Written by Adrian Isaacs

From the serpent’s temptation in the Garden of Eden until this very day, a conflict has existed in the human experience that has eternal consequences. There is God’s established system – the worship of the true God Who requires us to believe what He has said and to faithfully walk in dependence on Him. Then there is the opposing system, which can be seen in Satan’s dialogue with Eve: “Has God really said…?” (Gen. 3:1) – casting doubt on God’s Word and ultimately enticing Eve with the thought of being like God without God (Gen. 3:4-5).

The conflict between these two systems is vividly seen in Revelation 17-20. The Satanic system is expressed through the activities of the beast and Babylon the Great – both of which are clearly anti-Christ and anti-God (Rev. 17:12; 18:4-24). God judges them both (Rev. 18:8; 19:20). In Revelation 19:11-21, we see the Second Coming of Jesus who is gloriously presented as riding out of heaven on a white horse. He defeats the beast, and in doing so overthrows Satan’s rival system in the earth as expressed through the person of the Antichrist. This conflict is not a struggle of equals. The beast is decisively defeated by the Lord.

In Revelation 20, we see the reign of the Messiah and His saints for 1,000 years – the millennium, which will feature righteousness in the earth and the successful rule of the Second Adam where the first Adam failed. This is the outward, visible expression of God’s righteous rule in the earth in the person of Jesus Christ following His return, supplanting the opposing system that Satan began in Eden and consummated in the beast. Revelation 20 also describes the final judgment of Satan and all of those who reject God’s salvation.

Part of the end-time narrative is this spiritual conflict between God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom as it is played out in the world. Yet, this conflict is very real in each of our hearts personally. It is the tension that exists between the will of Christ on one hand; and the world, the flesh, and the devil on the other. We know that Jesus will return and displace the kingdom of Satan, who has already been defeated at the cross. By God’s grace, and as we depend upon Christ, may He have first place in our hearts, even as we await His appearing.