Weekly Bible Study – December 7, 2015

The Doctrine of the Second Advent. Part 3.

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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!

Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]

If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:

John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]

Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.

John 3:14-18 says: "¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV

Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:

Study to show yourself approved to God!

Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries

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STUDY TITLE:

The Doctrine of the Second Advent. Part 3.

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Terms & Abbreviations used:

PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth

To look up other “terms”, go to:

Alphabetical Listing

BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible

The Doctrine of the Second Advent. Part 3.

Let’s get right into our passage this morning and try to wrap up our teaching in Rev 20 concerning the fact that: Satan is re¬leased from the prison that God ordained for him and is getting ready to revolt against the perfect environment of the 1,000 year Millennial reign. The eternal fire has been prepared for the devil and his angels not the human race.

MAT 25:41, “Then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”

REV 20:1, And I saw an angel coming down from heave¬n, having the key of the abyss [the abyss is the fourth compartment of Hades, the prison for fallen angels] and a great chain in his hand.

There are actually four compartments in what we call Hell and the Old Testament saints call She¬ol or Hades at the time that our Lord went there. The first of these is called Paradise.

1. Paradise is where all the Old Testament believers were located before our Lord ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of God the Father.

2. And then there is what is called a great gulf fixed and a second compartment which is called Torments and that is where all unbelievers go when they die. Their soul goes to a place known as torments, whatever happens to their body is not of consequence but is what happens to their soul. And they will be involved in what is known as a Second Resurrection and be judge¬d.

3. The third compartment is called Tartarus, and Tartarus is the location of some of the toughest of the fallen angels.

4. And the last area is called the Abyss which is the location of one of the greatest demon armies of all time.
There are four compartments

1. Paradise

2. Torments

3. Tartarus
¬
4. The Abyss

REV 20:2, And he [Michael, the arch angel] laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

Now you would think that anyone who went to jail for a thousand years would learn something or be rehabilated? However, let's see what happened.

REV 20:3-4, and [he, Michael the archangel] threw him [Satan] 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 [this is a Millennial reward for Tribulational martyrs]. And I saw the souls of those who had been be¬headed because of the 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 upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

These are the winner believers who were willing to give their life or be martyred for the cause of Christ during the Tribulation period.
REV 20:5, The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

This is a reference to the Second Resurrection of unbelievers which is being referred to here and then John describes those who were resurrected for good in verse 5, when John says This is the first resurrection. Remember there are two resurrections in the Bible.

We know that because in JOH 5:29 John writes and says and some shall come forth; those who did the good {deeds} to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil {deeds} to a resurrection of judgment. There are two resurrections here those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

REV 20:6, Blessed or happinesses and holy or dedicated are the ones who have a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power,

The second death is when unbelievers are raised from the dead and they stand before God and then are thrown into the eternal lake of fire. But they [believers who are Tribulational winner saints] will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

The winner believers will reign with the Lord Jesus Christ for 1,000 years. We know that as 2TI 2:12 says If we endure, we shall also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

REV 20:7, And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, Satan has been in prison for a thousand years and during that thousand years on earth, perfect environment has existed.

Everything was absolutely perfect. There was no such thing as a person who didn’t have everything in life. There’s an abundance of wealth and success for everyone. The only thing that is not quite perfect are the people because people still have old sin natures, everything else is perfect.

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, in
REV 20:8, and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, Gog is actually the code name for Satan and Magog is a reference to his followers. This is the Second Advent or coming of Satan.

The First Advent of Satan is found in GEN 3:15, where Satan came to perfect environment and destroyed it; “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

In the Second Coming, REV 20:7-8, the same thing is true. In both advents of Satan, he found perfect environment on the earth when he came and conspired to destroy it. Remember in JOH 8:44, “You are of {your} father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own {na¬ture;} for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”

In his First Advent, he was successful, he deceived the woman in the garden, GEN 3:1-6, Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’” And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely shall not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

In his Second Advent, the conspiracy and the revolution will fail. And in both advents, Satan alleges to improve perfect environment and to do that, he has to lie and deceive a lot. He lied to the woman and said that she could be as smart as God if she ate of the fruit. He will lie to millions and millions of people and tell them that they could have it a lot better if they would follow him. So he lies, he distorts, and he uses the system of flattery in order to appeal to the arrogance of individuals. Satan is the greatest flatterer in history because of his tremendous genius. And people who have been living in perfect environment for hundreds of years, and yet a little flattery stirs them up. They reject perfect environment for Satan's revolution.

The implacability and dissatisfaction of the human race is phenomenal at this time and so Satan alleges to improve perfect environment. And the principle is going to be very obvious, the end of history like the beginning of history will demonstrate man's need for relationship with God through faith in Christ.

The point is true that no matter where you put certain people and what you give them, they are never going to change. They never seem to improve no matter where they are, whether it's out on the farm or up in the palace, it doesn't matter. Since God possesses perfect happiness, He desires to share His perfect happiness with us, and so He mandates that we have His perfect happiness. We as members of the royal family of God therefore have the potential of realizing His perfect happiness. And God will keep you alive long enough to attain that perfect happiness, provided you are faithful in the perception of doctrine.

The ultimate objective of the predesigned plan of God is to provide for you perfect happiness, a part of growing spiritually. Consequently, perfect happiness is attained in the three stages of spiritual adulthood, and is a part of glorifying God in the Church-age. You cannot glorify God unless you possess perfect happiness. Since the acquisition of perfect happiness is related to spiritual adult-hood and the glorification of God in the pre-designed plan of God for the Church-age, such happiness is a command.

You are ordered and commanded by the Word of God to have the happiness of God. And the fact that you do not have God's perfect happiness is another act of disobedience on your part.

PSA 97:12, “Be happy in the Lord, O righteous ones, and give thanks for the memory of His holiness.”

We have the imputed righteousness of God ever since salvation, which qualifies us to be the recipient of God's personal love and we should be thankful for that. Now, if someone says how do I know if I have the happiness of God developing within me or am I implacable or impossible to satisfy? As you begin to have perfect happiness, thanksgiving becomes a moment-by-moment attitude of your soul.

1TH 5:16-19, Rejoice or be happy always; pray without ceasing or continually; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit [rely on your own human power];

Until you can give thanks for everything, both the blessings and adversities of your life, you have not yet come close to having the perfect happiness of God.

PHI 3:1, “Finally, my brethren, keep on having happiness in the Lord. To be writing this same mandate to you, on the one hand, is not tedious, while on the other hand, it is a safeguard to you.”

Some of the recipients of this letter may have been annoyed because Paul had commanded them to be happy before. Paul had the audacity, even in writing Scripture, to repeat. But inculcation and repetition is the only way to learn doctrine or the mind of Christ. How do I know if I have the happiness of God developing within me or am I implacable or impossible to satisfy? The best things in life are learned by repetition.

The point is that the greatest experience of security in this life is to attain perfect happiness. Once you have God's happiness in your soul, it is the ultimate of security, the basis for spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and spiritual maturity. This is security for you because, when you get under pressure, you will think the right thing, do the right thing, and apply the right doctrine because you have repeatedly learned to do the right thing under normal circumstances. The more things you can do automatically, the greater your life will be.

PHI 4:4, “Keep on having happiness in the Lord at all times; once more I repeat the command, keep on having happiness.”

The reason why this in the present tense and it is a command is because perfect happiness is the only happiness in the world you can have at all times, wherever you are, no matter what your circumstances. The perfect happiness which you attain in time you carry with you into the eternal state. Perfect happiness is not something we attain in the eternal state, although there is happiness and blessing for all believers there. But perfect happiness must be developed here in time. It is designed for living and dying now. But how do you obey the command be happy.

You can’t be hypocritical and fake it. To obey the command to keep on having happiness in the Lord at all times is something we cannot do any more than we can do anything for our salvation. All we can have is the momentary happiness. This divine command can only be executed through residence, function, momentum inside the PPOG in the attainment of the three stages of spiritual adult¬hood.

NEH 8:10, “Do not be grieved, for the happiness of the Lord is your strength.”

PHI 4:4, hearing this twice-repeated command and knowing how to execute it are two different things. As with anything, there are a number of things you first must learn to execute God’s plan and not buy the lies and the deception that comes from the most implacable angel ever, Satan. Everything in life must be done by the numbers. Yet Christians want instant solutions and miracles, implying that God is disorganized. We must get with His plan and His system to have His perfect happiness. If not, we are going to be miserable in spite of what we possess and in spite of our environment.

The woman in the Garden had everything in perfect environment including a perfect, wonderful husband. Yet she wanted more than a perfect husband, more than perfect sex, more than a genius, more than perfect environment. You can never get enough of the things you don’t need, because the things you don’t need can never satisfy. She was bored with perfect everything. But what more could she want? She had everything in life that would make a normal woman happy. She had a beauty that never changed and perfect health as she came from the hand of God.

Yet her conversations indicated that she was not satisfied with what she had. This immediately indicates that she didn't have perfect. She was perfect, but she didn’t have contentment. Since God possesses perfect happiness, He desires to share His perfect happiness with us, and so He mandates that we have His perfect happiness. And, the point is that you cannot glorify God unless you possess perfect happiness. So, since the acquisition of perfect happiness is related to spiritual adult¬hood and the glorification of God in the pre-designed plan of God for the Church-age, such happiness is a command! You are ordered and commanded by the Word of God to have the very happiness and contentment from God.

The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.