Revelation II, tape 4 Malcolm Smith One Thousand Years

Revelation Chapter 20

When we come to chapter 20, I don’t believe that chapter 20 is a key chapter to the Book of Revelation, I believe that chapter 5 is, but in the minds of a great many people, chapter 20- is the most important. You may have hear of the Millennium. The word Millennium is not in the Bible, and that makes it very difficult to argue for it, as a doctrine, or against it. I am always suspect of words that are not in the Bible. You may have heard if you have advanced into studying of pre-millennialists, post millennialists, A-millennialists, and there are some who call themselves pan-millennialists. What they are saying is, a Pre-millennialists one who believes that Jesus Christ will come and set up a physical kingdom in Israel and rule in Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple and reinstate the sacrifices and rule for 1000 years, during which time the physical nation of Israel will be the top dogs of the world. They are Pre-millennialists. That is a position held by a great number of Evangelicals and Charismatics – that was an idea put forward probably the clearest by the book, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. The Post-Millennialist hardly has a place left today but that was the idea that was held very strongly a number of years ago, that gradually the Kingdom of Jesus would get larger and stronger until the whole earth would come under His rule for a thousand years. An A-Millennialist is one who does not believe that there will be a Millennium at all, but that the terms that are used here in Rev 20 are symbolic of something else. I think it becomes very obvious that I am an A-Millennialist. That is a very dangerous position to hold. I am banned from a number of pulpits, my own denomination in England refused to ordain me because I am an A-Millennialist, people feel very strongly about this chapter of Revelation, so I want you to hold that in mind – I do not believe that the Nation of Israel will ever hold again any great position as a nation, I believe that they have got as much place in the world today as Norway has, or Sweden, or England or America. They are a nation and God has always dealt with a people and that people has been of faith and of miracle and it has always been a faith in a promised Messiah, and while Israel was carrying that Messiah, they were the chosen people, but after He came the chosen people, the Israel of God are those who have faith in that Messiah. It has always been that way since Abraham, and it always will be. I do not believe there is any future as a nation for Israel. Their only future is to come to the Messiah and become part of the Church of Jesus Christ, when there are then neither Jew nor Gentile but all on in Christ – I do not believe in the blasphemy – and I use that word advisedly – that the Temple will be rebuilt and sacrifices reinstated. That to me crosses the line from Bible interpretation into blasphemy. For if there are more sacrifices to come, then the work of Jesus was not enough. And God is a schizophrenic, that having put away sacrifices, He starts them up again, and therefore I can in no way hold to that. The idea that the world is gradually coming under the reign of Jesus, I do not find that. I find rather that He reigns in the midst of His enemies I am left then with Revelation 20.

Very well, although this chapter has such publicity, - on the last set of tapes made on this Book everyone wanted my tape on Revelation 20. I refused to give it, no one can understand Revelation 20 until you have moved from Chapter 1 through to 20 and I think by this time it is no problem to us here, that what we find in Chapter 20 is the same as we have found in all the other chapters – here are symbols, echoes of other parts of the Bible –so let us read a few verses –

‘And I saw an angel coming down from Heaven having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand and he laid hold of the Dragon, the Great Serpent of Old who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss and shut it, and sealed it over him so that he should not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. After these things he must be released for a short time. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the Word of God and those who had not worshipped the Beast or its image, and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed – this is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection, over these the second death has no power, they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. When the thousand years are completed Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations, and then, verse 9 they came up to the broad plain of the earth, surrounded the camp of the beloved city. Fire came down from Heaven and devoured them –the Devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the False Prophet are also, they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

First of all, what is really there? There are a number of ideas there which are mixed up together. Let us pull them out and see what it says. First we should note that the Vision we were studying in our last hour came to an and. As all other visions, it came to an end with judgment. Now here is another one again – in this vision it begins with an angel from Heaven. We have seen more than once in this book that the word Angel is better understood as Messenger – so look upon this one as a messenger from Heaven and he has a key – it is his. I think it should be noted that all the other keys of this book have been given to whoever is going to use them. This pit which is spoken of here, I believe it is back in chapter 9 – was opened, but the person who opened it was given a key. This person has a key, it is his key and he opens what is termed a bottomless pit, and it states he has a great chain, and it states that he seizes the dragon and binds him into that bottomless pit and that he remains in that pit for a period of 1000 years. The result of that is that he does not deceive the nations. Notice that, that is the limit of the result of that – he does not deceive the nations for that period of 1000 years. After that, for a very short period of time, it states he released.

John then says as he is looking, that another thing takes place during that thousand year period – he sees thrones and he sees people sitting on those thrones. Now anyone sitting on a thrown must be understand to be a ruler – so here are princes, rulers, kings – and he says judgment is given to them – authority. They are reigning with Christ, therefore their judgment, authority must be understood as spiritual. Now John says, I will tell you who these people are –they are the martyrs, those who had been beheaded for the sake of Jesus Christ. They are those who refused to take the mark of the Beast, refused to bow down to the False Prophet. These people who sit on thrones and reign during the period that is called the thousand years, they are those who, if we refer back to other parts of Revelation, have the mark of the Lamb as opposed to the mark of the Beast. I think if you have been with us all the hours will understand that. It is those who have the martyr’s head. Those who understand that to confess that Jesus is Lord is to incur the wrath of the world. And it could mean I might be beheaded for the faith of Jesus, but that is the martyr’s mentality, that is the faith that overcomes the world, and it says I saw these who for the testimony of Jesus who for the Word of God, because they refused to bow to the world, now he sees them seated on the thrones, reigning, and he says they are involved in a resurrection. That martyr’s mentality, it says has produced a resurrection which is called the first resurrection, and during the thousand years these who had experienced the first resurrection, live and reign with Christ.

At the end of that thousand year period it says Satan is released, and again what he is allowed to do is deceive the nations, that is the specific thing he is allowed to do. And he is allowed to bring them to hate the saints. They didn’t need much help, but he brings them to hate the saints and to come against what is termed the’ Beloved City’. And, it states at that point, fire falls from Heaven and devours them. What does it all mean?

I think once you have got that first item of that vision at least you know where you are going. And I believe the most important thing about that vision is the first part.- and that is that an angel came from Heaven and bound the Devil with a chain. You tell me what that means, and I think I can tell you what the rest means. That is certainly the first and most important part of this vision. Who is that messenger? I repeat. Every other angel in the book of Revelation was given a key, which states he did not have the key as his own right. Here is an angel or messenger who has a key in his own right. The only other person in Revelation whom we have met who has a key in His own right, is the one we met in Revelation 1 verse 18 who said I have the keys of death and Hades. No mere angel can order the Devil around.

I am very disturbed sometimes with the way the people talk about the Devil. You don’t have to state your victory over the Devil by being irreverent. People call him Old Sloo-foot and names such as that. You should beware, the Devil may be the Devil and may be defeated, but he is not to be despised. He is the greatest power in this world next to God. There is a chasm between him and God, but as far as created beings are concerned, the Devil is the greatest of created beings, and even though understood to have fallen to be treated with the utmost respect. And I tell you very solemnly, do not despise the Devil. It states in Jude 9, ‘Michael the Archangel, when disputing with the Devil did not dare to turn on his a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke you. Even the highest angels which we know about did not dare to mock the Devil, but had to via the Lord.

Here is an angel who combined the Devil with one act, so here is an angel that is higher than any angel we know of in the Bible. And again I am led back to the only person in this book who has power over the Devil, and who has keys in His own right is the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is this idea that He bound the Devil? That is no new idea, that is something that we have had in the Scripture for some time. Take for example Luke’s Gospel. In Luke 11 we have this idea of binding the Devil by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In chapter 11.21, it says when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead and possessions is undisturbed. But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him he takes away from him all his armour on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. He is simply stating that Jesus is the one Who had come to overcome the Devil. In the King James’ Bible that word is translated there ‘binds’ – the idea is right there That Jesus came to the strong man, that is the Devil and He came specifically to overcome him and bind him. The same idea is in Matthew and chapter 12 where it is a parallel statement, chapter 12.28 where it says, ‘If I cast out demons by the power of God then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. He says that the very fact that the Devil is bound is proof that the Kingdom has come, and he goes on in v. 29. How can anymore enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strong man? He says that the proof that the Kingdom has come among you is that the Devil is now being bound – he is helpless and he cannot stop God’s Kingdom coming and accomplishing His purposes. So again we have proof right there, Jesus claimed to be the one who from Heaven had come to bind Satan.

The great question, did that actually take place? That is begging the question, although one wonders whether everybody has heard it. In Col. 2.15 it tells us that He brought to the Cross all of the powers of the Devil, and when he had brought them all together he stripped them all publicly and declared victory over all of them. Or perhaps even stronger than that, is Hebrews 2.14 where it says that through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, the Devil. That word ‘destroyed’ there is not the idea of annihilated. The idea of the word in Greek there is that you have messed up all of the works. The machinery is still there, but someone has thrown a wrench in the works. It is still there, but doesn’t work any more, and so it says, Jesus came and destroyed – or rendered powerless, the works of the Devil . Or again in I John 3. 8 where it says that Jesus Christ was manifested in order that He might destroy the works of the Devil. In chapter 16 of John’s gospel in verses 8 and 11 he makes it very plain that now is the judgment of the Prince of this World. – now – that was 2000 years ago.

Satan has been bound by the one person who claimed He had come to this earth to bind the Devil. I have great problem with a book entitled, ‘Satan is alive and well on Planet Earth’ Satan is crippled and dying on Planet Earth. He was smitten at the Cross, there was his judgment. And during this period of time, the whole book of Revelation is telling us, things are not what they seem to be.- the judgment was accomplished, it shall be actualised, and in this time in between the Gospel is being preached to all the nations who have been held under the power of the Devil, so that all may come out of Babylon, be separate, and become part of the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Peter puts it – the Devil is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour – that sounds pretty frightening, a roaring lion! But then he says – ‘whom resist’ – funny. If a lion roars at you, you don’t say ‘No, no’ – roaring lions are dangerous creatures. Unless they are clown lions. Clown lions you can walk up to them and say ‘no’ and they run away. There is only one true lion in the Bible. – the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. But another lion makes an awful lot of noise – he is a roaring lion. Did you know that when a lion roars he is not on the kill? The lion roars at night in the forest in order to scare everything out of its skull. When a lion is roaring it is only the scare the whole forest. The lion you ought to be afraid of is the silent lion creeping up on its prey to kill. And the Devil can only roar, that is he scares everybody witless but he has lost his power, therefore you can resist him and he flees from you. He is a defeated lion and that only Lion, when He overcame the Devil, He overcame the Lion by becoming a Lamb as it had been slain. Which was a great indignity for the Devil because he was not even slain by another lion. He was slain by a Lamb as it had been slain.

It doesn’t say that the Devil is no longer around – it said that at that time when he was bound (and let me say this, if this is a literal passage, how can a chain of earth bind the Devil who is a spirit?) You try and bind a spirit with a chain, the idea is ridiculous. Whatever that chain was, it had to be a spiritual chain. What spiritual chain can bind Satan? The most elementary Christian know that it is the finished work of Christ that has bound the Devil. This is another picture in a sense of the One we met in Chapter 6, the Rider on the white horse – this is Jesus going out, although in chapter 6 to conquer and to conquer to actualise what He did on the cross. This is a picture of at the cross he binds the Devil with the work He has now completed. And now the Devil is limited – he is still here. The idea that the Devil is not here is nowhere to be found in the Bible He is here, but he has lost one vital power, and that is he has no more power to deceive the nations.

When he said to Jesus, that all the kingdoms of this world belonged to him and he offered them to him, Jesus never contested that. He didn’t say, Devil you are a liar. That is right – up until. but now he has lost that power and he cannot deceive the nations any more. Deceit is the main power of Satan. His name is the Liar – the Deceiver, and His Kingdom is the kingdom of darkness, lies, deceit, you never know the truth in the darkness. Now he has lost the power to deceive the nations. Wherever the Gospel goes, he can’t stop it. He can no long hold a fog over the minds of men.

I think to appreciate that you would need to go into some part of the world where they have never had the Gospel, and see the power of the Gospel when it first comes to the minds of men. You talk to very few missionaries and you will soon here one story over and over again. That when they preached in the village where they had never heard the Gospel, everyone wanted to receive it and they told them please sit down you didn’t understand, and they would preach it again and they would all say, we want to receive it. You say, well I have never seen that in America. No, because America has chosen to be deceived. But you go where the Gospel has not yet been, and you will soon find out that the Devil has no more power to deceive the nations. Wherever the Gospel goes and light comes, men in that moment are free, totally free to receive that Gospel if they want to. He has no more power.

Before the Cross, before Jesus rose again, he held the world in darkness. Israel, only Israel held light. Light was centred in Israel. They held the truth, they held the Scriptures. It says in the New Testament, it is through Israel that we have all the scriptures, it is there was we understand the ancient covenants. They were the ones who understood that Christ is coming, everything was centred in Israel. If you wanted light you had to go to Israel to get it. If you wanted to become united to that light you had to be proselytised to become an Israeli in order to have access to the Tabernacle of the Congregation and to become a partaker of that light.

But do you remember the prophecy of old Simeon when he stood over the little baby Jesus in Luke 2.30,’ He shall be a light to lighten the gentiles’ – lighten the nations. This one is going to bring light, freedom from darkness for all people. Until that time they had been held in darkness, now in this one, light is going to come, do you remember in Acts 26 where Paul speaks of the commission received – to go those nations who were in darkness, Acts 26.17 the Lord Jesus said to him, ‘I am sending you, listen this was his commission – for what reason is he being sent to the nations? It says, ‘to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they might receive the forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance amongst those who have been sanctified by faith in me. Paul, I am giving you the Gospel. I am giving to you the whole message of what Christ accomplished at the Cross, and as you go to the gentiles, you, in preaching that will have power to open their eyes. You will have power to turn them around from darkness to light, and when Paul wrote in Romans 1.17 he said the Gospel IS the power of God unto Salvation – that I can go out into the darkness and proclaim what Jesus did on the Cross – in those words is power to open people’s eyes, to turn them around from darkness to light. It in itself is the power of God.

In Psalm 2 – and this goes back to Revelation 12 about the man-child, and it says, ‘Ask and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession. He who had now risen and was seated on His father’s throne, He said, Ask and I will give you the nations for an inheritance. There is nothing that can stop it now. The Devil has lost his power to deceive the world. Jesus anticipated this when He stood in the synagogue of Nazareth and said, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor, announce release, deliverance from the captives..’ He is quoting from the Old Testament, where it says it even more strongly, where it says he says to the prisoners, ‘Come forth – the doors are open, there is no one who can deceive you any more.

Whenever I preach this I could become a missionary over night. I am in America under sufferance of the Holy Spirit. I am here, I enjoy living here, but when I have been to other nations of the world and had them sit on my doorstep at 4 o’clock in the morning begging me to teach them, and they have walked through the jungle for a hundred miles to get there, and at 8 o’clock they say we ‘will give you one meal, and then teach us again’. And I come to America and people say – it’s 10 miles away, I will wait until he comes closer to us. And I wonder if I am here in the right place. But I am here under sufferance of the Holy Spirit. When I read verses like this, that I can go into the world and proclaim the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. And I know before I even get there, they will hear and their eyes will be opened. The Gospel really is the power of God.

Some of you young folks, I hope you hear this. If I was 20 years younger I would never degrade myself by getting involved in the affluence of America. I would give myself to the preaching of the Gospel in countries where they had never yet heard it. Because all you have to do is open your mouth and preach, and those people will hear, the for Devil has lost his power to deceive the nations. That was a little spiritual commercial in there. But I feel strongly about those things.

Very well, the angel with the chain is none other than the Lord Jesus. A thousand years? By this time you should be expert at numerology. A thousand years, why at this time should it suddenly become a thousand years when all the other numbers we have seen have been symbolical. What is a thousand? 10 x 10 x 10. And we have seen that 10 is the number of finality, of completion. 3 times over – this is complete, total finality, beginning with when Jesus bound the Devil at the Cross there is a time known only to God but it is total, complete, the fulfillment of God’s plan. For us who live through it it is a long time. But hardly had it began, before in this very book Jesus said, ‘Behold I come quickly’. In the light of the fact that Jesus completed the work and bound Satan, whatever else has got to happen will be happening soon. Not soon on our calendar but in the light of God’s purposes every minute history moved up to the cross, and it was done. From that moment on, any time would be soon. Do you follow me? So this period is that period of completion, that period of finality. Nothing else can be added to it. This is it! From the Cross to the end – to us humans a long time so far, but in the purposes of God a very short time.

And it says that during that period of time, a certain company were those who ruled and reigned. We are told they were martyrs. I have heard that before in Revelation. We read in chapter 12, They loved not their lives unto death. These are the ones who reign along with Christ. That martyr’s mentality – we have met it many times. If I am going to confess Jesus in this world, I must understand that the world is going to hate me. And I am just standing by faith in the Scripture It is understood as a martyr’s mind. It may cost me my life. This is not a hobby I am taking up – it is the commitment of my life into the hands of the Person of the Lord Jesus. And it says these are the ones who reigned with Christ. It says they are priests unto god, and we have met these people before – they sang in the first part of the book – they have been redeemed out of every tribe and tongue and nation, to be priests unto the Father.

This is the Church, and it tops it all by saying that these are the ones who will participate in the First Resurrection. Now of course, if you are just going to live in chapter 20 of Revelation, then first resurrection is what you could want it to mean. But if you are going to take in the whole Bible, the first resurrection is very simple to explain. Do you remember in Ephesians 2, v5 and 6? It states we who were dead in our trespasses and sins have been raised together with Christ. Do you remember in Colossians 2 v 12 and 13, it similarly speaks that we who have been born again have been through something nothing short of a resurrection. The whole chapter 6 of Romans Paul speaks with almost mock horror of the Romans –don’t you know, those who have been baptised into Christ have been baptised into His death and resurrection? Chapter 3 of Colossians and the first four verses – Christ Who is our Life – we have died to the things of earth, he says – set your minds where it belongs – where you are – you are alive with Christ in the Heavenlies.

Whenever you read any books on prophecy, watch for one thing – if they start talking about politics, put them down. God does not suddenly change His mind about talking of the end things. All through the Bible He has been talking about the real Us. The real We He says the real You – You have been raised with Christ, you are seated in the Heavens. When He talks about the end time things, he doesn’t suddenly start talking like an astrologer or a palm-reader, he keeps on the same track. And when He speaks of the first resurrection, that resurrection takes place in our spirits when we are born again. You are raised with Christ. That happened the minute – you who were dead in sin and you saw that you were joined with Jesus Christ, and as you saw that the Holy Spirit of Christ came into you, and as Ephesians 1.19 says, you were raised with the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Of course the one we all quote – that we are now seated with Christ in the Heavenlies, or Romans 8 – we are heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ. I find as soon as I read Revelation 20, in the light of the whole New Testament those who reign with Christ during that period of time of completion obviously it is the Church who have the faith, if necessary of a martyr’s mentality. We are raised with Christ in the first resurrection.

Do you remember in Isaiah chapter 32.1ff ‘One day a King shall reign in righteousness and princes with Him. The people who now are learning how to rule this world, is the Church. Or, if we follow on from chapter 19, it is the Bride. The King of Kings right now is teaching His bride how to rule the world, and if we had time to follow that through from Psalm 2, He is teaching us how to ‘Ask, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the ends of the earth for your possession’. The idea that this would be speaking of a physical kingdom is nauseating. To think that Jesus would come and there would be a physical kingdom with Jerusalem at its centre – I asked one of the leading exponents of that doctrine. I said, you who believe that Jesus will reign in Jerusalem and will reign over the whole earth physically speaking, I said, what is your hope as part of that? I quote him, he said, ‘My hope is that I might be a Sheriff under King Jesus’. I said, Terrific. Your hope is a little red light, going around enforcing the law of Jesus, Terrific. That is the blessed hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, to one day wear a badge for Jesus. How nauseating, after Jesus began it all by saying ‘My kingdom is not of this world, else would my servants fight’. They don’t wear badges or night sticks red lights. Nor are they presidents under a Supreme President.

If you want to know how to reign with Christ learn to flow in the Holy Spirit, learn what intercession means, learn what prayer means and you will learn what ruling with Christ means in the real Kingdom. Is that not exactly what Jesus taught us in what we recite in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Thy Kingdom come’ You don’t come to that with a night stick, you come with prayer and asking His Kingdom come. These are the people, no wonder they call priests for we are now a Kingdom of Priests, and we rule because we are priests who pray and intercede.

But it says that at the end of that time Satan’s bondage seemed to be over. All the way through the book of Revelation we have noted that at the end of those series of Visions there has been a little time which has been variously described when Satan had apparently had power given to him. You might remember in the 2 witnesses they were shut up and silenced at the end of that Vision. The whole Devil’s kingdom rejoiced, and they sent presents to each other because it looked like they had won. Or, do you remember another point, describing this ongoing period, it says that demons were released, and demons were given power. Again it spoke of the River Euphrates drying up, and we spoke then that the River Euphrates always held back the power of evil from Israel, but when it dries up they can walk over it. In another place it said that out of the mouth of the False Prophet and of the Beast and of the Dragon came evil spirits. And it says they gathered together for Armageddon.

This is another Vision which speaks of the same thing. There is a period at the end, spoken of before, spoken of here again, when Satan is released. Notice again that he didn’t break out – he was loosed and that for a little season. It says that Jesus shall reign until all His enemies are put under His feet. Now the Church in this book are seen to be constantly under the attack of Satan – world politics, the apostate church, anti-Christ is as old as Nimrod. You might say that Anti-Christ might be better understood as an Alternative Christ. It is not one who says, I am against you – it is one who sets up himself beside you as an alternative. And world politics and the apostate church has always offered the alternative. Every age has seen its alternative Christ, and each one has been directly related to those before. That is why we have had all those books – the man who wrote that Napoleon was the Anti-Christ, someone else comes along and says Stalin, someone else, Mussolini on and on it goes, because in a sense they were all right, in a sense. They were wrong in saying This is It. But John was right way back in saying when he wrote his first letter – there are many anti-Christs with us. The spirit of Anti-Christ has been with us all the time. The Devil has always offered his alternative. But all the time through this book, and we have seen right at the very end, as if there is a sidling down to the bottom of the garbage can, and right at the very bottom there seems to be a ti me of intense trouble when Satan’s alternative is set up against Christ’s Bride and the two come together. It is called Armageddon.

Let us remember we are still in the book of Revelation – a book of symbols. What was Armageddon in the minds of the Hebrew people? It was the great battlefield. You will not find the word Armageddon in Revelation 20 – but it talks about a time of intense trouble. This little period of time which comes at the end of each Vision. It speaks of Satanic power being allowed to go out and do its worst. It would appear that at the end of that period when God has achieved on earth as He wills, that at the end of that time Satanic power is given right to go and do its worst, and it turns its attention to the Church, as is expected, and in one or two places that is termed, ‘Armageddon’. Armageddon to anyone in Israel meant the place where two armies meet to fight. It was the great battle field set in the middle of Israel where all the great battles of the Old Testament were fought. And do you have this expression over here, you are coming to your Waterloo? Right – Waterloo, the great battlefield of Europe, where you find out who is going to win – this is it. Armageddon, the plain of Mageddo was where armies met, and you are just going to fight to the end. It is the Finale, after a battle on the Plain of Armageddon, there were no more battles after that, you might have nit-picked each other all over the place, but when you meet at Armageddon, brother that is your Waterloo, you are going to find out who wins.

In more than one place in the Old Testament when the forces of evil join together to destroy the people of God, God broke in and in a most miraculous way gave victory to His people over the forces of Evil. Gideon was one time, Deborah was another – the Book of Judges is full of them. If you could understand that Armageddon then meant not only the final coming together, joining of good and evil, but also the time in many Godly Jewish minds when God came down and visited the enemies in wrath and delivered His people from them. When it says that the forces of evil merged against the Church, then I can say, this is it. It has been an on-going battle throughout history, there have been alternatives all the time, but in the end Satan shall be released, now do your worst, but understand that you were defeated, and therefore are defeated.

You might not like that – but remember all the other visions – you have read the last chapter, you should not be upset. You realise that this book is written over and against Exodus, and we have seen that – remember after it seemed to be all over, in fact anyone with eyes in their head could see it was all over with the death of the first-born. Pharaoh would have known if he had a pea for a brain would have know that it was all over, but what got into Pharaoh to make him go driving after those Israelites? I suggest to you, that he who had already been stripped of power and could do nothing – he was released – you go, you go. I say this very carefully, but that man had hardened his heart beyond all repentance, so got baited him. If you can look at it like that, Exodus takes on a new meaning. Remember, God led the people of Israel down into a bottleneck, the mountain here, the sea there and they are up against the water, and there is Pharaoh like a raving insane idiot, going at them – I would have gone in the opposite direction from those people, they are the most dangerous people on earth at the moment, unless you are a repentant sinner. And then it says he goes after them into the bottleneck. God is saying – come on. Have you seen a lobster being caught? Lobster catching was exactly what was going on at that point. You get a big thing for a lobster catch, put a big crab inside and wait for the lobster to get in, and he can’t get out. It is caught. And here God puts Israel at the end, and here comes the big lobster Pharaoh, and he is driven like a maniac, and he sees his catch and then goes right into the bottle-neck, and God says, ‘Gotchya’. Judgment. Then Israel goes through the Red Sea, and God says, ‘Come on, come on’ And when they are in the middle of the Red Sea the judgment of God fell. God loosed Pharaoh in order that he may be totally forever out of the lives of these people. Why the loosing of Satan at the end? So that Satan for ever, throughout all eternity should be known as the defeated loser.

Is this going to be a physical battle? It states that it is against the Camp of the Saints, The Beloved City, and in our next session we shall see what the Beloved City is –the New Jerusalem - it is none other than the Church. We have already got that in Hebrews 12 – it says we who have been born again have come to the New Jerusalem, the Camp of the Saints is the Church. If I believe that this whole last battle is to do with Israel as a Nation, then immediately I have forgotten the Bible altogether, I am plunged into Middle Eastern politics. But when I realise that the Bible is one book – it flows on until the end – what is God’s main concern? The Church. And what is the Devil’s chief hatred? The Church. The last battle, which is an on-going battle, right now, but the last one is between the Devil and the Church. And all philosophies – and the Church – And all the hatred of nations – and the Church. It is against Israel, but you had better define your Israel before talking about it. Israel, the Church. It will not be a physical battle – the Church has been shedding its blood for years, that is not a battle, that is release. In fact in this book it tells you when you have been beheaded you have won! I know those rules don’t hold true on earth, but that is how it is. Those who have overcome are those who have died for the faith.

This is not a physical battle, we are not going to have masses of troops. If I were talking about wishes and want to, I would prefer that actually. Swords can’t hurt me, but philosophies from the pit of hell can, doctrines of demons, - go back to your notes when we were dealing with those spirits that came out of the mouth of the false prophet and the Dragon. All the powers of the occult, all the doctrines of demons as well as all the persecutions of world powers, suddenly a turning in on the Church – not in a geographical location, but in the spirit realm and in a universal sense.

It always has, as it was in the days of Noah, just one little tiny minority, and the whole world around in opposition. Lot, in Sodom, one little minority, just before the judgment fell, all the powers of filth in that city ganging up on him – it has always been that way. But it says fire came down from Heaven and devoured them. As I said in my last hour, there was not even a battle, the fire came and it was all over. The power of God intervened. I believe it was at that point that the Groom came to collect the Bride. The very manifestation of Jesus in the power of His finished Work is enough to end the Battle. As it says in II Thessalonians 1.6ff After all it is only just for God to repay with affliction, those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marvelled at among all those who believe.

I believe that is what it is speaking about. It is about the glory of the Church and the destruction of all those who have joined themselves to Satan to destroy the Church. Right now, as far as we know, we live in the time of a bound Satan, which drives me to be an evangelist, and when the time comes of Satan being loosed for a little while, we shall know grace, as we have seen consistently through this book. The same faith with which we live is the same faith with which we shall die if need be. But things are not what they seem to be, for He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords – the battle is already won, and he will win because He has already won – and the False Prophets, all the powers of an apostate religion, and all the powers of war that persecutes, as well as the Great Whore shall be judged eternally so, and the whole Church will joint together and sing’ Hallelujah, for the Lord God the Almighty reigns’. Amen!

The original set of 12 tapes can be obtained from Malcolm Smith's web site.
They are suitable for group study.

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