Revelation chapter 20. That is going to be our key chapter that we just read this morning. But turn to Psalm chapter 2 and let's get a little bit of context here about what we're going to talk about this morning. So we're back at the Clues and Milestones sermon series this morning and we're going to look at a very specific event in End Times prophecy. Look at Psalm chapter 2. If you open up your Bible in the middle you'll more than likely be in the book of Psalm. Psalm chapter 2. Look at verse number 1 where the Bible says, Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and their rulers take counsel against the Lord and against his anointed, that's Jesus saying, Let us break their bands of thunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill Zion. Declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. Look at verse number 8 here. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen. So this is God talking to his son. This is God the Father talking to Jesus Christ saying, And I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. One day Jesus will rule over the heathen, over the people of the earth. Look at verse number 9. Thou shalt break them with a, and this is really going to be the key of the sermon this morning. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron.  Turn to Revelation chapter 2. Turn to Revelation chapter 2. The title of the sermon this morning is the rod of iron. Is the rod of iron. Look at Revelation chapter 2 and look at verse number 27. The Bible says a similar verse as to Psalm chapter 2 and verse number 9. It says in Revelation 2, 27, and he shall rule them, talking about Jesus, talking about Jesus' rule on the earth, he shall rule them with a what? A rod of iron. As the vessels of a potter, they shall be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father. So that's a direct backup verse to Psalm chapter 2, 9, where the Father is saying, I'm going to give thee the heathen. I'm going to give my son, you know, the earth and everyone on the earth to rule over and Jesus is going to rule with a rod of iron. So in order to understand the rod of iron, that's what I'm going to explain to you this morning. That is the goal of the sermon and the reason I titled the sermon the rod of iron is because I'm going to explain to you why the rod of iron will be necessary. But before we understand why the rod of iron, and every time it says Jesus' ruling, he's going to be ruling with a rod of iron, we're going to see other verses that say the same thing. We're talking about the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. We're talking about the reign, the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ. And I'm going to explain to you this morning why he needs to rule and why he will rule with a rod of iron. He's saying, I don't know, that sounds kind of tyrannical. I'm going to explain to you that it's not tyrannical, it's the opposite of that, but first we need to understand the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. So we need to teach through that this morning. We're going to look at the details of that, go back to Revelation chapter 20, and then I'm going to explain to you the purpose and reason for, not only just the millennial reign, but the rod of iron that will be used to rule the millennial reign. So we're in the clues and milestones sermon series. So we're looking at the millennial reign of Christ. So let's just do a quick review of end times prophecy. Okay, what's going to happen in the end times? We've already done many sermons on the end times. Many of the sermons that we've done have been events that happened before the millennial reign of Christ. So what's going to happen in the end times? In the end times. So we're in the last days. Let's get our terminology correct. First of all, we're in the last days. Jesus even said we're in the last days. That's what I mean by that. What I believe Jesus meant by that is the last half. The last half of time that this earth will be here. So Jesus said we're in the last days, but we're not in the end times. How will we know that we are in the end times? Well, there's going to be clues and there's going to be milestones. That's kind of the premise, the methodology of the sermon series. Certain things are clues. Certain things are milestones, meaning clues, earthquakes, signs in the earth. Those are all clues. We can't really see an earthquake and be like, oh, we're in the end times. We can't really see a war and rumors of war and be like, oh, we're definitely in the end times. Those are clues that we need to watch for. Then there's milestones. So the milestone is going to be like this guy coming on the scene who is the Antichrist. Look, there's been many Antichrist leaders. A leader in the world, as a matter of fact, you could probably argue that most leaders in the world throughout history have been Antichrists. But we're talking about the Antichrist. There's going to be one world leader that comes on the scene and then Daniel 927 says he will confirm a covenant with many for one week. So that one week is going to be this seven year period. So there's going to be a world leader that comes on the scene. We're just reviewing the timeline here up to the millennial reign. He's going to come on the scene. He's going to make a covenant or a deal or a treaty with many. After this, we see Revelation chapter 6 and then Revelation chapter 13 that covenant with many turns into a one world government. And it turns into a one world government through what? Through war. Through a world war. You say, how is that possible? Look, we can see this happening today. We can see this happening today. There is a part of the world, probably 40% of the world, the countries in the world are pushing for globalism, a one world system. And then you have 60% of the world.  Then you have 60% of the world that is like, no, we're a nation. No, we're a nation. These are nations like Russia, China, India, all these places. They're rejecting this globalism. How are we all going to get together? How is the Antichrist going to get everybody together? It's going to be through war. That's how it's going to happen. It's going to be through a world war that that covenant with many will turn into a one world government. Now look, we can see it happening today. And I hate to break it to you folks, we're not on the right side. The West is not on the right side of this. If you just look at the Bible and who the bad guys are and who the good guys are, we're wrong on this today. So what do we see? We see the Antichrist is going to confirm a covenant with many. There's going to be a world war, Revelation chapter 6. A large percentage of the world is going to be killed in that world war. But not everybody, but not everybody. Then we have this one world government, this one world religion, this one world system. Then we're going to have the abomination of desolation where the Antichrist is going to set up this image in the temple, the new temple that doesn't even exist now. So when they build the third temple, that's a milestone. Like we're not going to miss that. Okay? Then he's going to set up an image and he's going to demand that everyone in the world worship that image. This is the abomination of desolation. This is the mark of the beast. He's going to make everyone take a mark in their right hand or in their forehead and say, you can't buy or sell. He's going to control your money, control your economy. You can't buy or sell. You're going to starve to death unless you worship this image and take this mark. Well, none of the Christians are going to take that mark. None of the Christians the Bible says are going to be fooled by that. Anyone who's saved is going to see what's happening and they're not going to do it. So what happens? Matthew 24 details how, you know, the Antichrist is going to hunt down these people that don't do this. They don't conform. They don't go with the program. He's going to hunt them down and there will be great tribulation, the Bible says in Matthew 24. You say, well, what do you mean great tribulation? It'll be worse than it's ever been in the history of the world. That's bad. That's bad because we can already look back in history and look at Christians that have been martyred throughout history by the Romans, first the Jews and Acts, then the Romans, and then the Catholic Church and even Protestants have been, you know, had been killed Christians throughout history. In horrible bad ways, millions of Christians, you're like, it's gonna be worse than that. It will be worse than it's ever been for a short time. For a short time. And the Bible says that if that time wasn't shortened, no one would survive. No one would survive. It's gonna be so bad that nobody would survive. That's that great tribulation. Then what's gonna happen? Now we have this great event of the rapture. You know, this is how Jesus shortens that time that Christians are in that great tribulation. He's gonna come back. He's gonna be in the clouds.  This is important for both sermons this morning. Everyone's gonna see it. Everyone is gonna see Jesus coming and gathering his elect together and taking them to heaven and immediately after the rapture within an hour, the wrath of God begins. So at the center of the week, at the three and a half year period, the rapture happens.  This is the trumpets in the vials in the book of Revelation. And then at the end of God's wrath, at the end of that three and a half year period, we have this great battle that we're gonna look at a little bit in Revelation chapter 19 called the Battle of Armageddon. It's a literal battle where Jesus comes back and we're gonna look at it this morning, where Jesus comes back and destroys the people that have gathered together against him with the beast and the false prophet. Remember the unholy trinity. We have Satan, we have the antichrist, and then we have the antichrist false prophet.  Even in God's wrath, they're leading this rebellion and many people are following them. Go back to, are you in Revelation chapter 20? And then after Jesus comes back and destroys everybody in the battle of Armageddon, then we have this millennial reign of Jesus Christ. He's back. He's with us. We're gonna look at the millennial reign. What's it like? Who's there? And then we're gonna look at the Rod of Iron this morning, all right? But that's the timeline of everything. So we're gonna look at the millennial reign. Why is the Rod of Iron important in the millennial reign? Look at Revelation chapter 20 in verse number one. This is kind of the millennial reign chapter in Revelation. The Bible says, and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a chain in his hand.  A bottomless pit is not the lake of fire at this point.   But hell is in the center of the earth, literally. That's what the Bible teaches, okay? This is the bottomless pit. So we see an angel comes in, he has the key to hell, all right? And this is the angel in Revelation chapter nine, whose name was a Pollyon or a Baton, all right? This is the same angel. Look at Revelation chapter two, or 20 in verse number two. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old servant. So he laid his hold on Satan. That's the dragon, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.  I'll explain that why they're going to let, you know, God's going to let him out for a little bit, after the thousand years is up. But the first thing that happens before the millennial reign of Christ begins is Satan is grabbed, and he is thrown into hell. All right? It's important to note that God has the keys to hell.   It's not like Satan's home.   And he's going to be tormented there forever and ever, just like anybody else that goes there.     Who rules hell?  God has the angel that has the keys to let anybody in and out of hell. And nobody's getting out of hell. The Bible is very clear about that. This is a very specific situation with Satan. Look at verse number four. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus. These are the people that came out of the great tribulation. And for the Word of God, and it which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands, and lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So I'm going to get into the resurrections in just a few minutes. But first of all, the Bible here is saying in verse number four that the saints, and I'll explain who the saints are in a few minutes as well, but they are going to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. They are going to come back with him to the battle of Armageddon. You'll see that we don't do much in the battle of Armageddon, but we are then going to stay on the earth and rule and reign with Jesus Christ. So it's important that you know this, because if you're saved this morning, if you're saved this morning, if you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and trusted on him, you will be part of the first resurrection. Guaranteed. All right? Go to Isaiah chapter 11. So the first thing is, what is the millennial reign going to be like? We're going to look at what it's actually going to be like. The Bible tells us, you know, what's it, what's the environment going to be like and who is going to be there? Look at Isaiah chapter 11. You're going to keep your place in Revelation 20. We're going to keep going back there. Look at Isaiah chapter 11. The Bible gives us some details about what the millennial reign of Christ will be like. Look at Isaiah 11 and look at verse number six.  Talking about a child playing around a poisonous snake's lair.  What this is explaining here is that at least part of the curse from the fall of man is going to be lifted during the millennial reign. Remember, I mean all the animals were vegetarians before Adam and Eve, you know, sinned in the garden and that's when, you know, animals started to be killed. The first animals were killed by God to clothe Adam and Eve. Go to Isaiah chapter 65.  Animals are dangerous to each other and, you know, to people today. People are dangerous to animals. All of this is at odds with each other. That is going to go away in the millennial reign. Look at Isaiah chapter 65 in verse number nine. So part of the curse is going to be lifted during the millennial reign. It says they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Look at verse 10. And there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people and it's too it shall the Gentile seek and his rest shall be glorious. You know what this is talking about here? During the millennial reign there will be peace. Look, this is what the antichrist is going to promise. This is what the antichrist is going to come and say, you know, I mean how many people have you heard today say, oh we need, you know, world peace and we just need everyone to compromise and everyone just to get along and everyone to stop believing their own religions and just kind of come together. This is how, and this is the promise that the antichrist is going to use, trying to get everybody to, you know, let go of all their, you know, moral convictions and come together, you know, for world peace. But Jesus is actually going to accomplish this. There is actually going to be, it says, you know, there will be no war is what this is saying. Look at verse number 19 of Isaiah chapter 65. He says, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying. Look at this. In verse 20 he says there shall be no more than an infant of days, meaning there's going to be no more, you know, children that die young or nor an old man that hath not filled his days.  You know what this is saying? This is saying people are going to once again live for hundreds of years. People are once again going to live just like people lived before the flood.   During the millennium, look at verse 21, people will live and die. And I'm going to explain to you, I'll explain that to you when I explain to you who's going to be in the millennium, but there's going to be people that live and die, but we're going to live much longer. This is another part of that curse of creation, of the fall of creation, the fall of mankind that is being lifted. Look at verse 21, and they shall build houses and inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build in another inhabit. Now this is a really important set of verses here for the America. And this is, I'm really going to explain this in great detail towards the end.  So the Bible here is saying they will build houses, they will inhabit them. They will build houses, they will live in them. You know what they're saying? People are going to be, you know, working and living their lives. That's what this is explaining. They shall plant vineyards and they shall eat fruit of them, but verse 22 starts to get very specific here. They shall not build in another inhabit. They shall not plant in another eat. For as the days of a tree are the days of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. You know what this is saying? This is saying to people, you will keep your labor. You will keep your home. You will keep your crops. You will go and you will, this kind of gives freedom, a whole new, you know, whole new, this is talking, this is talking about freedom here. It's talking about you're not going to build something and have somebody take it from you. It reminds me of 1 Samuel chapter 8 where Samuel is trying to convince the people that want a king. The people don't want to be ruled by the judges. They don't want to be ruled by God. We want an earthly king. You know what he says to them? I'm going to paraphrase this, but in 1 Samuel chapter 8 he says why do you want a king? The king, you know, the type of king that you're going to have because you're going to have a man for a king, not Jesus Christ. You're going to have a man for a king. You know what he's going to do? He's going to take your sons away. Why? For war. Samuel says he's going to take a tenth of your crops. He's going to take, go check your taxes and tell me if it was the tenth. He's going to take a tenth of this and a tenth of that. You know what he's saying? You're going to build houses and somebody else is going to live in them. He's saying it'd be better if the Lord, if the, it'd be better if you just kept the Lord as your leader. Because you would be more and I don't want to give the answer this morning, but you would be free. Instead, what do we do today? We build houses and other people inhabit them. They take our money from us and they build houses for people that, they, they take our labor. That man standing on the corner, that 30 year old man with two arms and two legs standing there asking you for money and saying I don't want to spend my labor, I want yours. That's exactly what he's saying. But people don't know the Bible today. So they're like oh, poor guy. He's saying I don't want to spend mine. I want yours. It's not going to happen in the millennial reign. There's going to be prosperity in the millennial reign. You're going to keep your own property. You're going to keep your own labor. No more welfare state in the millennial reign. They shall not labor in vain verse 23. Nor bring forth for trouble. For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and they're offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear. And the wolf and the lamb shall feed together and the lion shall eat straw like an ox, like a bullock, sorry, like the bullock, and shall be like, and shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy and my holy mountains say.  Look, the Bible is describing paradise here. The Bible is describing a perfect society here. And that is what is going to be accomplished. So the question is who will be there? Is it just us? Turn to Revelation chapter 19. In order to understand who will be in the millennial reign of Christ and who will be experiencing this wonderful time of this thousand-year reign, we need to understand who is going to be there. What groups of people? In order to understand who's going to be there, we kind of need to see what has happened at the run-up to the millennial reign of Christ. Look at Revelation chapter 19. There's going to be two groups of people there, two main groups. Look at Revelation chapter 19. So at the end of the wrath of God, you say the wrath of God has been going on for three and a half years. And as we study, we'll do another sermon on the wrath of God. But it's extreme. It's extreme. I mean, the earth is punished for what they've done. And there's still people that are resisting the Lord Jesus Christ at this point. Look at verse 11 of Revelation chapter 19. I saw heaven open. This is at the end of the wrath of God. And behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true. Let's see if we can figure out who this is. And in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. And his eyes were as a flame of fire. This is, you know, here's your portrait of long hair Jesus wearing a dress right here. All right. His eyes were a flame of fire. And on his head were many crowns. And he had a name that no man knew, but he himself. And his clothes, he was clothed with a vesture, meaning a garment, dipped in blood. And his name is called the word of God. There's your answer right there. This is the Lord Jesus Christ right here. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. These are the saved people that are in heaven.  Here it is again a rod of iron. And he treadeth the wine press of the fierceness wrath of the Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fouls that fly in the midst of heaven come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men. These are all the people that gathered together for war at Armageddon and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. So Jesus comes back and he basically all of those that fought against the Lord show up to this battle and it's not a fight. Jesus just destroys everyone. No one has to fight except Jesus. And these are the people though that bird up against God's wrath. These are the people that as God was pouring out his wrath just hated Jesus Christ. They knew he was there. They saw him come back in the clouds and get his saved saints three and a half years earlier but they just bird up against him and look like a third of the people on the earth are killed in the wrath of God. It is a bloody three and a half years and many people I am sure we're going to talk about tonight will get saved during the wrath of God. I think many people will get saved after the rapture after they experience that. They see Jesus Christ come back they'll be like oh we were wrong. And people are going to believe on him at that point. But not everybody is going to bird up against not everybody hates Jesus Christ. So you've got a lot of people that didn't show up to this battle. You've got a lot of people that didn't show up to the battle of Armageddon to fight the Lord Jesus Christ. So after this battle is over there's still a lot of people left on the earth. There's still a lot of people left on the earth that are saved and unsaved. Because look not everybody that's unsaved folks when we knock on somebody's door and ask them if they want to know how to get to heaven if they want to hear the gospel not everybody that says no is a reprobate that hates the Lord. Many people are just they don't really care or they're just they don't really understand the situation that they're in. They don't really understand the wrath of God that abideth on them being unsaved. They're just wrapped up in the concerns of this world. It doesn't mean they hate the Lord.  And they're the people at this battle. And they're the ones that Jesus Christ is going to take care of. So going into the millennial reign there's two groups of people. There's these people that are saved and unsaved people on the earth. And then there's the saints that come back with Jesus that were part of that first resurrection that come back with Jesus to rule and reign with him. Now these saints they're in their glorified bodies. These saints will never die. The people that are part of the first resurrection will never die. So you literally have these people that are mortal and these people that will never die during the millennial reign and the people that will never die are the ones that are going to be in charge. And Jesus Christ says turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 13. Jesus Christ says many times throughout his ministry if you remember the parable of talents where Jesus says the person that went out and turned five talents into 10 talents Jesus says you know because you know you're a good and faithful servant you will be over 10 cities. This is talking about you know the rewards that Jesus is going to give the believers in the millennial reign of Christ. Meaning if you did good in your life what the good that we do in our lives to save believers has nothing to do with whether or not we go to heaven but it does have to do with the rewards that we get when we go to heaven. So you know some people are going to be in charge of cities some people are going to be in charge of you know maybe just you just watch that guy. Like if they did nothing in their life as a Christian you're like okay we got this you know here why don't you just watch this lamppost for us for the thousand years or whatever right. There's probably going to be a lot of people like that. We're like okay you know you just the wind sometimes blows that tree pretty hard you just keep an eye on that tree. All right. So there's going to be a lot of people like that but the Lord is saying that good and faithful servants during their life who were saved are going to rule over cities. You know they're going to rule the better you do in your life as a believer you know look this is this is kind of a self-focused way to think of a Christian I try not to think of the rewards in heaven I'm still pretty excited that I'm saved I'm pretty excited I'm not going to hell. I'm just trying to do everything I can in my life for the Lord Jesus Christ that saved me but there will be rewards and you will be rewarded according to how you did in this life. All right. Think of it as an investment. You know what you're doing today is going to reverberate through your eternity. Think about it that way. But the point is many did not come to the fight of the battle of Armageddon. There's two groups of people. There's the saved and unsaved people that are still on the earth and there's people that are born. There's people that are born and die in the millennial reign. There's people you know just regular mortal people and then there's the glorified saints that are ruling with Jesus Christ. Those are the two distinct groups. Now is it every saint that comes back with Jesus Christ? And the answer is yes. There's a lot of weird teaching out there like you know Baptist riders and all these different people that try to separate out you know different groups of Christians that only these I mean the Jehovah's witnesses are the weirdest cult that separates out you know weird people. We're going to talk about that tonight. 20's chapter 13. Look at verse 13. The Bible says to to the end that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this with all his saints. So anybody that has been raptured anybody that was part of the first resurrection is going to come back with Jesus Christ and rule and reign with him a thousand years. All right. Look at verse go to 1 Corinthians. You know I mean and then all Christians are saints you know and I don't really have time to preach let's go to one verse on that. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 look at verse number 2. I mean that's really a different sermon. There's a lot of weird teaching on saints too. A lot of false doctrine on saints you know like that the saints are only who some church decides as a saint.  It's very clear in the Bible. All right. So I'm looking at a bunch of saints here this morning. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse number 2. Under the church God which is at Corinth to them that are what? That are certified in Christ Jesus. Called to be what saints with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours. So the people that call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is equated with they are what us that's what a saint is somebody that is saved is a saint. Go back to Revelation chapter 19. Go back to Revelation chapter 19. So we see that the Christians come back they've already been resurrected at the rapture they've been given those glorified bodies you know 1st 1 Corinthians 15 is kind of that resurrection chapter. I'm gonna look at that in just a few minutes but you know our at the rapture are corruptible bodies. Our corruptible flesh will be raised in incorruptible. So this flesh that we have that is we won't have that anymore. We won't have that going into the millennial rain. Look at Revelation chapter 19 look at verse number 20. After this battle it says the beast was taken this is the antichrist and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him which he deceived them that had received and them that worshiped his image that's that abomination of desolation in Revelation 13. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone and remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse. Like I said we're not gonna do anything.  So in verse number 20 it says the antichrist at this point and the false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire. Now nobody's in the lake of fire at this point. That's in outer darkness. Nobody's in the lake of fire.  But right now they're like the first people at the lake of fire hotel right here.  They're not coming back. He's gonna use satan and he's gonna pull satan out of the bottomless pit after the thousand year reign and he's gonna use him for a specific purpose. And I'll explain that in just a few minutes. Go back to Revelation chapter 20. But after this battle he's done with the antichrist. He's done with the false prophet. They're in the lake of fire and they're there for eternity. Look at verse number five of Revelation chapter 20. And the Bible says during the millennial reign during the millennial reign it says the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So the people that come back with Jesus are part of the first resurrection. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and let's just review this first verse. So the people that die even the saved people that die during the millennial reign they are not part of the first resurrection. They are not resurrected in the first resurrection just because they got saved during the wrath or maybe the millennial reign it doesn't mean that they just become part of that first resurrection. That's over. That's past. Look at 1 Corinthians 15 and look at verse number 20. This is kind of the resurrection chapter in the Bible this kind of gives the order of the resurrection of the saints. Look at verse 20 in Revelation I'm sorry 1 Corinthians 15 says but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. So the first person that was resurrected the first fruits is Jesus Christ. For since by man came death and by by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die even so in Christ that all shall be made alive. All that's saying is that because death entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned against God there became a necessity for a resurrection from the dead. Okay.  So Christ is kind of the verse of Adam here is what it's saying. While Adam brought death into the world Jesus Christ brings life into the world. Look at verse 23. But now this is the key that we need to understand for Revelation chapter 20 but every man in his own order. All right. Christ the first fruits afterward they that are Christ at his coming that's the rapture. So we see that Christ was resurrected first and then we have what we call the first resurrection at the rapture where we all are part of that first resurrection. That's and that's look that's anybody that's lived and died to that point and is saved. So it's not just the people that are alive at the rapture and I've preached through this before but it's any person that is believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and has died up to that point in history. All the people from the graves will be resurrected and given incorruptible bodies and they will be in these glorified states and Jesus will take them to heaven with him. Then look at this in verse 24. Then come at the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father and he shall have put down all evil and all authority and power. That's where he just destroyed everybody at the battle of Armageddon and look at verse 25. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. And then the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. So death isn't destroyed yet during the millennial reign. So the Bible is saying that Jesus when he comes here and starts ruling in the millennial reign he's going to put down all of his enemies. You're starting to see the need for the rod of iron. There's going to be saved people and unsaved people in the millennial reign. And there's a battle to get to the millennial reign and then those unsaved people are still going to be there. People are still going to be born. They're still going to be living their lives. They're going to be born and die. And then at the end of the millennial reign we will have that second resurrection. That second resurrection. That second resurrection is at the same time as the great white throne judgment at the end of Revelation chapter 20 where death and hell are delivered up and they're judged by what?  They're going to be judged by their works. All those people that could not trust on the Lord Jesus Christ what trusted in their own works. What do we see today? Anybody that is not saved that believes in heaven thinks they're getting there by their own works.  If I pray, if I go to church, if I do these things I will get to heaven. That's what they all believe. They have to, in order to be saved you have to take that trust off yourself and put it only on Jesus. It's 100% or nothing and that is salvation. But the people that couldn't do that are going to stand before that great white throne.  The logic of it is that your works can't cover up your good works. You're the greatest person ever.  It doesn't matter how nice I am if I stole the car. It doesn't matter how many people like me if I committed a crime I have to pay for it and God's a perfect judge and he has to punish people for their sins. He's the perfect judge in righteousness and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death and that's the end of the millennium. There will be no more death after that great white throne judgment. Go back to Revelation 20 and look at verse number 7. So before the millennium ends and before the great white throne judgment I kind of just I kind of jumped ahead a little bit there but before the earthly reign of Christ is over something interesting happens. Jesus Christ lets Satan out.  He lets the rabid dog out of the cage. Look at verse 7. It says when the thousand years are expired Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. Why? Look what he does though and he shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. So as I mean this is so interesting here because as Jesus is reigning and ruling in this perfect way in this perfect prosperity on the earth the Bible here is explaining that there's a lot of people that were not going along with it. There's a lot of people did not like king. There's a lot of people that actually hated the king and God is going to use Satan to gather them up. He's going to use Satan to round them all up to be the herder of all these people that hate him.  Let's go to battle. Jesus is simply drawing the line here and seeing who is with him and who is against him. That's what it's it's brilliant really. Jesus just wants to go at this point at the end of the millennial reign who's with me and who's against me. And he's looking for who crosses that line. Look the worst type of people are the people that like you don't really know. Or the people that you think are with you and they're not really with you. Jesus is just kind of cutting through all that you know all that blurry vision right there.  And they went up upon the breath of the earth encompassed the camp of the saints about in the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Again we don't really have to do anything. That's the battle of Gog and Magog. A lot of people you know Gog and Magog the area is like in Russia around that area and a lot of people a lot of false prophets or like something goes on with Russia and they're like Gog and Magog I'm like what are you talking about it's after the millennial reign. After you see how important it is to understand the Bible. These things I mean these are sort of complicated but they're not impossible to understand. We can once we get the timelines right who's what who's where it's kind of clear why these things are happening and when these things are going to happen. All right so we see that's the millennial reign.  So now the question I want to answer for you as we conclude this this morning is why the millennial reign? Why is Jesus going to do this? Why the millennial reign and then further a further question a follow-up on that why the rod of iron? All right and that's what I want to answer for you now because Jesus is very clearly going to rule with a rod of iron you just kept hearing that again and again he's going to rule with a rod of iron. The reason for the millennial reign is a simple one is that Jesus throughout the Bible if you've read the Bible and you've read it multiple times you realize that God is telling us how to do it.  He's telling us how to act as a nation. He's telling us how to do it and we don't listen. He's telling the nation of Israel as the greatest example not only the nation of Israel though all the nations around Moab and Edom and Egypt and all the other nations in Babylon they all get judged because none of them listen. So he's telling us how to do it and how to avoid all of this judgment and we don't listen. So why the millennial reign? Because he's going to show us how it's done. He's going to show us how to rule.  He's like no it was like this. He's going to show us how it's done. It is going to use a rod of iron but look during the millennial reign folks you say rod of iron that sounds bad you're going to have freedom you're going to have prosperity you're going to have peace on earth you're going to have private property you're going to have all these rights with a rod of iron you say what what am I what am I missing? See folks what you need to understand and it may be hard for an American to understand this this what I'm explaining to you is the perfect government Jesus is going to show us what the perfect government is when Jesus is in charge he's going to show us what the perfect government and it is a it is a monarchy with a righteous king and people and righteous people that are helping rule that's a perfect government you're like but the US is the perfect government but you know America I mean first of all like what look around I mean I mean look around I mean there's a lot of people you know there's a lot of people in America today and I'm going to speak specifically about America there's a lot of people in America today that recognize the problems they see all these things and if they have a conscience that's even partially intact they're like that's wrong this is messed up this is crazy that's perversion they see this stuff and they know it's wrong but they have no clue how we got here and they have no clue how to fix it and that's how to escape it I've said this many times I said it again on Friday night and men's preaching night but this country was lost from the pulpit not from the government it was lost because the man of God stopped yelling the word of God and the people stopped believing the word of God and it will only be fixed it will only be one back with the word of God that's the only way so people they recognize the problems but they have no idea they're like oh no we need a second enlightenment look folks the enlightenment and this is a sermon by itself and I will preach a sermon on the enlightenment one day but let me just give you a little bit of a taste the enlightenment which had influence on the foundation of our country not everybody was on board with it but it had influence with a lot of the people that founded the country the enlightenment was anti-christ let me just I'm going to give you one example of why it was anti-christ the enlightenment deserves no credit for the prosperity that the united states had and I'm going to explain I'm going to I'll just give you one example but one of the main principles of the enlightenment was this idea of deism you say deism yeah I've heard that I've heard that certain founding fathers were deists that they weren't Christians they were deists but I guess you know they believed in God so it's it's still pretty good here's what deism means here's what deism means I'm just I'm just I'm saying this so you understand that the enlightenment was part of the problem not any it had nothing to do with any prosperity that we had for 200 years here in this country nothing it worked against and as a matter of fact it's it's helping destroy what we have today deism is this idea that God equals the natural world that God is nature that there is no supernatural it's just we know that God I mean it's a it's a twisting of Romans one where Romans one basically teaches us that you know there's two things that everybody I've taught this before there's two things that everybody starts with there's two things that everybody starts everybody can see the creation that's evidence of and then in Romans 215 everybody gets a conscience God wrote the law on every man's heart I don't care if you grew up in South America you grew up in in Texas or wherever you grew everyone started with a conscience and everybody can see the creation so nobody has an excuse the Bible says but God is not just the creation this is scientism right this is scientism this idea that science can explain everything science can explain everything because because God supernatural his ways are higher than our ways we cannot recreate the miracles of Jesus in the Bible through scientific experimentation because God is above his laws that he created he's higher his ways are literally higher so this idea of deism is that God equals creation that's all he is there is no supernatural the example that I've heard given that that kind of fits deism is that God was a watchmaker God was a watchmaker and he made this beautiful watch which is this creation he wound it up and he let it go meaning there is no supernatural there is no revelation to the watch you know what that means there is no Bible there is no intervention deism teaches that God does not intervene he's a watchmaker he made the watch he wound it up and he stepped back does God intervene in this world what is the main intervention that God did in this world he sent the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem the world let me talk about intervention God does in your deism is that there is no Jesus folks there's no prayer there's no Bible the Bible is Jesus the Word of God right there we lose this is kind of the idea that we watch this movie on church movie night called time changer my son loves it and it's this idea it was this idea he said what's the big deal pastor they still believe in God even though he's the creation he doesn't intervene there's no revelation there's no Bible here's the problem the whole premise of that movie was this argument it was this argument of what's the what's the difference if we tell a child that he can't steal because it's wrong why can't we just tell him that why do we have to go up to that child and say no you can't steal it's wrong because the Lord Jesus Christ said it's wrong what's the difference why do we have to have the Lord Jesus Christ in there that was the whole premise but you know what that movie was teaching it was teaching against the enlightenment because the enlightenment thought like natural law see the social contract this is the writings of Locke and Rousseau and all these things that but here's the problem folks here's the problem if there's a no if there's no authority there's no authority if there's no absolute truth one person's truth is just as good as another person's truth this is the problem this is why you must teach that child that he cannot steal because the Lord Jesus Christ said so Brother Trevor had a brilliant example on Friday night where he said the couple that's living together the couple that is living together that is not married but they they are raising children together and they they only are there for each other and they they're monogamous to each other and and they have children and they live together till they die but then you have another couple over here that does exactly the same thing but they're married they're right and they're wrong why? because Jesus Christ said so that's why because there is authority to the morality if there is no word of God if there is no intervention there's no truth your truth is just as good as mine your ideas are just what are we seeing today just the truth being twisted and just torn apart and just all these words being redefined but the word that is mis defined the most that I want to talk about this morning is this word freedom is this word freedom so another person another guy asked on Friday night like how do I take the U.S. how do I take the United States as a Bible-believing Christian right now how do I take the United States do I say do I go to bed and I say God bless America how do I take it see most conservatives need to learn the Bible most conservatives need to get saved and start reading the Bible if they want the answer because conservatives today are like freedom freedom no the definition of freedom today is the problem that's the problem so I mean how do I take the U.S. to answer that question to that young man at the church well first of all don't get me wrong I'm thankful that I was born here I'm never going to leave here this is my country I'm thankful for the the true freedom that we do have the true freedom that we do have in this country which basically comes down to you know the freedom to preach the gospel that's what it comes down to I mean the United States is still better than a lot of places look you know the funny thing is though you're starting to see this inversion where it's not really that much nicer in many ways wicked godless countries have nicer cities than us wicked godly countries have safer cities than us wicked godless countries have I'm sorry I said godly I said god I meant godless wicked countries like China and Russia and all these other countries that they're not they don't have freedom they don't even that's not even really a thing there they have more civilized societies than we do in many ways at this point but for the Christian to preach you know for the freedom to preach door to door and the freedom to stand up from the pulpit and still preach the word of god look that's the sad thing is that the preachers stop preaching it when they had the freedom to do so for the freedom to do that I mean I America is still the best I think that America probably has the most saved people in the world that's powerful that's powerful when you look at when nations will be destroyed you know in Genesis Genesis 19 you know God says if there's 50 there I'm not going to destroy it so look the saved people we're going to talk about that tonight they're standing in the gap for this country so look I'm thankful and look I'm pragmatic too I'm pragmatic so I'm thankful and I'm pragmatic that's my view towards the United States what do you mean by pragmatic the constitution the bill of rights as a pragmatic person I think they're pretty decent engines I think they're pretty decent ideas we we talk about a lot of engines here we like engines we like you know there's some engines that have been made throughout the last 20 or 30 years that are just like they're they're above grade they're they're better than most engines that are built we talk about these types of engines all the time like the four liter Jeep like the 7.3 liter four D excellent engine it just it just runs forever it just won't stop running the like pretty much any Toyota but the constitution that you know but all engines wear out I don't care how good they are all engines are imperfect I don't care how good they are the constitution the bill of rights they're good they're good when it comes to trying to protect us from evil wicked people they're pretty good ideas they're a good stop gap I guess is the way I look at it but guess what folks the constitution and the bill of rights didn't save us from the banks in 1913 they didn't save us from the federal reserve taken over our country in 1913 the constitution didn't save us from that the bill of rights didn't many men before 1930 tried to stop it but eventually those men died and the men that stopped and then there was no one left to fight and the banks took over Mayor Rothschild said this give me control of a nation's money supply and I care not who makes its laws who isn't that true what gets us into all these wars that we're in now it's the money it's the banks I don't care what foreigner you talk to everyone knows this I talked to a guy from Nigeria a couple days ago and we're just like going back and forth in the Uber he's like yeah it's the money he's a Muslim and he's like it's just the money and I'm like it's the money and he's like I know and I'm like everybody knows why is it happening I told him if a Ukrainian and a Russian found themselves in a grocery store in Fresno California do you think they'd start rolling on the floor and beating each other to a pulp of course not they'd probably get along but because of the money and the banks and all this but look the constitution didn't stop us from that not to go off but just it didn't stop us from that it didn't stop us from murdering 64 million unborn children in this country the constitution didn't stand in front of those children and save their lives it didn't stop it it didn't stop mass murder but you know people before 1900 they wouldn't even thought of such a thing yeah you're starting to kind of get the answer hopefully it didn't stop the flood it turned to Nahum chapter three turned to Nahum chapter three it didn't stop the constitution the bill of right it didn't stop this flood of perversion that we're seeing today and that you know what and that we're exporting around the world and this will be this will be the downfall of us here and it's happening in real time if you're paying attention we're trying to export all this perversion around the world and this is what's happening to us look at Nahum chapter three talk about God telling us giving us a heads up on this and he says I will cast abominable filth upon me he's like you turn against me and I'm going to cast abominable filth upon me and make thee vile and look at this I will set thee a gazing stock people will look at you you know we're a laughing stock we're a gazing stock to the world as we try to export this stuff all this this perverted garbage to other nations in the world and tell them we're not going to give you money unless you include all this perverted stuff in your schools and all this stuff and we against you know nations that want to keep you know biblical morality you know as their culture in their country we you know what they're just like they're like this disgusting stay away from us we're driving everybody away and look it's there's going to be a war there's going to be a war because they're all they're all backing out they don't want any part of this they're just gazing at us going that's disgusting you know I thought years ago I thought years ago maybe we should have codified the morality in the constitution you know maybe we should have codified you know not just the limited government but we should have codified maybe that would have bought us more time but now it's just a piece of paper it can't stand up for itself evil can defeat a piece of paper the new mexico governor just yesterday or the day before suspended the second amendment she's just like I mean it was like you know pro 2a she's just like yeah no more emergency it's an emergency I mean I didn't see the bill all right stand up and punch her in the face or whatever you know I mean it's just a piece of paper public health emergency this is the reason for the rod of iron this is the reason for the rod of iron turn to romans chapter seven see the problem in america is a fundamental misunderstanding of the concept of the word freedom actually turn to proverbs I'll read 28 you turn to romans chapter seven ultimately the u.s. succeeded and prospered only because the people were with god only because the people believed god only because they believed the bible when the people leave god proverbs 28 verse 2 says this for the transgression of the land are the princes thereof but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged the bible is saying here as a land transgresses they will become less free see freedom is not the answer it's the reward and this is a universal truth I don't care how much you love freedom and you think you have the definition correct as the land transgresses we will get less and less and less free it's what's going to happen and it's the same in the bible over and over and over and over again I mean will man learn the answer is no Jesus is going to have to show him with a rod of iron with a rod of iron are you there are you there because look real freedom is prosperity in godliness and that comes with private property and peace and all these different things America has a freedom problem today they don't know what it means look at roman 714 the bible says for we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin you know what that means sin is bondage it's not freedom this is the problem with America today and this is the problem Jesus will fix in the plenty of rain filth perversion unnaturalness drunkenness violence fornication theft of property it's bondage it is slavery and people didn't stand up and say no you are not going to drag us into bondage with you this is true individually and it's true for a nation it's true for you as a Christian you're like I'm saved I can do whatever sin I want you can you're going to drive yourself into bondage you're like I'm saved I'm saying people look at us and they're like you're telling people that if they trust on the Lord Jesus Christ that there's nothing they could do you know how many Catholics have had tell me this that there's nothing they could do to lose their salvation you can't tell people that they'll go crazy no they won't because they want to be free they don't understand the bible Paul tells us over and over again he's trying to explain to us in Romans he's like grace will abound you go off and you follow the flesh and you just you continue to be carnal after you're saved grace will abound he's like but you will put yourself voluntarily back into bondage why would you do that that's why you know someone who's saved and wants to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with their life they're going to get this stuff out of their life because why because they want to be free and they understand what freedom and bondage is we have we have lumped in sin in this country as freedom and this is why Jesus needs a rod because when people start to do that in the millennial reign he's going to break them in pieces sin is not freedom it never has been and many people even during the millennial reign will want this they will want bondage Jesus has the rod of iron this is the answer this morning Jesus has the rod of iron during the millennial reign to maintain freedom during the millennial reign true freedom is not the answer for America folks and when I say true freedom I mean the actual definition of freedom as we see in the millennial reign true freedom is not the answer for America true freedom is the result that America would get if we went back to the word of God if we started instead of being a nation that is at this point in history where the fewest people in the country believe the bible instead if we started turning back to God if we repented as a nation as Nineveh repented and turned from our sins as a nation what nations need to turn from their sins individuals don't need to turn from their sins to be sinned but nations need to repent and then we would get true freedom back in this country but that's what we will have under the millennial reign of Christ and the fact that people will desire this bondage they'll desire the sin they'll desire the violence it always comes back it always comes down to the violence I don't care what kind of civilization or empire you have as they turn from the Lord it goes through all these wicked stages of sin and perversion I mean even a logical person find me a nation and empire that has embraced sexual perversion like we're embracing today and has stood it's always the end of that empire you don't even need the bible to know this shows you how stupid people are today but when people try to embrace the sin and the violence in all of this during the millennial reign that's why Jesus will have to show us how it's done stand up against it with power heads we have a word of prayer