Devotion 4: The Sovereign King
Patrick Bicknell
“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:7-10
Revelation, as I am sure many of us have seen through our study of this book, is very interesting. Revelation 20:7-10 is no exception to that. Here we see something that almost makes you wonder how that could happen. The events of these verses take place after the thousand-year reign of Christ on Earth. Once His Kingdom has reigned for a thousand years it says that Satan is released from the prison that he was in and he deceives the world, gathers up people to rebel against God, and heads into one final battle against our Lord.
My question when reading this book, is how could they do that? Christ, who is going to return and will be the perfect King that we have all long awaited for, will still have people rebel against Him. However, after reading these verses, I see much of myself in them. I start to ask myself how many times have I seen God move in an incredible way and yet I still choose to sin against Him. This is exactly what is happening in these verses. Now there are two things I want to highlight that we see.
The first point I want to talk about is a bit more doom and gloom. In these verses, we can see first-hand just how depraved our sinful flesh is apart from the working of God. Even after seeing Christ reign perfect and holy, there will still be some who rebel against Him. It proves Ephesians 2:1, that we truly were or are “dead in our trespasses and sins.” These verses show us that left to our own devices, we are not far away from these people. That is why it is so important, that while grace and mercy are being shown by God, we repent of our sins and put our faith in Him. If we continue reading in Ephesians 2 it says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The second point I want to look at is God’s sovereignty in this situation. Even though people are going to rebel against Him after His earthly reign, He is still in charge. He knows what is going to happen and these events do not take Him by surprise. Those of us who have put our faith in Christ can rest assured knowing that at this final battle, the Lord will come out victorious. He is the Sovereign King who will win the war, and who will bring about His plans. This should not only give us comfort in the future events that are going to take place, but also in the situations we find ourselves in right now. Since God is in control of future events that are yet to happen, He is in control of the current events that are happening in your life right now. Look to the one who saved your soul, offers salvation freely as a gift of grace, and trusts His mighty power to carry you through anything.