Revelation 20 (Lesson 1) - Aaron Cozort - September 13, 2026

0:00Good morning. It's good to see everyone this morning. I encourage you to get your Bibles out and turn to Revelation chapter 19. We're going to open with a word of prayer and then we'll get into our study as we continue our study of the book of Revelation. You would let us pray. Our gracious Father in heaven, we come before you're thrown grateful for the day you've blessed us with grateful for the opportunities that we have to study your word to learn more about your will

1:04to open the scriptures and take the things that we learn and put them into our hearts to store them up that we might have the protection against Satan that we might have the defenses against sin that we might also have the sword with which to do battle in our lives and in the world around us in our hearts and in our mouths. Lord, we pray that you forgive us when we sin in fall short of your glory and all this we ask in Jesus name. Amen. As we closed out chapter 19, we discussed the fact that chapter 19 and 20 as with chapters 17 and 18 are additional pictures where God is showing through the visions that John is having what confidence the Christians can have because God knows who their enemy is God identifies their enemy to them

2:06God tells them how he's going to judge their enemy then God gives them more pictures and more detail about the judgment of that enemy then God shows them pictures and detailed concerning the rejoicing that they will have and the blessings they will have after their enemy is destroyed and all of these things are intended for us to come to the passage see the picture and ask what does it mean? We are not to come to the picture and say that's what John sees and that's what it means as we just for a moment step back through the text and back through the discussion of the book of Revelation to bring ourselves to where we're at we notice that the book of Revelation according to John is written in the days of this pation before Titus comes to the throne It is written before Demission who will make the persecution of the church a

3:11Roman governmental policy So it's before he comes to the throne and it is in Demission that God says he will judge Rome So when the book opens John's on the Isle of Patmas for the cause of Christ on the Lord's day and he is in a period of worship he is in the spirit on the Lord's day here's a voice behind them He sees one who looks like the glorified Son of God the glorified Messiah and It's the same picture that you have described of the one who's riding on the white horse in chapter 19 It's a picture of Christ Christ is surrounded by the seven golden lamp stands He's holding the seven stars in his right hand and John is going to be told to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor when John concludes those short messages to the churches Chapter four opens up and he sees an open door

4:13He goes through the open door into the throne room of God and sees the glory of the throne of God He sees the seed that's before God He sees the beast that are before the throne of God. He sees the spirit of God pictured by the seven lamps that never burn out he sees the four or 24 elders that are around the throne and then he sees the multitudes that are around them And he sees all of this glory and God is declared to be worthy then chapter five opens up After the elders fall down and worship the one who's on the throne and John sees a message in the right hand of the one who's on the throne and it's a scroll and it's sealed inside and out and It's sealed with seven seals are he's written on inside now is sealed with seven seals and as the message is made available to the people John wants to know what it says

5:17But they search heaven and earth and under the earth they search those who are alive those who are in heaven those who are dead Can't find anyone worthy to open the scroll John begins to weep, but the messenger comes to John says don't we for we found the one who's worthy and it's Jesus Christ It's the line of the tribe of Judah It's the lamb that was slain and is alive forever more and so All those who once in the previous chapter worshiped God Now worship Christ and they declare him to be worthy and they give him the same honor in the same glory That was given to God the Father You remember in Jane John chapter 17 Jesus would pray Before he went to the cross before he went to guess emini he would pray that God restore the glory That he had with the Father Before the world was

6:19This is a picture of that glory This is a picture of those who are in heaven and those who dwell with God honoring Christ as Equal with God now As the sixth chapter opens up you find the scrolls Seals beginning to be open so the first seal is open and a white horse goes forth and conquers We've just seen the white horse again in chapter 19 who was the one who was riding on the white horse in chapter 19 Christ guess who was riding on the horse in chapter 6 Christ He's pictured differently in chapter 6. He's pictured as a partheon warrior He's pictured as the enemy of Rome they that they never defeated He's pictured in chapter 19 as the conquering king Okay, as the king of kings and Lord of lords then the red horse comes forth and Warfare begins to persecute the church and then the black horse comes forth and

7:24Economic pressures start to hit the church then the pale horse the fourth horse comes forth and Hell and death that is Hades the grave and death are riding with the horse and their Killing the saints we know they're killing the saints. We know that's those are the ones that are dying because when you open up the next seal Where are the saints? They're dead under the altar crying out how long Lord? Are you gonna allow this to go on and? So the six seal opens and God gives a picture there in chapter 6 of what's coming and the judgment that he's preparing for their Persecutors and The question is asked at the end of chapter 6 who's gonna be able to stay who's gonna be able to stand in the day of the wrath of the Lamb So chapter 7 opens up and there's a big pause and everything's held back. You can't start the judgment yet Because we've got to mark all those who can stand in the day of the wrath of the lamb and they're all the people who are Christians and

8:27And so they're marked with the name of God on their forehead not a single one of them is missed God knows exactly who belongs to him So when this judgment starts while they may suffer through it because John's telling them they're going to and while they may even Die in the midst of it. They should not lose hope. They should rather be assured God knows exactly who they are and God will provide for them. So we find the 144,000 we find the 12 tribes of Israel Representative of God's people we find all of those given the name of God and held forward as those who God knows belong to him Chapter 8 opens up And you have the seven trumpets Seven trumpets are going to begin to sound and inside the seventh seal you have the seven trumpets and every time a seven Trumpet sounds a partial judgment comes forth and so you see a number of different partial judgments that occur some on the earth some on the trees

9:29All of these Representative and look like the old plagues of the the nation of Egypt So the plagues come forth just like they did in the days of Egypt and God says I'm going to judge them Partially I'm going to give them time to repent So then chapter 10 opens up Chapter 10 opens up and John sees a mighty angel standing with one foot on the land and one foot on the sea And he has another message from the Lord. He has another scroll and John's told to go take the scroll and to consume it and So he takes the scroll and he eats it like Ezekiel did in Ezekiel's prophecy and it was much like Ezekiel's prophecy and that it was sweet in his mouth and bitter in his belly The message that is coming is Gods in control, but you Christians are about to go through persecution and some of you are going to die and So John sees two witnesses

10:31These witnesses look like the Old Testament prophets They have the power of the Old Testament prophets They look like the prophecy of Zechariah and the prophecy of the high priest In his day and of the governor's rubble in his day It they look like those who speak the word of God who do the will of God and as long as they're speaking and doing the will of God Nobody can touch them But when they stop speaking when when their message is concluded When God's message has been declared then invariably what would happen to the Old Testament prophets? They'd come and they'd speak the message They'd declare what God said and would Israel hear the message and obey it? Not most of the time With the kings rejoicing getting to hear the message of the Lord Not most of the time what do you often find happening to the prophets once they declared the message of God?

11:34They're in prison or they're killed or they're persecuted So here you have the two prophets they come and they speak the witnesses speak the word of God can't be touched while they're speaking when the message is concluded the world kills them And the city doesn't even bury them just kill them why let them lay in the street for three and a half days and throws a party But three and a half days transpire and God resurrects them back to life and brings them up into heaven And persecution begin or sorry judgment begins By the way hold on to this picture Because here's a picture of God's people speak God's word They're persecuted for it. They're killed for it and then they're resurrected Okay Hold on to that picture. You're gonna see it again in chapter 20, okay? So Chapter 12 opens up and we see a woman and she's pregnant and she's about to give birth

12:35And we also see a great red dragon and the red dragon has seven heads and ten horns and the great dragon is Satan It's representative of Rome under Satan's control But Satan wants to devour the child because the woman is a woman who is White and holy and righteous and has twelve stars on her head and we've seen the stars consistently are what? churches So here's a woman that represents the church she represents God's people So as the woman is prepared to give birth and Satan's prepared to consume the child as soon as he comes forth The moment the child's brought forth God pulls the child up into heaven and Satan loses Well, then you see another persecution so they or then you see another picture Satan and his minions go up and they try to make war in heaven and they fail The cast back down to the earth

13:36So then they decide to go after the woman, but God takes the woman and carries her away So they decide to just make war with her children You know what if I can't get the church and I can't get Christ then I can at least get the Christians And so Satan begins to make war with the Christians and decides to pull in his minions Rome So Rome comes forth the sea beast the land beast you picture of the military corporate power of Rome and the false prophets the false priests of Rome Faults religion and military power Are the persecutors of the church under Rome and their picture is the land beast in the sea beast But remember the land beast comes up out of the water the sea beast comes up out of the land where was the mighty angel standing just a little bit ago? On the water and on the land God says I got you covered before they ever come up

14:40I've got it handled before they ever start You don't have to worry because I know what's coming. I'm prepared for it before the ever begins And so they begin to persecute chapter 14 opens up reassuring picture hey They're going to come they're going to kill you they're going to persecute you They're going to tell you that if you don't bow down and worship Caesar They're going to lock you out of the economy They're going to keep you from being able to do business. They're going to starve you to death. Guess what There's a little lamb that standing on Mount Zion And his people are with him and they win Victory's over now. We haven't even had the full judgment yet. We just seen partial judgment partial judgment partial judgment persecution, but God says let me tell you how it turns out The The one who's in charge is about to commence the reaping

15:41And the harvest is going to be brought in in judgment against the persecutors. So then chapter 15 opens And you're introduced to seven angels inside the seventh trumpet, which is inside the seventh seal You have seven angels given seven bowls of the wrath of God. Are there about to be poured out on the earth? So chapter 15 opens chapter 16 opens and they begin to pour out the seven bowls of final judgment And it's over The end is declared God defeats his enemies They're judged Rome is dealt with and God's people are victorious, but As is often the case in the book of Revelation Chapter 17 opens and somebody says to John here. Let me show you some more detail Let me show you the great Harlot who rides upon the beast Let me show you the one who we're going to judge so there's no question when it happens

16:46What happened? You remember when Jesus in Matthew chapter 24 would say to his apostles as he opens up that chapter And and they're showing him the temple and they're showing him the building of the temple in the structure of the temple and Jesus responds to them Not one stone Will be left upon another When God inacts the judgment on Jerusalem When God brings forward the blood of all the prophets from righteous able to Zechariah And brings it upon that generation of Israel When God finally ultimately terminates every vestige of the covenant relationship that he had had with Israel in 8070 There was in a single Christian who had heard and read the prophecy that Jesus made that could come to the conclusion that anyone

17:49Other than the Lord had done it Oh Was it Rome that marched through the gates? Yes Was it as to use Daniel's words the abomination of desolation standing in the midst of the temple? Yes Was it the armies of Rome dismantling the temple just so they could steal the gold that was in late in the stones? Sure But who did it? The answer is the Lord The Lord prophesied it and the Lord did it When you get to this passage and you see God saying Let me describe to you the city Let me give you a picture over and over and over again to demonstrate to you that I know that it's Rome That I know that it's the city that rules over the earth That I know that it's the city that has caused all the kingdoms of the earth to commit harlotry with her So as to get her riches

18:53By identifying the city he makes it clear and when her judgment comes and when she falls you're gonna know who did it Because I'm gonna tell you exactly how it's going to happen I'm gonna destroy her from the inside out I'm gonna use all those subjugated kingdoms that she thought she ruled over and I'm gonna use them to rip her apart And So chapter 18 opens and again another picture a deeper picture of the defeat of the great city chapter 19 the marriage feast and the victory here comes the white horse he comes forth Christ is raining on him. He conquers Christ is covered in blood all the righteous saints are dressed in fine linen a Raid in white robes They didn't even have to go to battle They just showed up for the marriage feast and for the victory and chapter 19 ends

19:54Then the beast was captured verse 20 and with him the false prophet who was the false prophet go back to chapter 13 First one then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns And on his horns ten crowns and on his head a blasphemous name Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard his feet were like the feet of a bear his mouth like the mouth of a lion The dragon gave him his power his throne and his great authority And I saw one of his heads as it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the beast So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying who is like the beast Who is able to make war with him and he was given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies

20:56And he was given authority to continue for 42 months Then he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God and a blasphemy his name his tavernacle and those who dwell in heaven It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and authority was given him over every tribe Tongue and nation all who dwell on the earth will worship him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world If anyone has an ear let him hear He who leads in the captivity shall go into captivity He who killed with the sword must be killed with the sword here is the patience and faith of the saints Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon And his exorcises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast who deadly wound was healed He performs great signs so that he might So that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men

21:57And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived He was granted power to give breadth to the image of the beast and the image of the beast should both speak and cause many who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed He causes all those small and great rich and poor free and slave to receive a mark on their right hand And on their forehead that no one may buy or sell in Sell except one who has the mark and the name of the beast or the number of his name here is wisdom Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast for it is the number of a man His number is six six six So you have two beasts in chapter 13 They have derived power from the dragon They have their authority from the dragon They have the picture in the heads and the horns of the dragon

23:01They speak when they speak and you don't hear the lamb speak and outcomes the voice of a lamb No, you hear the lamb open its mouth and out comes the voice of the dragon So you have the beast in chapter 19 Verse 20 then the beast the beast here is the C beast that comes up out of the beginning of chapter 13 Uh, yeah, so the C beast comes up first and he looks like the dragon But he's got all the characteristics of Daniel's Old Testament vision Okay, he looks like the four kingdoms in Daniel's vision in Daniel chapter 7 He looks like those kingdoms of old and he makes war with the saints But you don't just see the sea beast come up you see the land beast come up He looks like a lamb he looks innocent

24:02Except when he opens his mouth And he causes everyone that he can to worship the sea beast Because if they worship the sea beast they're worshiping the dragon and they're a lot allied with Satan So who are these these are the false prophets So in chapter 19 the beast that is the sea beast was captured and with him the false prophet the lamb beast So the sea beast of the lamb beast of chapter 13 are dealt with in verse 20 of chapter 19 Okay, they they're they're going to reign they're gonna have a 40 for 42 months how long is 42 months 3.5 years half of 7 they're they have an imperfect power. It's temporary. It's momentary. They're going to reign They're going to persecute. They're going to be victorious for a temporary period of time and then God's gonna put them down And he does that the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence

25:07By which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his name These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone God says I've got an old testament judgment for you I'm gonna cast you into Isaiah's lake of fire I'm going to judge you Forever I'm going to make your judgment so complete you never again come forth Okay, but it's not a picture of an historical event where God brings a final judgment on a group of people It's a picture of God defeating forever Satan's use of Rome in its military power and its religious power His use of those two tools are gone. They're never coming back Okay So the rest were killed with a sword which proceeded from the mouth of him who sat on the horse and all the birds were filled with their flesh

26:11so to picture if you were If you could Here's a great battle about to happen And on one side of the of the array one side of the valley You have the battle army of Satan you've got the great dragon And you've got the two beasts the sea beast and the land beast then you've got all of Satan's people and they're arrayed in battle against Christ And behind him are all of his servants and they're not even dressed for battle They're already dressed for the war to be over And so what happens the first thing is the sea beast and the land beast are captured cast down into hell picture of hell from Isaiah and Then what kills all the rest of Satan's army

27:11The sword which proceeds out of his mouth Believe it or not You're never going to defeat Satan With military power There's not a righteous nation under heaven that could go to war and go to war long enough to defeat Satan Attacking with physical forces Attacking with physical armaments You can Interestingly go into Israel's history And you can see David go to battle against the Lord's enemies And you can see David defeat the Lord's enemies again and again and again and again and again and again and again and by the time all the battles are one What location are the Lord's enemies Inhabitating They're inside the house of David

28:14They're inside the kingdom of Israel When David writes all those Psalms about all of his enemies that sat at his own table and ate his own food He's describing not the the Philistines Not the Canaanites or the Jebusites He's describing all the people that at one time were righteous and faithful to Lord And were sitting at his own table and now they're seeking to overthrow him to overthrow the ruler that the Lord had set up And they're seeking to take power themselves Here's the age old story of mankind you get righteous people Fighting a righteous battle against unrighteous enemies And before it's all said and done you've got righteous people inside the midst trying to grab power for themselves Instead of submitting to God Guess what

29:15Satan's not new at this And Satan doesn't mind losing an army or two Because he's always going to find somebody else But the picture here is Rome is defeated The power of Rome that Satan's using is annihilated It's cast in the lake of fire. It's judged permanently And the rest of them they're just defeated by the word of God So chapter 20 opens Yes God's word we do the sense that man his name is the word of God but then it says out of this mountain goes this award Just my mouth. So is it you know kind of if we think of Jesus keen to be to take you through

30:15The word and Jesus is the word is that kind of the picture here is that Jesus is the only one that can overcome Yeah, and it's through the word So I think the picture you've got to go to get the full picture you got to go back to chapter 2 and 3 And you've got to read about the sword proceeding out of the mouth of God and out of the mouth of Christ over and over Throughout the text the picture is God If we could if we could overlay an image Imagine Genesis 1 The Lord spoke and it happened And it was very good Come into Revelation and what do you have how are God's enemies defeated Christ speaks See this isn't a picture of the method as much as it is the authority of the one who sits on the throne

31:23Go back to the occasion where Jesus is Approached by the Gentile Centurion Who has men under him and his servant is dying and he desires for his servant to be healed And Jesus says he will go with the man to his house and the man says no My house is not worthy for you to come into my house you speak the word And he'll be healed You see that man who was a Gentile knew that Authority works that way If Christ would just say it it would be done He says I'm a man who has those under me. I know how authority works if I say it it'll get done So just say the word And when you go into the Descriptions of Christ all throughout the book of John John emphasizes that Christ was the word yes

32:26But when Christ is in the flesh who does he insist his words belong to God the Father he says I don't speak my own words. I speak the words of him who sent me So this picture of the sword that precedes forth from the mouth of God comes forth from the mouth of Christ That defeats all of God's enemy is the authority of God When God says his enemies are done They're done You step back in the Old Testament you find Hezekiah is on the throne in the days of Isaiah And a Hezekiah is in the city of Jerusalem because the city is completely besieged by the Assyrian army And in comes a message from the Assyrian king and the Assyrian general saying I'm going to take Your city apart. I'm going to kill all of you

33:26I am going to show no quarter and I'm going to do that because my gods are better than your gods And no one has been able to stand in the way of my gods And Hezekiah is going to take that letter which he receives from the king of Assyria And he's going to bring it into the very temple of God and he's going to lay it before the Lord and he is going to pray That the Lord deal with this blasphemer And overnight 185,000 of the Assyrian army die Without a single Israelite ever raising a sword When God says his enemies are done All he has to do is say the word And when Jesus was before Pilate And he told Pilate that he could call

34:2710,000 legions of angels He's saying the only thing that's keeping me here is my authority. Not yours The fact that I have authority to keep myself here is the reason I'm here So if Jesus were to say the word Roe would have been defeated in the days of Pilate And Jerusalem could have been defeated at any moment Well that wasn't the plan That wasn't what God had decided to do So when the individuals Who oppose the Christians Who war against them on behalf of Satan Who have allied themselves with the dragon and with the beast and with the false prophet When God says their times up

35:29Their times up And they're defeated Does that answer the question? Okay Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven Bear in mind we're dealing with pictures When the sea beast and the land beast were cast in the lake of fire That was a picture When you open up chapter 20 And somebody calls to you and says here's how the tribulation's going to happen And here's how the thousand year reign's going to begin Just remind them it's a picture You see what he sees and what does it mean Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand He laid hold of the dragon that serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a thousand years And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations

36:33No more till the thousand years were finished but after these things he must be released for a little while All right, there's the picture So what you're supposed to be looking for is you're supposed to be looking for a literal thousand year reign of christ During which Satan's going to be literally locked away in a bottomless pit With a literal chain and a literal lock Really No Not really What God is pointing out is the same dragon back in chapter 12 Because by the way we're working backwards with God's enemies Chapter 13 up comes the sea beast in the land beast

37:35And in chapter 19 Sea beast the land beast dealt with Well, who brought up the sea beast in the land beast The dragon did Great who we're going to deal with next The dragon God's dealing with his enemies one at a time God's giving a picture of their demise and their judgment again and again and again now the only thing about this one That's different than the sea beast and land beast is It's temporary So there's something to that there's something we need to learn from this, okay? Notice in chapter 12 the dragon is we're introduced to in verse three We see see a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadams on his head His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman Who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born This this one who we're going to be told in just a few verses in chapter 12 is Satan

38:40Is pictured as one who's going to knock out a third of the churches He's going to take down a third of the stars of heaven Those aren't literal stars those churches. They've been churches all the way from chapter one forward Verse seven and war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought But they did not prevail nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer So the great dragon was cast out that serpent of old called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him He loses it the woman. He loses to the child. He loses in heaven Notice it again Now verse 13 now when the dragon saw that he'd been cast to the earth He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the child Birth to the male child, but the woman was given two wings of a great angel That she might fly in the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent

39:47So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood But the earth helped the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood Which the dragon it spewed out of his mouth and the dragon was enraged with the woman And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ the devil loses again Even the earth defeats the devil Then you go forward to chapter 20 And God takes the devil in his use of Rome And puts it into it And it's not that it's a temporary end How does the scripture use the idea of a thousand The cattle on a thousand hills belong to the Lord does that mean the cattle on the thousand and first don't

40:50How about the the Lord keeps his covenant for a thousand generations? Does that mean the thousand and first is out of luck when it comes the covenant of the Lord? No The picture of a thousand is complete perfection So consider I saw an angel coming down from heaven having a key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand By the way Who was said earlier on in the book to have the key to the bottomless pit? You go back to chapter 2 and 3 and it's Christ All right Here's Christ authority enacted Here comes an angel with a key to the bottomless pit and a great chain And he laid hold of the dragon the serpent of old who is the devil and Satan and bound him for a perfect complete period of time Thousand years In other words

41:52Christ is going to judge the dragon's use of Rome and he's never going to use her again Because His judgment will be perfectly complete Okay, this isn't about Satan in every aspect of his work This isn't about Satan in every aspect of the tools that he uses this is about Rome So when the angel came forth in chapter 16 and chapter 17 and cried out babble on his fallen his fallen that great city God says listen she's fallen and she's never getting up again Satan is cast into the bottomless pit and shut him and is shut up and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more who did the deceiving of the nations how did Satan deceive the nations with what did Satan deceive the nations

42:54The answer's Rome The picture is of God's judgment against Rome and Satan's use of Rome The harlot gone Satan's tool to deceive the nations gone Satan's power to influence the nations through military power gone Satan's power to influence the nations through religious power gone God said i'm gonna take all his tools away And he's going to be shut up and he's not going to have the impact that he had before but then notice But after these things he must be released for a little while The reassurance to the saints is Christ wins But the moderating of that is a reminder as i mean your enemies God That doesn't mean you can imagine that just because god defeated Satan in his use of Rome that he no longer has anything with which he can attack you

44:03But this judgment is against your persecution on this earth We're gonna pause right there and we're gonna come back. We're gonna see the saints raining for a thousand years We're going to see more rebellion. We're going to see the great white throne and the judgment that everybody says is the end of time and it's not And we'll get back to that next week. Thank you for your attention