Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The Lake of Fire and Sulfur - Conclusion

 All of this reinforces the view that the lake of fire and sulfur is symbolic. Further, the mention of fire and sulfur calls to mind the fate of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by God because of their gross wickedness. When their time came, "Jehovah made it rain sulfur and fire from Jehovah from the heavens, upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah." (Genesis 19:24) What befell the two cities is called the judicial punishment of everlasting fire." (Jude7) Yet, those two cities did not suffer everlasting torment. Rather they were blotted out, obliterated for all time, along with their depraved inhabitants. Those cities do not exist today, and no one can say for sure where they were located. 

In harmony with this, the Bible itself explains the meaning of the lake of fire and sulfur: 'This means the second death, the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:14) It is clearly the same as the Gehenna that Jesus spoke of, a place where the wicked remain destroyed, not tortured forever. (Matthew 10:28) It is complete utter destruction without hope of a resurrection. Thus, while there are keys for death, Hades, and the abyss, this is no mention of a key for opening the lake of fire and sulfur. (Revelation 1:18; 20:1) It will never release its captives. - Compare MARK 9:43-47. 

Next time: Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - Tormented Day and Night Forever

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The Lake of Fire and Sulfur

 Will this final effort by Satan succeed? Certainly not-no more than the attack that Gog of Magog is due to make on spiritual Israel in our day will succeed! (Ezekiel 38:18-23) John vividly describe the outcome: "But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulfur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet already were." (Revelation 20:9b-10a) Rather than merely being abyssed, this time Satan, the original Serpent, will actually be crushed out of existence, pulverized, completely annihilated as if by fire. 

We have already noted that "the lake of fire and sulfur could not be a literal place of torment.  (Revelation 19:20) If Satan were to suffer excruciating torture there f0r all eternity, Jehovah would not have to preserve him alive. Yes, life is gift, not a punishment. Death is the punishment for sin, and according to the Bible, dead creatures feel no pain. (Romans 6:23; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) Moreover, we read that later that death itself, along with Hades cannot suffer pain! - REVELATION 20:14. 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The Final Test Conclusion

 The number of those who join Satan in his revolt will be  "as the sand of the sea." How many is that? There is no foreordained number. (Compare Joshua 11:4; Judges 7:12) The final total number of rebels will depend on how each individual reacts to Satan deceptive wiles. Doubtless, though, there will be a considerable number, since they will feel strong enough to overcome "the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city." 

"The beloved city" must be the city that is spoken of by the glorified Jesus Christ to his followers at Revelation 3:12 and that he calls "the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God." Since this is a heavenly organization, how could those earthly forces 'encircle it'? In that they encircle "the camp of the holy ones." A camp is outside a city; therefore, "the camp of the holy ones" must represent those on earth outside the heavenly location of New Jerusalem who loyally support Jehovah's governmental arrangement. When the rebels under Satan attack the holy ones, the Lord Jesus regards it as an assault on him. (Matthew25:40, 45) "Those nations" will try to wipe out all that the heavenly Jerusalem has accomplished in making earth a paradise. So, in attacking "the camp of the holy ones," they are also attacking "the beloved city." 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The Final Test - Continue

 How will Satan's last effort fare? He deceives "those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog," and leads them to "the war." Who could possibly side with Satan after a thousand years of joyful, upbuilding theocratic rule? Well, do not forget that Satan was ablet o mislead the perfect Adam and Eve while they were enjoying life in the Paradise of Eden. And he was able to lead astray heavenly angels who had seen the bad results of the original rebellion. (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6) So we should not be surprised that some perfect humans will be enticed to follow Satan even after a delightful thousand years of rule by God's Kingdom. 

The Bible calls these rebels "nations in the four corners of the earth." This does not mean that mankind will have been divided once again into mutually exclusive national entities. It merely indicates that these will "think up an injurious scheme," as did the Gog and Magog in Ezekiel's prophecy, with a goal of destroying theocratic government on earth. (Ezekiel 38:3.10-12) Hence, they are called Gog and Magog." 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The Final Test

 By the end of the Thousand Year Reign, all earth will have come to resemble the original Eden. It will be veritable paradise. Perfect mankind will no longer need a high priest to intercede before God, since all traces of Adamic sin will have been removed and the last enemy, death brought to nothing. Christ's Kingdom will have achieved God's purpose to create one world with one government. At this point, Jesus "hands over the kingdom to God and Father." - 1 CORINTHIANS 15:22-26; ROMANS 15:12.

It is now time for a final test. Will that perfected world of mankind, in contrast with the first humans in Eden, stand firm in its integrity? John tells us what happens: "Now as soon as the thousand years have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison, and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of these is as the sand of the sea. And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city."  - REVELATION 20:7-9a. 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The First Resurrection - Conclusion

 How different from earth's kings during Satan's tenure of authority! These have ruled at most for a mere 50 or 60 years, and the great majority for a just a few years. Many of them have oppressed mankind. In any case, how could the nations benefit permanently under ever-changing rulers with ever-changing policies? In contrast, John says of earth's new rulers: "But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will rule as kings with him for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:6b) With Jesus, they will form the sole government for a thousand years. Their priestly service. in applying the merit of Jesus' perfect human sacrifice, will lift obedient humans to spiritual, moral, and physical perfection. Their kingly service will result in building a global human society that reflects Jehovah's righteousness and holiness. As judges for a thousand years, they, with Jesus, will lovingly guide responsive humans toward the goal of everlasting life. - JOHN 3:16. 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The First Resurrection

 Returning now to those who "came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ," John writes: "This is the first resurrection." (Revelation 20:5b) How is it the first? It is "the first resurrection " as to time, for the ones who experience it are a "firstfruits to God and to importance, since those who share in it become corulers with Jesush in his heavenly Kingdom and judge the rest of mankind. Finally, it is in quality. Apart from Jesus Christ himself, those raise in the first resurrection are the only creatures spoken of in the Bible as receiving immorality. - 1 CORINTHIANS 15:53; 1 TIMOTH 6:16.

What blessed prospect fir these anointed ones! As John declares: "Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority." (Revelation 20:6a) As Jesus promised the Christians in Smyrna, these conquerors that share in the "first resurrection" will be in no danger of harm by "the second death," which means annihilation, destruction without hope of a resurrection. (Revelation 2:11; 20:14) The second death has "no authority" over such conquerors, for they will have to put on incorruption and immorality. - 1 CORINTHIANS  15:53.

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - The Rest of the Dead

 Whom, though, will these kings judge if, as the apostle John here inserts: "(the rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were ended) (Revelation 20:5a) Again, the expression "come to life" has to be understood according to context. This expression can have varying meaning in varying circumstances. For example, Paul said of his anointed fellow Christians: "It is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins." (Ephesians 2:1) Yes, spirit-anointed Christians were "made alive," even in the first century, being declared righteous on the basis of their faith in Jesus' sacrifice. - ROMANS 3:23, 24. 

Similarly, pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah were declared righteous at to a friendship with God; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were spoken of as "living" even though they were physically dead. (Matthew 22:31, 32; James 2:21, 23) However, they and all others who are resurrected, as well as the great crowd of faithful other sheep who survive Armageddon and any children that may been born to these in the new world, must yet be raised to human perfection. This will be accomplished by Christ and his associate kings and priests during the thousand-year Judgment Day, on the basis of Jesus' ransom sacrifice. By the end of that Day, "the rest of the dead" will have "come to life." in the sense that they will be perfect humans. As we shall see, they must then pass a test, but they will face that test as perfect humans. As we shall see, they must then pass a final test, but they will face that test as perfect humans. When they pass the test, God will declare them worthy of living forever, righteous in the fullest sense. They will experience the complete fulfillment of the promise: "The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it." (Psalm 37:29) What a delightful future is in store for obedient mankind! 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - Judges for a Thousand Years - Conclusion

 Now these conquerors live again! John reports: "And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4c) Does this mean that these judges are not resurrected until after the destruction of the nations and the abyssing of Satan and his demons? No, most of them are already very much alive, since they rode with Jesus against the nations at Armageddon.  (Revelation 2:26, 27; 19:14) Indeed, Paul indicated that their resurrection commences soon after the beginning of Jesus' presence in 1914 and that some are resurrected before others. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) Therefore, their coming to life occurs over a period of time as they individually receive a gift of immoral life in the heavens. - 2 THESSALONIANS1:7; 2 PETER 3:11-14.

Their reigning and judging will be for a thousand years. IS this a literal thousand years, or should we view it symbolically as being an undefined long period of time? "Thousands" may mean a large, undefined number, as at 1 Samuel 21:11. But here the "thousands " is literal, since it appears three times in Revelation 20:5-7 as "the thousand years." Paul called this time of judgment "a day" when he stated: 'He [God] has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness." (Acts17:31) Since Peter tell us that one day with Jehovah is a thousand years, it is appropriate that this day of Judgment be a literal thousand years." - 2 PETER 3:8. 

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Chapter Forty/Crushing the Serpent's Head - Judges for a Thousand Years - Continue

 Were all these 144,000 royal judges physically "executed with an ax"? Likely, relatively few of them were in a literal sense. This expression, though, doubtless is intended to embrace all those around Christians who endure martyrdom in one way or another. (Matthew 10:22, 28) Certainly, Satan would liked to have executed all of them with the ax, but, in fact, not all of Jesus' anointed brothers die as martyrs. Many of them die of disease or old age. Such ones, however, also belong to the group that John now sees. The death of all of them is, in a sense, sacrificial. (Romans 6:3-5) Additionally, none of them were part of the world. Hence, all of them have been hated by the world and, in effect become dead in its eyes. (John 15:19; 1 Corinthians 4:13) None of them worshiped the wild beast or it image, and when they died, none of them carried the mark of the beast. All of them died as conquerors. - 1 JOHN 5:4; REVELATION 2:7; 3:12; 12:11. 

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