Book or Books? - Revelation 20
Hmmm. Well, this thousands years (the millenium) has me puzzled with my forming timeline understanding. I certainly can't identify a time period that has already gone by when there was no satan. So, I guess that's where my "partial" preterest descriptor kicks in.
No matter - when this occurs, just imagine what life will be like. No tempter, no accuser, no lion roaming about looking to kill us, steal from us or destroy us. When I read the account of him coming back out of the pit and assembling his army, more numerous than the sand on the shore, I couldn't help think of the LOTR films. They are destroyed by consuming fire from heaven and at once wiped out completely and for good.
The other thing that caught my attention was in the last part of this chapter:
12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead in them. They were all judged according to their deeds. 14 And death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death – the lake of fire. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
I remember hearing a sermon about "The Book or Books". Where is your name written? Everyone's deeds are recorded in the "books" but only those whose name is recorded in "The Book" will be spared from the eternal lake of fire.
When I think about this message, my heart rate quickens. We've got so much work to do. There are so many who think they're going to be okay when they die because of the "good life" they lead. They're in for a big surprise. We need to somehow make sure they know the truth.
peace,
e
