Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Revelation chapter 19 brought world history to a satisfying conclusion. Christ’s white army overcame the antichrist’s dark army. The beast and the false prophet were thrown into hell. Peace at last. 

But chapter 20 says, “Wait! That’s not the end of the story. There’s more. The peace only lasts a thousand years.” 

What? Only a millennium of peace? Wasn’t Christ supposed to reign forever?  

Here’s the story from Revelation 20. 

First, Satan, that old serpent from the garden of Eden, is thrown into the Abyss. 

Then the saints martyred by the beast are resurrected to reign with Christ on earth for a thousand years. 

And then, at the end of that millennium, we have a second coming of Satan, who escapes from the Abyss and convinces the nations that Christ’s reign is a disaster. Who needs Christ and all his religious servants to impose their morality on earth? 

Satan organizes a worldwide revolt to depose Christ and to take back the earth for those he thinks deserve it–people who are strong and independent and think for themselves. Like him. 

Sounds like a repeat of the garden of Eden. The serpent counseled Adam and Eve to revolt at the world’s beginning. Now he convinces the nations to revolt at the world’s end.

This time, Satan’s gift is . . . Armageddon, that great battle where every nation marches against God’s city, Jerusalem. But this time, this time God has had enough of human free will. He acts with power, sending fire from heaven to consume the evil armies. That unholy trinity–the beast, the false prophet, and the devil–are finally and forever defeated. 

Then, God resurrects everyone who has died from the beginning of the world. He judges every person, rewarding some and sending others to join the unholy trinity they have served. 

God continues by remaking heaven and earth. The holy city, the new Jerusalem, comes down from heaven. God says he will live there among his resurrected people forever, healing their pains and sorrows, wiping away their tears. Only joy belongs in the new order. 

God says, “It is finished,” echoing Christ’s words on the cross. He says, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.” The long story that began in the garden of Eden ends here in a new Eden, a new Jerusalem, a new heaven and earth. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, we live in the middle of your great story. Born too late to see the garden of Eden. Born too early to experience the wars and chaos at the end of time. Unless they happen soon.

Look upon us with your favor. Help us to journey in faith, as our world experiences again the rise and fall of empires. 

Help us not to place our hope in king or empire, not to believe that the right policies or the right morality will convert the kingdom of earth into the kingdom of God. 

In our time, help us wait patiently for the new story where your kingdom triumphs over all the others. 

Help us to be your faithful servants in everything our life and times brings us. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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