fed, clothed and housed. 

However, as we will see in this morning’s passage, at the end of those years, there will be one final conflict between Satan, some new unbelievers and Christ, after which Satan will be permanently cast into hell, followed by the resurrection and judgment of these unbelievers who lived during the Millennial Kingdom and had joined Satan in his final conflict, and all other unbelievers who lived on the previous earth, followed by the eternal state. 

Let’s begin our study by reading verses 7-10 which speak of Satan’s activity at the end of the Millennial Kingdom and his ultimate destiny. We read, “When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” This statement that “the number of them is like the sand of the seashore” is a statement that requires some explanation, so allow me to expand a little upon those who survive the Tribulation and who will enter the Millennium. Although believers will have a resurrection body that is like our physical bodies and yet, can pass through walls, their bodies will still require nourishment and clothing and housing. They will also, according to Isaiah 65:18-25, be able to bear children and thus repopulate the earth. 

These new children will not be born Christians, but each will have to choose for themselves, in this utopian world, whether or not to trust Jesus Christ to be their Savior and Lord. Under these ideal circumstances, one would think that these newly formed human beings, having been born into a utopian world, ruled by a righteous king, would all put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. However, like today, many will outwardly profess faith in Christ without actually placing faith in Him for salvation. They will obey the righteous king, not just because He is good, but because they have really no other choice. Inside, some will still want to live their lives independently from God, hence they will see no need and have no desire for Christ to be their Savior and Lord. Sadly, the shallowness of their professions to be followers of Christ will become apparent when Satan is released.

Further, in verse 9, we learn that “they [meaning these new, human unbelievers who have chosen to serve Satan rather than Christ] came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints.” At the end of the Tribulation, due to the massive changes to the earth as we know it due to earthquakes and the judgments we have already studied will take place on the earth, the topography of our planet will change greatly. Many of the mountains will melt like wax and become flat plains. Seas will change their location and size. Rivers will change courses. Some rivers will dry up. Other new rivers will be formed. However, surrounding the New Jerusalem, which will probably still be up on a hill, will be a broad plain that will be dotted with the homes of the true believers, those who have committed their lives to Christ. It will be upon these homes that these armies of humans will be led, not by the Antichrist but by none other than Satan, himself.

Satan and his army will not only attack the believers and their homes, but verse 9 adds, “and the beloved city, [that is the New Jerusalem, the capital city from which Jesus rules] and fire came down from heaven and devoured them [meaning those unbelievers who have chosen to rebel against Christ].” Different than the end to the previous world war where Jesus used a word to end the war, this time He sends fire down from heaven to devour these people. “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

There is a curious expression used in verse 8, “Gog and Magog” that has caused a bit of a debate, as to what it refers to in this context. In Ezekial 38, 39, “Gog and Magog” refer to a king and kingdom in the north that marches on Israel toward the end of the Great Tribulation. From our present context, it would seem that this is not the same group of people or event or meaning of this expression. For in this context, these terms are used to designate “all the nations of the earth,” not just Russia or the other countries of the north that will one day invade Israel. Without going into all the comparative details to show that the “Gog and Magog” of Ezekial 38, 39 don’t fit the pattern of Revelation 20, allow me to simply state that the terms “Gog and Magog” as they are used here, represent the type of unbelieving people who will live during the Millennial Kingdom. They will be of the same heart as those who originally, in Ezekiel 38, 39, rebelled against God and set out to destroy Israel.

From these four verses, we learn what Satan’s destiny will be. Following the conclusion to this battle, Satan will be tossed into the lake of fire to forever join his two key human leaders, the beast and the prophet, who have already been there for the previous thousand years, and who will remain there for eternity. “Day and night” indicates that the torment will be continual and will not be interrupted by moments of reprieve. “Forever and ever” indicates that the torment will last for eternity—it will never end. As a result, Satan will never again be able infect God’s creation with evil.

What happens to those down through history who have refused to put their trust in Christ as their Savior and Lord? Verses 11-15 tell us. We read, ^“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 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 from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

These final five verses of chapter 20 introduce the final Great White Throne Judgment, the last event to precede the eternal state. This Great White Throne is located neither in heaven (that area above the earth or outer space) nor on earth as is suggested by the statement, “Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them”. There are many references in the Bible that suggest that the earth and the heavens, as now known, will be destroyed and cease to exist (cf. Matt. 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 16:17; 21:33; 2 Peter 3:10-13). This is confirmed by the opening statement of Revelation 21, “The first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” In addition, John tells us that he sees a new heaven and a new earth replacing the first heaven and the first earth.

Hence, the existence of this Great White Throne is elsewhere, probably in that invisible realm called “the heavenlies,” the dwelling place of God. 

Although it is not indicated here, we read in John’s Gospel, 5:22 who it is that sits on this throne. There we read, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.” Contrary to what many people think, Jesus, not God the Father, sits upon the Great White Throne of majesty and gathers all the dead non-believers before Him and judges them.

From other Scriptures it seems that by this time, all the righteous dead, those who have trusted in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, have already been raised from the dead, including Old Testament saints, the dead of the Great Tribulation, and the church saints. They were the ones who populated the Millennial Kingdom. It is this group whose names are recorded in “the book of life.” Their “judgment” has already been taken care of through Christ and His justifying work upon the cross.

Thus, the individuals spoken of in verses 11-15 refer to all the unbelievers throughout history, who have died and now have been resurrected to experience the judgment of the second death, as referred to back in verse 6.

The standing posture of these people means that they are now about to be sentenced. This is the fulfillment of the principle of Hebrews 9:27, which also argues against another false teaching that “Our merciful God of the second chance will always give us another chance to be saved.” There we read, “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.”  After death comes judgment!! After death, there are no more second chances, just judgment.

One other side note: In verse 13, we read that “the sea gave up the dead.” This demonstrates that no matter what the method of burial or the decomposition of the human body, whether it be in a coffin, or blown to bits during war unable to find the body parts, or having died at sea and become fish food in the ocean or having been cremated, nothing will prevent God from raising up an individual from the dead. And surely, if God will raise the dead no matter how they died or how their bodies were disposed of, for judgment purposes it would be reasonable to assume that God can raise up believers and give them an eternal resurrection body as well. So, as a believer, it matters not whether you have your remains buried or cremated. 

In verse 13, we also read what will be the basis for this judgment. We read about “books” plural. There are three books referred to in this chapter. The book that includes the names of those who are saved that have been written in the book of life (from which no names can be erased 3:5).

The second book , the book of death, is filled with the names of those who refuse to bow and submit their lives to Christ. The third book is the divine record of all the earthly deeds of those whose names are in the book of death. 

Remember, the believers are judged at the bema seat of Christ, according to 2 Cor. 5:10-11, which happens to the Christian right after he dies. Right then, Jesus will pass out His eternal rewards to all who served Him by faith. Similarly, according to verse 13, at the Great White Throne Judgment, the dead unbelievers will also receive a recompense based upon their evil deeds. This leads to the conclusion that hell will have degrees of punishment for those who reject Christ in the same way that heaven has degrees of reward for those who faithfully serve Christ on earth. Good works will not save those who reject Jesus Christ, but God will judge their works fairly and give them a just punishment in hell.

Which leads us to another important topic that is in need of clarification: When a person dies as a believer or non-believer, is his eternal destiny Hades, Gehenna, Hell, Sheol, the “bosom of Abraham,” death or all of the above? Do these terms all speak of the same thing? In brief, these terms do not all speak of the same thing, but they are all closely connected.

For instance, only in the New Testament do we find the word “hell” used. Unfortunately, translators chose to translate two different Greek terms into the same English word “hell,” and though they may refer to the same situation, each of the terms is used a little differently. The King James Version actually translates three different Greek terms as “hell.” Those three Greek words are tartaros, hades, and gehenna. Because most English translations only translate two of these terms as “hell,” the term tartaros and gehenna, I will deal with those here, and the third, hades, a little later.

The Greek word “tartaros” is used only once in the Bible, in 2 Peter 2:4. There it is used to specifically refer to the temporary place of punishment for the angels who rebelled against God. They will be held there until they are judged at the end of eternity, presumably to be cast into the eternal lake of fire with Satan and the rest of his cohorts.

The second Greek term commonly translated as hell is “gehenna.”  Southwest of Jerusalem there was a valley known as “the valley of Hinnom.” In Hebrew, it is called “gehenna.” During the Old Testament times, this valley was the site in which the children of Israel worshiped the Canaanite god, Moloch, by offering up their children as burnt sacrifices to Moloch. Later, after these practices ceased, the Jews used this valley as a garbage dump, as well as a place to dispose of the dead bodies of animals and unburied criminals. To consume the rubbish of millions who lived in and around Jerusalem and all the dead bodies, a perpetual fire known as the “Gehenna of fire” burned continuously.

Jesus used this known place as an illustration of what the final and eternal condition would be of those who reject Him as Savior, a place of most excruciating and eternal torment. Apparently, this “gehenna of fire” is synonymous with the “lake of fire” spoken of twice in our passage.

A third term used in explaining the place of the dead, is the Hebrew word, Sheol, used 67 times in the Old Testament. Sometimes sheol means “grave”, other times it means “the realm of the dead,” and sometimes it refers to just “the realm of the unsaved dead.” 

To understand how this word can have such a broad usage, as well as how other terms that reference the place of the dead relate to this term, one must grasp the Hebrew understanding of the realm of the dead. Jesus, in Luke 16:19-31, told a story that best illustrates and helps us better understand this term sheol, as it concerns the place of the dead. Jesus says, “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house — for I have five brothers —in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

Jesus told this story to teach a point. Some say that this was a parable and should not be used as a basis from which one would draw theological conclusions. Normally, I would agree. Except here, we are not told this is a parable; and second, Jesus never named characters in His parables, but here He identifies the beggar by name, Lazarus. Hence, I hold this story to be very helpful in understanding the Hebrew and Greek terms used to explain the place of the dead.

To begin with, Sheol refers to the place of all dead persons. It is made up of two parts, “hades” and “Abraham’s bosom.”                 

Hades is used ten times in the New Testament, including this passage. In every case, Hades refers to the place of punishment where the unrighteousdead are kept until their eternal judgment. At that time, according to Rev. 20:13-14 the unbeliever will be removed from hades, judged and then cast into hell, or “the eternal lake of fire” alongside the demons, satan, the antichrist and the false prophet.

In the meantime, while in “hades” the dead person will retain his senses, for as it was with the rich man, he was fully conscious of his own torment. Hence, there is no such thing as “soul sleep.” The unrighteous dead experience torment, even now, before eternal damnation.

“Abraham’s bosom,” the second division of “sheol” represents the temporary place of the righteous dead, kept until their resurrection. In contrast to “hades,” the “bosom of Abraham” is a place of comfort.

One last phrase needs to be clarified because it is used twice in our passage. It is the phrase “death and hades.” Here, “death” points to where the material part of the unregenerate man has gone, and “hades” points to where the immaterial part of the unregenerate man has gone. Hence, at the Great White Throne Judgment, the full human unregenerate being, body, soul and spirit will stand before God for sentencing.

In summary, “hades,” “Abraham’s bosom” and “sheol” are terms that refer to the intermediate state following one’s death before one’s resurrection and/or judgment. They never refer to the eternal state of the individual.

As we stand back from this passage, there are several conclusions that can be drawn. First, we can put to rest the foolish notion and false theory that man under a perfect environment will willingly serve God. Unless born again, no person, even those born into the utopian world of the Millennial Kingdom, will of their own desire seek to serve God.  Only, when we are called by God, predestined, will we be transformed into righteous servants of God and fellow heirs with Christ. 

Second, this passage brings us hope that one day, once and for all, Satan will have an end and when that end comes, he will never more be able to torture or deceive the righteous.

Third, this passage puts to an end the foolish argument that when the wicked die, they simply cease to exist, or what some theologians call the theory of “annhialationisn.” This text clearly states that “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” The wicked will exist forever, though in torment. Dr. John Walvoord in his excellent commentary on Revelation, writes, “There is no other way possible in the Greek language to state more clearly or emphatically the concept of eternal punishment of the lost” than this. The “lake of fire” is the destiny for those fallen angels (demons) and all who have chosen to follow in the footsteps of Satan to rebel against the One who created them, loved them, died for them that they might know Him and live with Him forever. 

Finally, I close with a question to ponder. Why the Millennium? Why didn’t God just decide to end this world at the Tribulation and go straight to the Great White Throne Judgment and into eternity? I see a couple of different reasons why, but the most important reason for the Millennium is to contrast the justice of God with the total depravity of man and our helpless predicament if God had not provided us with a savior. For even in an utopian environment with Christ on the throne on earth, human beings still will choose to glorify themselves first rather than bring glory to God. Individuals will still choose to ignore God or eventually and blatantly stand against Him. The Millennial Kingdom will prove that at the root of every person’s heart is selfishness and seeking after their own prominence and recognition rather than to submit their lives to the King. Their fleshly nature, their propensity to rebel against God and to try to live independent of their creator will still drive them, even in a perfect environment.

Basically, the Millennium will prove that if your name is not written in the book of life, then you don’t deserve to be in heaven. For, one day all your evil deeds will be revealed. One writer put it this way: “All the hidden corners of your life will be subjected to scrutiny. Nothing will go unnoticed. Today, you may have a reputation for your devotion, your caring, your humility, your abilities—but in that day Jesus will judge the hidden motives behind your deeds. He will know if your real reason for service in the church and the community was to glorify God—or if it was all tainted by selfishness, pride, and the lust for prominence, power, influence and recognition.” [Ray C. Stedman, God’s Final Word, p. 329]

Good works will never save us. The basis of our good works simply reveals whether we have entrusted our lives to Jesus Christ or not. It is the evidence of whether or not our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Ultimately, the most important question in life will be, “Is my name written in the book of life?” Have you submitted your life into the control of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Have you been born again? Or, are you still living your life as though God does not exist and you are the boss over your life?

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