Revelation 20: 1-6
After the Battle of Armageddon and at the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ Jesus, the first detail that had to be taken care of was this enemy.
(1) Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
The abyss is the supernatural hole that the heavenly star that had fallen to the Earth had opened at the blast of the fifth Trumpet, releasing the infernal locusts to torment people. And the red beast that the woman Mystery Babylon was riding on also came out of the abyss.
(2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
This high-ranking angel tied up Satan securely in the great chain he brought with him.
(3) and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him,
This angel general cast him violently into this supernatural place of torment and locked it up tight.
so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed;
God will not permit Satan to have access to Mankind any more for the whole thousand years of the reign of King Jesus; to give Mankind the best chance, and not let that old serpent mess with the Golden Age He will be giving this planet.
after these things he must be released for a short time.
Then after the thousand years, God will allow Mankind to have a clear choice to choose the good He has been providing, or to believe Satan's lies again.
(4) Then I saw thrones, and they that sat on them, and judgment was given to them.
All of Jesus' deputies that have been Resurrected and will reign with Him in His throne, deciding the governmental and judicial matters in each district.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand;
These are the tribulation saints who have been martyred.
and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
These tribulation saints apparently are Raptured along with the rest of the church at the last Trumpet.
(5) The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first Resurrection.
This First Resurrection is the Rapture. There are not two "first resurrections."
(6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first Resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
This is one "First Resurrection." We who are raptured are in our spiritual bodies that Paul described in I Corinthians 15.
This is the time God has given to this planet Earth for its residents to experience the Golden Age of perfect government over the world for Mankind to flourish and be prosperous and enjoy all the bountiful goodness God put into the Earth for our enjoyment.
The first thing we'll probably do is to build for ourselves temporary housing while we rebuild all the cities that have been reduced to rubble in the whole Earth earthquake (the sixth Seal, the seventh Trumpet, and the seventh Bowl or Vial) at the end of the seven years. This is when we will be celebrating the Feast of Booths, that was given to Israel to remember their rescue out of Egypt and wandering in the desert before entering into the Promised Land.
Everything in the Law and the Prophets will now have been fulfilled, Jesus also have been living out all the six Feasts Israelites were to celebrate.
Satan will be out of this picture, and whenever anyone starts to think the kind of thoughts that would cause any kind of trouble, our Lord God who is King will know it, and He will take care of this before any action is taken to spoil the paradise.
When I realized that the Rapture would most likely occur after the seven years of tribulation, and that everyone who trusted the Lord would be Resurrected and all the rest who decided to be deceived would be destroyed, I wondered who would be left in their mortal bodies to repopulate the world?
I didn't dwell on this problem, and I didn't try to invent some solution, I decided to just leave it to God, because He knew what He was going to do, and everything will work out. I trusted Him.
Then later, as I was studying some other Scriptures, I realized that He says, "they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn" (Zechariah 12: 10), when "all Israel will be saved in a day" (Romans 11: 26-27), on the Day the Lord returns, when "every eye shall see Him," and "all nations will mourn" (Revelation 1: 7), because they haven't been following His ways. Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, who has now come to fulfill His promises to Israel!
The residents of Jerusalem, who found themselves surrounded by the rest of the world with no way out, will take the path through the valley that has just opened up in the Mount of Olives when it cleaves into two as the feet of Jesus land on it (Zechariah 14: 4-5. I must go through this whole passage here in Zechariah to see the details of the Lord's moment of arrival!).
And all of the rest of the world who have not succumbed to taking that mark will see Him and recognize Him. These are the people, Jews and Gentiles, who will enter this Golden Age in their mortal flesh and marry and repopulate the world, which is now perfect, for a thousand years!
And all the promises He made to Israel will come to pass as Israel will be the head of the nations, not the tail (Deuteronomy 28: 13); and they will be the human mayors and governors under the Resurrected kings and queens over the districts.
O my Father, You are such a benevolent and generous and faithful and truthful God! You are so powerful and wise and clever! You will leave no stone unturned and no mystery unrevealed. You will finish everything You have started, in each life, in each family, in each tribe, in each nation, and in each world You have made. All Your plans are complete and interesting and adventurous!
O Father, All that You have planned for us, You will fulfill! And this is not the end of all! You have given us a glimpse of what You are planning further for us, even beyond this world and this universe.
Father, You are a very creative God, and You have in mind so much more for everyone You have made! For humans and for angels and for elders and for all the living creatures You have designed and made in all the worlds for your pleasure.
My Father, please, right now, in this time, before all this program is ended and finished, let us go out to every living person in the whole world to share with them how much You love them! Send us out to broadcast Your Plan of Salvation for Mankind before all the evil is unleashed and before the Antichrist has manifested his appearance.
Enable us to tell them, so that each person will have an accurate understanding of how You want to rescue them from all the effects of sin on their bodies and souls and spirits, their emotions and thought processes and relationships. So they can be healed and learn to trust You before all the fierce pressure comes.
And every eye shall see, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come on, Lord Jesus, quickly!
