Revelation 20

Special Remarks On Revelation 20 by E.M. Zerr General remarks. We have come to the climax of the book of Revelation as far as the symbolic predictions are concerned. The last two chapters have figurative language of the same kind that is frequently used all through the Bible, but they pertain to conditions that are to exist after the world comes to its end. The events still in the future (as of the place where this chapter belongs in the great drama of the book) will be predicted symbolically in this chapter, which starts at the time of the great Reformation. Before taking up the chapter verse by verse, I will offer a general note that will deal with the chapter in a more condensed form. Some of the verses will be enlarged upon as occasion suggests, but I urge that my readers make themselves familiar with this note as references may be made to it at certain places.

On Revelation 20 : One of the keys to the understanding of this noted chapter is the fact that Satan was to be bound away from the nations and not from any individual. There never was a time when it was predicted that he was to be chained away from any individual: it was from nations. He always has had and still has access to individuals and the only thing that will keep him away from such is his individual faith in the Scriptures. By reason of the union of church and state the nations had been led to think they could not legislate nor decide on religious questions as they might have seen fit, but must take their cue from Rome. But when the Reformation broke and gave the Bible to various peoples in their own language so that they could read for themselves they saw, to their surprise, that they had been deceived all these years–that they did not need to depend on Rome. Since this truth became known to various kings, and the people under them, they turned their back against Rome, which resulted in the break-up of the union of church and state, and thus the deception that caused the nations to think they must ask Rome all about it was banished. Thus the devil by the chain of truth in the Reformation, was chained away from the nations, and the Reformation period was allowed to go on.

This situation explains the statement in the forepart of the fourth verse that tells us of the “thrones and they sat upon them, their judgment was given unto them,” meaning that now they have learned of their own right to do their own judging instead of asking Rome about it. This was made possible by the facts just stated. Now about this time when Rome saw what it was about to amount to, she began to oppress the reformers and made life so bitter for some of them that it required the same fortitude and courage in facing Rome that had been required in the beginning of the Christian religion to face the oppression of Pagan Rome. These martyrs were equal to the occasion. They defied death and everything like it, and so nearly did they reenact the very spirit of the martyrs. As we sometimes say, that a certain individual though dead yet now speaks, meaning that someone has risen reproducing the same spirit and fortitude as the other person.

So these reformers and coworkers in their courage and defiance of death, showed the spirit that the martyrs had shown and in this way we could say that the martyrs were living again. Not that any individual who had really been dead had come to life. But they who loved the truth so much were willing to die rather than go back to Rome. In this way they were reenacting the spirit of the first martyrs and so could be said to be “living” again. And since through faith and courage those who are true to the Book have been said by Paul and others to be reigning with Christ, this explains why these people are said to be reigning with Christ. The arbitrary statement of a thousand years is one instance in the Bible where a definite amount is stated when the writer refers to an indefinite one.

In this case the thousand years is just an expression referring to the bright period of the Reformation when those who loved the truth had been of Christ and reigned with him during that time.

This brings us to understand the statement in verses 5 and 6 about the first resurrection as follows: “Now this is the first resurrection.” The pronoun “this” instead of having an antecedent is a prospective pronoun and means the same as if the writer had said “I am going to tell you something of the first resurrection.” The man that has part in the first resurrection will not be hurt of the second death, which we understand from other scripture is the lake of fire. This is taught especially in the language expressed by Christ in his conversation with Martha (John 11:25-26). The expression “first resurrection” does not have any numerical significance, but is used to indicate its importance- It is the first resurrection in importance and not in numerical order since there will be but one resurrection numerically. If Christ is the resurrection, that would make it the first; and we note that the passage does not say “blessed and holy is he that” is in the first resurrection, but he that “hath part in” the first resurrection. And since Christ is the first resurrection, it follows that having part in the first resurrection means to have part in Christ, and hence this noted passage means simply the same that John 11:25-26 meant, the same as Christ meant when he said to the sister “I am the resurrection and the life” and also stated that those who continue in that faith in Him would never die. So the expression “shall never die” to Martha is equivalent to the expression “not hurt of the second death” here. And hence this passage has no reference whatever to some visionary theory about reigning on this earth.

The expression in the forepart of verse 5, “rest of the dead” is explained to mean those people who did not have enough confidence in the truth to have died for it, as the martyrs had. Of course during this bright period of the Reformation their characteristics would not be in evidence so that is why it says they will not live again until the thousand years are finished, which means until the best part of the Reformation and its effects have run their course. And since the chaining of the devil meant to undeceive the nations, by the same token turning the devil loose again means he will again operate in a national and public manner. Not necessarily through the same nations of course, but it means that he will not be satisfied with his individual influence over men and women, but will wish to poison the public streams of thought and in so doing will raise a great conflict between the friends of truth and the friends of error. The “little season” referred to in this chapter is elsewhere called the battle of Armageddon. That battle is now going on and has been ever since the Reformation period began to lose its good effects.

If one were to doubt what the devil is doing in a public wholesale manner, we cite the fact that in the state of New York a few years ago, the state chartered an institution whose avowed purpose was to advance atheism in all the schools and colleges in the United States, and thus such a charter authorized by the state is similar to the idea of the devil working through the nations. Almost every state in the Union is supporting and authorizing the teaching of evolution in the name of education which is another means of the devil to operate publicly; and all other like influences such as the support and endorsement of several nations and states and lawmakers authorizing things that have always heretofore been regarded as not even moral, much less according to the Bible, all go to the conclusion that the devil is now, as he was before the Reformation, working through public wholesale channels by influencing legislatures and kings and lawmakers in the direction of infidelity, thus producing the great battle of Armageddon. Trusting the reader has carefully read the foregoing note and will be able to make proper reference to it when it is suggested, I shall take up this chapter by verses as has been done with others.

John T. Hinds Commentary On Revelation 20 SECTION FIVE THE “ ” AND THE Rev_20:1-15 Rev_20:1-10 has been made the battle ground for more con­flicting theories, perhaps, than any other passage of scripture. This fact suggests caution and modesty in approaching it as commentator. Where so many have fallen must be dangerous ground. A few introductory considerations may aid in reaching satisfactory conclusions.

1. The word “ millennium” is not in the Bible, but by com­mon use has been given a permanent place in religious liter­ature. It is a Latin word, meaning “ a thousand years,” and is generally substituted for that expression which is used six times in this passage. This is the only place in the Bible where this period is mentioned. If a distinct age in which Christ will reign personally on earth, it is remarkable that neither he nor any of the apostles in their plain teaching said any­thing about it. Why should so important a matter be men­tioned only in a book of symbols and in a highly figurative passage ?
3. The popular notion that the millennium is a period of absolute and universal peace, righteousness, and felicity is pure assertion; the word has no such meaning. The assump­tion is based upon the statement that Satan is to be “ bound” during that period, which is supposed to mean literal binding and a complete destruction of his influence. Neither of these conclusions is true. If any wicked people are left on earth in the millennial age, Satan’ s personal binding would be of no special benefit; for his servants here could still torment and deceive the righteous. The wicked are his “ ministers” now (2 Corinthians 11:15), and will be while here.

At Christ’ s coming all the wicked are to be destroyed (Revelation 19:19-21) and the right­eous living and dead are to receive immortal bodies (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.) If he comes to establish the millennium, then there can be no literal kingdom, for there will be none in the flesh either to rule or be ruled. Hence, the literal throne of David idea is false; the passage must be explained figuratively.

3. Many, including some pioneer preachers of the church of Christ, seemed to think the millennium would be introduced and perpetuated by the gospel prevailing over evil; that it would continue to win its way to men’ s hearts till all evil would be rooted out by the inherent power of the truth. The rapidity with which the restoration work succeeded probably led to this idea; but it evidently was a delusion. The notion overlooked the setting of this millennial passage, as well as man’ s ability to reject any and all kinds of moral influences. The history of mankind for nearly sixty centuries is unmistakably against such a view.

4. Whatever the millennium may be, it precedes the final judgment. This is conceded by all. If the judgment occurs at Christ’ s coming (a fact taught by the Scriptures), the doctrine that he comes to inaugurate the millennium is of necessity false. Peter makes the “ coming of the day of God” the time when the heavens will be dissolved by fire and the elements melt with fervent heat. (2 Peter 3:12.) Paul says Christ will be revealed from heaven “ in flaming fire” to render vengeance upon the disobedient and be “ glo­rified in his saints.” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9.) The rewarding of both bad and good will be at the judgment. (2 Corinthians 5:10.) Jesus plainly teaches that both classes will be raised at the same time. (John 5:28-29.) These passages show clearly that the coming of Christ, the resurrection of both righteous and wicked, and the’ judgment will all occur after the millen­nium, which renders a thousand years reign of Christ on earth an impossibility.

Jesus divides “ all that are in their tombs” into two classes: those raised to life— eternal salvation— and those raised to judgment— condemnation. The following conclusions are evi­dent: If Jesus comes bejore the millennium, none can be raised bodily after it; for all are to be raised to be rewarded when he comes. Hence, the theory that only the wicked dead will then be raised is not true. If he comes after the millennium, none can be raised bodily before it, and the view that only the right­eous dead will then be raised is also untrue. In either case the premillennial view of this passage is false. This fact will be more fully developed as we examine the language of the text. 5. To know the true setting of this passage is necessary to its correct understanding. The symbols in 20: 1-9 do not reveal events that are to follow chronologically after those of 19: 19-21. These verses describe the casting of the beast and false prophet into the “ lake of fire” ; 20: 10 tells of Satan being cast into the same place— that is, it completes the story partly told in 19: 19-21 and must refer to the same time. The millennia! passage is a recapitulation of things described in preceding chapters with different symbols. Reviewing the same periods with changed scenes is common to this book.

The seven seals that closed with the end of the world stop with 11: 18. The vision of the pure woman (true church) in her struggles against the dragon, beast, and false prophet, under the emblems of pouring out bowls of wrath, covers practically the same time, and the same final end is shown in 16: 17-21. Next the destruction of the false church, rep­resented as a drunken harlot and a great city, is symbolically pictured in chapters 17 and 18, followed with a song of triumph by the redeemed. (19: 1-10.) In 19: 11-18 is told the means by which this overthrow of evil is to be accom­plished. Finally 19: 19-21 and 20: 10 describe this over­throw and bring us for the third time to the end of the world, for the “ lake of fire” in 20: 14 is defined as the “ second death.”

The evident purpose of 20: 1-10 is to give a brief review of Satan’ s overthrow from the time his power was restrained until banished in the lake of fire forever. This recapitulation is appropriate here because it was Satan who did and will furnish the beast and false prophets with the power by which they operate against the truth.* Christ’ s personal coming ends the career of these three enemies; this event is after, not before, the “ millennium.” THE BINDING OF SATANRev_20:1-3 Rev 20:1 —And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven,—Per­haps it is well to observe again that we are here dealing with a symbolic vision that appeared to John. As noted several times before, the vision and the thing it represents must be kept distinct. As in other visions an angel is the medium of revealing the scenes, which guarantees that true facts are represented.

Revelation 20:1 —having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.—“ Key” represents the angel’ s authority to open and close doors, but here must mean his right to force Satan to remain in his own place and be restrained from the unlimited use of his power which he had been exercising during the long period of papal usurpation. Being bound with a “ great chain” signi­fies this restraint. No reasonable person will contend that the words “ key,” “ abyss,” and “ chain” are to be understood lit­erally. All that is necessarily implied is that the followers of Christ would have such protection against Satan’ s power that they would be free to obey Christ, if they desired. Anything more than this would ignore man’ s responsibility for his conduct, and make God a respecter of persons. No doctrine that conflicts with these two principles can be true as long as man dwells in the flesh. Revelation 20:2 —And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,—In the vision John saw the binding actually take place, but the thing it represents was far in the future when he wrote. See notes on Revelation 4:1-2. He figuratively describes the dragon as the “ old serpent” which is doubtless an allusion to the serpent in Eden. Then he drops the figure and plainly states that the dragon represents Satan. Beginning with deceiving Eve in the garden, it has been his business to deceive man­kind ever since. His effort then was and ever afterward has been to discredit or pervert God’ s word— make people believe that God does not mean what he says, or means what he does not say.

Satan being a spirit, the only “ chain” that can effectively bind him— restrain or defeat him— is God’ s word. In what was the world’ s greatest battle between right and wrong, Jesus defeated the devil at every turn with “ it is written.” (Matthew 4.) When God’ s word has free course in directing human life, the individual can safely protect himself against any device of Satan. When mankind has the right to use that protection at will, Satan is “ bound” in the only way that is consistent with man’ s nature. Satan’ s binding does not mean the destruction of all evil; though under restraint, Satan still operates through his angels who pose as ministers of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15.) The duration of this binding is stated as a thousand years. Is this a symbolic or literal number? As usual expositors are disagreed. To apply the day-year theory would give the enormous amount of 365,000 years. This appears wholly out of proportion with other numbers in this book that seem to fit the theory. If to be taken literally, the exact beginning and ending of the period could not be fixed definitely.

With these difficulties to meet, it seems better to consider it a symbolic number. Other numbers such as 3, 7, 10, and 12 appear to carry a spiritual significance. In Ezekiel 39 we have a description of the overthrow of Gog, and verse 9 says the Israelites should make fires of their weapons for “ seven years.” Certainly this means the complete destruction of their im­plements of war, not that it would take seven literal years to burn them. Through Moses God threatened Israel with seven times more, or seven times, punishment if they per­sistently rebelled against him. (Leviticus 26:18 Leviticus 26:21 Leviticus 26:24 Leviticus 26:28.) Evidently this does not mean exactly seven times, for their sins required punishment far more times than seven. It means that they would be fully punished as their sins deserved. So the definite number— 1,000 years— is probably used for a long but indefinite period. “ Showing lovingkindness unto thousands” (Exodus 20:6) means showing it to all of the class mentioned; “ thousands of thousands” (Revelation 5:11) means a countless number.

So in this text the word “ thousand” most likely means an in­definite length of time, but long enough for the symbols to find complete fulfillment.

Revelation 20:3 —and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him,—In vision John saw the woman driven into the wilder­ness for 1,260 day-years (Revelation 12:1-6), yet that did not occur till several centuries later, when the apostate church was fully de­veloped. Shutting and sealing the abyss indicates the certainty of the influence of Satan’ s power being restrained. The true church apparently disappeared as one does who goes into a wilderness; but, though unseen as an organized body, it still existed in the hearts and lives of individual faithful saints. So Satan during the thousand years has his power restrained, yet he still has through his unseen agents and workers means for deceiving those who are willing. During the 1,260-year period he exercised a practically unlimited power through the papacy and the kingdom it controlled. The millennium— the period of his being bound— must of necessity begin after that power was broken; and, for the same reason, it must have begun when that power was broken.

Revelation 20:3 —that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thou­sand years should be finished.:—As the purpose of the bind­ing was to prevent Satan’s deceiving the nations, then the binding would consist in changing the situation which made the deception easily effective. During the papal supremacy the Bible, man’ s only real protection against the devil’ s power, was practically taken away from the people. With the Bible removed, it was no trouble for him to deceive the nations by superstition, false miracles, and pretended infallibility. When the Protestant Reformation broke the Roman religious yoke of bondage by giving the Bible back to the people with liberty to read and obey it without human dictation, Satan was bound in the fair meaning of the text. Through this right has come the privilege of restoring and maintaining apostolic congregations, which is a most fortunate and happy time for those who really desire to be pleasing to God. For emphasis the main thought is repeated.

The millennial period is not a time of absolute and universal righteousness upon earth but a time of such restraint of Satan’ s power that all may have the privilege to serve God as the Scriptures teach, if they so desire. It is a period in direct comparison with the previous one of supreme papal authority. With this view we must conclude that we are now in the millennium. When it will end we do not know. This position, at least, has the plausible advantage of harmonizing with plain facts of reli­gious history and leaves man free and responsible for his own conduct— a thing that must be true while men are in the flesh.

That this view may be clearly understood a brief review of the main changes in church history is here repeated. It required about 300 years for the church to pass through the pagan Roman persecutions and receive recognition from the Emperor Constantine. Something over 200 years more were necessary to develop the papacy— Paul’ s “ man of sin.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3.) This came through the slow process of cor­rupting divine truth with the “ precepts of men”; or, viewing it from another standpoint, exalting men to unscriptural positions until the bishop of Rome was declared the Universal Bishop of the church. This was followed by the 1,260 years of papal rule, after which began the millennium. Any true interpretation must harmonize with these well-known historical facts.

Revelation 20:3 —after this he must be loosed for a little time.—That is, after the millennium ends, Satan must be loosed, not permanently, but for a “ little time.” There is no way to determine how long the “ little time” may be, but it is the period that divides the millennium from the final judgment. It may be short in com­parison with the 1,000 years, or with the whole history of the church up to that time.

THE Rev_20:4-6 Revelation 20:4 —And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them:—In the vision John saw thrones and persons sitting upon them, and describes in the next statement who they were. The word “ judgment” is evidently used in the sense of rule which is the idea implied in the word “ thrones.” It means that those whom John saw were reigning in some sense. The particular sense will be discovered in the remainder of the paragraph. It is clear from the language that verses 7­10 logically followed verse 3 to complete the story begun with 19: 19. The narrative is interrupted at verse 3 and this para­graph is interposed to describe things that would transpire dur­ing the thousand years which had just been mentioned. It is an explanation of how Satan’ s binding, the first big event in his overthrow, would affect the church during the millennial period.

Both judge and rule carry the idea of authority to command, approve, or condone. One can reign in a secondary sense when he is authorized to state or enforce the laws of the actual ruler. In this sense the apostles rule under Christ as our king. He conferred upon them the right to express the conditions of par­don which he gave them— thus to remit and retain sin. (John 20:21-23.) In harmony with this is the reply of Jesus to Peter’ s question in Matthew 19:27-28. He said: “ Ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “ The regenera­tion” means the Christian dispensation— that is, the time when men can be regenerated or born again. The apostles had fol­lowed Jesus; hence, they were given the right to rule by his authority.

There can be no mistake about this, for in Luke 22:28-30, a parallel text, Jesus said he appointed them a kingdom “ that ye may eat and drink at my table in my king­dom.” This refers to the Lord’ s Supper and shows that the apostles were in the kingdom while they lived on earth. If so, then they sat upon the thrones and judged while on earth. But Jesus said they would do this while he was sitting upon the throne of his glory. This incidentally shows that Jesus began his reign on Pentecost, as taught in Hebrews 10:12, Cor. 15: 25, and disproves his supposed millennial reign on earth. There is also a figurative sense in which Christians may rule: either by influencing others to correct living, or to con­demn by implication the disobedient through faithfulness to God. Such is the teaching of Mat 5:16; Hebrews 11:7. Noth­ing is more certain than that the lives of men, both good and bad, continue to rule in the hearts and lives of others long after death. See Revelation 2:26-27 Revelation 14:13; Hebrews 11:7. It is a solemn thought to know that the final salvation or damnation of men can depend upon how their lives, as examples, have ruled over others.

Revelation 20:4 —and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand;—This tells who were sitting upon the thrones. The definite statement is that John saw “ souls”; no mention whatever of “ bodies.” Selecting the term “ souls” could not have been accidental, and certainly indicates that the resurrection in this passage is not that of bodies. This alone is fatal to the idea that Jesus will come personally at the beginning of the 1,000 years. By a figure of speech soul sometimes stands for the whole man, but in such passage a soul in the body— a living man— is clearly indicated. See Acts 2:41 Acts 27:37. The Greek word for soul (psyche) often means life, as the fol­lowing texts will show: Matthew 6:25 Matthew 10:25 Matthew 16:26-27.

The “ souls” John saw symbolically represented the lives of the classes which he immediately mentions. They reign with Christ because their lives are imitated by saints on earth who, like themselves, would die before becoming traitors to the faith, or by accepting false doctrines.

Those on the thrones are further described as “ souls” of those who had been “ beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God,” which means they had been killed because of their belief in Christ and refusal to deny him or God’ s word. Beheading, which was a common form of dispatching the condemned, probably stands for all kinds of martyrdom. It may be questioned whether the whole description here applies to martyrs only, or includes a second class of such as would not worship the beast and his image and refused to receive his “ mark.” The grammatical construction will allow either view; hence, neither one can be declared as absolutely cer­tain. It is immaterial, however, which is accepted; for in either case they were saints who distinguished themselves by enduring persecution or death for the church. Only the lives of servants of God who have distinguished themselves would fit the symbol of reigning spiritually for a thousand years.

Another distinguishing feature of these who are here said to reign is the fact that the thing which gave them their posi­tion is that they resisted the power and influence of the beast. They must have lived then before Satan was bound— that is, when the apostate church exercised supreme power. Their mil­lennial reign is put in direct contrast with the period in which they suffered. This is no mean proof that the millennium— time when Satan is bound— began when the papacy lost its supreme power. This is also proof of two important facts— namely, that we are now in the millennium and that Christ did not come at its beginning. On the “ mark” of the beast see notes on Revelation 13:16-17.

Revelation 20:4 —and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.— “ They lived” does not mean that souls were brought to life, for souls do not die in the literal meaning of death. Those who obey Christ can never die (John 5:25), but bodies of saints and sinners will die. Spiritually they continued to live in the sense that their work was vindicated and their names honored through those who perpetuated the same truth for which they suffered or died. Figuratively, that would be as though they had been raised and were reigning in person. This, as a fact, was true of the apostles and other martyrs long before the papal beast came into existence. This passage, however, speaks of a special class of martyrs that fought the corruptions of the apostate church.

We know that the apostles, though dead in body, do reign with Christ on earth now. Why not allow that those who were a later set of martyrs do the same?

It is also a fact that living Christians whose lives are suffi­ciently noted reign, which, of course, is with Christ. So teaches Paul in Romans 5:17; 1 Corinthians 4:8. Such lives cannot be with­out influence after death. This is the direct promise of Heb 11:4.

Revelation 20:5 —The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished.—“ Lived not until the thousand years should be finished” implies that they would live after that time. “ Lived not” evidently is in contrast with “ they lived” (verse 4), which, in the latter part of verse 5, is called “ the first resurrection.” An important question here is this: Will the living again of the “ rest” (an implied second resurrection) come immediately after the thousand years end or some time later? It must be remembered that a comparatively short period, called a “ little time” (verse 3), will intervene between the thousand years and the judgment. In this period Satan will be “ loosed,” which means that wickedness will again prevail and all his evil forces will be marshaled for the last struggle against the church. The vital point that must be considered is, will the second resurrection occur at the beginning of the “ little time” or at its close? This cannot be ignored in any fair interpreta­tion of this millennial passage.

There is probably no text in Revelation about which com­mentators are more hopelessly disagreed than this verse. Only four views seem to have enough plausibility to merit con­sideration. They are: (1) That it refers to the bodily resurrection of all the wicked dead at the end of the thousand years, or, maybe, at the end of the “ little time.” The advo­cates of this theory do not seem very definite on the exact time. (2) That the word “ rest” means the remainder of the same class— that it includes all the righteous dead except the martyrs and others distinguished for service to God. (3) That it refers to the noted persecutors of saints— such as Nero— who will figuratively be raised in the lives of their imitators during the “ little time.” (4) That it refers to all the dead— both good and bad— who will be raised bodily at the judgment.

The first theory is a premillennial view. The decisive fact that proves it wrong is that Jesus himself places the bodily resurrection of both saint and sinner at the same time. (John 5:28-29.) Until this passage is proved false, that point is settled.

If the second theory means that the inconspicuous righteous dead will be raised at the end of the millennium, it is perti­nent to ask for a reason. If the passage has noted saints reign­ing during the millennium when Satan is bound, it would hardly be consistent to represent inconspicuous saints as reigning during the “ little time” while Satan is loose. If such saints are to be raised at the judgment, then the theory is true so far as the resurrection of the righteous dead are concerned. But it does not express all the truth on the question, for all the dead— righteous and wicked— will be raised then.

Regarding the third theory, it may be remarked that it would be no violation of either facts or consistency to represent noted church persecutors as being figuratively raised in the lives of those who imitate them in wickedness in the “ little time.” How­ever, this would forbid the resurrection to be understood as that of the body. It would be the “ souls” of the wicked, similar to the “ souls” of the martyrs in verse 4, and, therefore, obviate any charge of logical inconsistency.

An apparent objection to the fourth theory is that it vio­lates the law of consistency by making the “ first” resurrec­tion figurative and the “ second” (which is implied) literal. It is enough to reply that if verse 6, which mentions first resur­rection, refers to the body, it also mentions second death which refers to the soul. But there is no unvarying law that pre­vents words being used in a figurative and literal sense in the same passage. Usually they should be given the same sense, but plain facts may require a different sense. Jesus uses “ born” in John 3:6 in both a literal and figurative sense. In John 5:24-25 “ life” and “ live” unquestionably imply a spir­itual resurrection, while the language in John 5:28-29 just as clearly means a literal one.

There is, then, really no incon­sistency in saying that the “ first” resurrection is a moral, spir­itual, or figurative one and the “ second” (implied) is a literal one. Verses 11-15 of this chapter are a vivid description of a literal resurrection of all classes at the judgment. This is at least strong presumptive proof that the fourth view is correct. It is consistent with words of Jesus and probably the true meaning.

To make the first resurrection a literal one involves the following insuperable difficulties, based upon Jesus’ words in John 5 that all will be raised at the same time: If Jesus comes before the millennium, all the righteous and wicked will be raised then; hence, there can be no wicked left to be raised at the end of the millennium. If he comes after the millenium, then there will be no righteous dead raised at its beginning. If he comes after the “ little time”— that is, at the judgment, then there will be none of either class raised either at the be­ginning or end of the millennium. In either case the premillen­nial theory is bound to be false. That Christ’ s personal com­ing will be at the judgment is the plain teaching of 2 Thessalonians 1:7. If the first and second resurrections come at the be­ginning and end Of the millennium, and are to be literal resur­rections of the body, then there will be three literal resurrec­tions unless there should be none at the judgment. To deny a literal resurrection of the body at the judgment conflicts with verse 13 of this chapter, for there can be no question about what it teaches. Revelation 20:5 —This is the first resurrection.—That is, of those mentioned in verse 4, not the “ rest” of verse 5. Revelation 20:6 —Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur­rection: over these the second death hath no power;—Those who faithfully contended against the beast, false prophet, and all wicked doctrines till death certainly were entitled to tine salvation Jesus promised. (Matthew 24:13.) They not only reign during the millennium, but are made sure against being hurt by the second death. The members of the church at Smyrna were urged not to fear what the devil would do to them, and promised that if they were faithful unto death they would “ not be hurt of the second death.” (2: 10, 11.) The reason for that is that they are in a state where Satan’ s power can never reach them. If raised bodily and reigning personally, as the literal kingdom theory demands, he could reach them unless their ability to sin has been removed. If so, then the devil could not deceive them when loosed for a season, as verse 8 says he will do.

Revelation 20:6 —but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.—Those here who are guar­anteed freedom from the second death not only resisted false teachings “ unto death,” but were faithful worshipers of God. Hence, figuratively they are represented as reigning and also officiating in the services of God— they are kings and priests. Peter declares that saints are “ an elect race, a royal priest­hood, a holy nation.” (1 Peter 2:9.) A royal— kingly— priest­hood agrees exactly with John’ s description in this book. (1: 6.) The idea is a kingdom of priests. Since Peter and John both teach that Jesus had already made that kingdom, then we know that the reign of “ souls” in the millennium is through those on earth who imitate their fidelity. Any inter­pretation that conflicts with John’ s own words about the kingdom must be wrong. John the Baptist is called Elijah. (Matthew 11:12-14.) He came “ in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17)— another way of saying that Elijah was raised from the dead in the person of John. Ezekiel represented the restoration of the Jews from Babylon to their own land as a coming “ out of your graves.” (Ezekiel 37:12-14.) Those who are old may be “ born again,” and those naturally alive may die, be buried, and raised without chang­ing their physical state. (Colossians 2:12.) Who can deny the metaphysical use of terms, especially in a book filled with symbols ?

SATAN AND Revelation 20:7-10 Revelation 20:7 —And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,—The view here advocated is that the binding of Satan means the return to the people the right to read and obey the Bible without human dictation; his loosing, then, would be his regaining in some way the power to prevent or hinder such voluntary obedience.

Revelation 20:8 —and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.—Though we do not know how or exactly what means he will use, yet it is not improbable that increasing infidelity, superstition, and idolatry will be main contributing factors. Whatever is involved in his loosing, it is safe to say that wickedness will prevail as never before. In this “ little time” will occur the events recorded in 19: 17-21 and 20: 7-10; it will be Satan’s last struggle against the church in which not only he but his chief aides— beast and false prophet— will be overcome and banished to the lake of fire. (19: 20; 20: 10.) This victory will not be gained by a carnal sword, but by the word that proceeds from the Lord’ s mouth. (19: 15.) These enemies will be slain and the war against the church ended by the brightness of the Lord’ s coming and the breath of his mouth (2 Thessalonians 2:8) as suddenly as the 185,000 in the Assyrian army were slain by an angel of the Lord. (2 Kings 19:35.) In the time preceding the thousand years Satan deceived the nations largely through false religious doctrines and practice, virtually suppressing the Bible by demanding the acceptance of papal interpretations. That similar means will be used to deceive after the thousand years is certainly probable. The existence of nations to be deceived after the millennium is proof that the nature of mankind then will be the same as now, and harmonizes with the question, “ When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8.) “ In the four corners” means that the nations will be scattered over the whole earth as now. This is further indicated by the fact that the number shall be “ as the sand of the sea.”

According to the doctrines of the premillennial coming of Christ, nations to be deceived by Satan after being loosed presents insolvable problems. The theory calls for the ban­ishment of the beast and false prophet and the death of all the wicked (Revelation 19:19-21) at Christ’ s coming; the wicked dead to remain unraised (Revelation 20:5); the righteous dead to be raised and with the righteous living all to receive spiritual, incor­ruptible, and immortal bodies. (1 Corinthians 15:44 1 Corinthians 15:54.) The theory requires all these resurrections to be of the body. The following difficulties are apparent for which no solution can be offered other than pure guesses: Will children be born during the thousand years ? If so, will they inherit incorruptible and immortal bodies from their parents? If so, how can beings with such bodies be deceived by Satan? If they can be deceived with such bodies, how can they be safe during the millennium when many of his devices are recorded in the Bible?

Can they receive corruptible and mortal bodies from parents with incorruptible bodies, without a fundamental law— seed bearing after its kind— being violated? Will their birth of parents put them in the kingdom? If not, how will they get in? If by obedience to the gospel, that is no im­provement on the church. It is hard to see how Satan when loosed can deceive people with incorruptible and immortal bodies. The wicked dead for whom the theory provides no resur­rection till Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years are already deceived, having lived and died in his service. So they cannot be the nations he will deceive. It is a significant fact that the advocates of a literal reign of Christ on earth have no solution but guesses for these problems. Nothing is satisfactory but to make the millennial reign figurative, and the coming of Christ and the bodily resurrection of the dead at the judgment.

On Gog and Magog see notes on Revelation 16:14-16. The reference here in verse 8 and in Revelation 19:17-18 are both made in allusion to Ezekiel 39:11-18 and show that this paragraph is parallel with Revelation 19:17-18; hence, it follows that Revelation 19:17-21 and Revelation 20:7-10 contain a complete story of the defeat of the enemies of the church that will occur after the millennium. Read the passages in connection, omitting Revelation 20:1-6, and this fact will appear evident.

Revelation 20:9 —And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and com­passed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:— The figure here is that of contending armies. Satan’ s forces are represented as coming from all directions to besiege the beloved city. The imagery is borrowed from Israel’ s encamp­ments, systematically planned for defense and convenience. Divested of all figures, the thought is that wicked powers will make a general attack on the church, under the influence of Satan. To make the final struggle a carnal battle against literal Jerusalem is to miss the symbolic teaching of the pas­sage. Spiritual Jerusalem— the true church— will be scattered over the earth just as are forces of evil, and the conflict will rage everywhere.

Revelation 20:9 —and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them.—I’ ire has been a common instrument when God visited capital punishment on incorrigible sinners. Note the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19:24); Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-3); Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16:35). Christ will come “ in flaming fire” and the earth shall be burned up in the day of the Lord’ s wrath. No emblem could more appropriately indicate the sudden and complete overthrow of Satan and his servants than to say fire came down from heaven and devoured them. The defeat of the same enemies referred to in Revelation 19:21 is said to be accomplished by the sword “ which came forth out of his mouth.” The wicked at the judgment are to depart “ into eternal fire.” Symbols must be construed in harmony with plain truths literally stated.

Revelation 20:10 —And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet;—Jesus said the fire was prepared for “ the devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41.) In vision John had seen the beast and false prophet cast in this lake; now he sees the devil cast in with them. This is another proof that this para­graph is a completion of the story in Revelation 19:19-21.

Revelation 20:10 —and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.—This means endless duration, and agrees with the plain statements of Jesus in Matthew 25:46 and Mark 9:48-49. Whether the “ fire” is to be construed literally or figuratively is immaterial; the lesson taught is intense and endless punishment. No more expressive emblem could have been used. THE Revelation 20:11-15 Revelation 20:11 —And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it,—In this paragraph John describes the great judgment scene, closing with the final disposition to be made of the wicked. The word “ throne” means authority to exercise power of some kind. It may indicate either reign or judg­ment; here the latter is certainly indicated. This is the same throne mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 25:31 in describing the final judgment; it is there called the “ throne of his glory.” From the language there we know it will be Jesus himself who will sit upon the judgment throne. It is called the judgment seat of God in Romans 14:10, and the judgment seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:10. This is not a contradiction, for God and Christ are one in the purpose of saving men. Then the Father hath committed judgment to the Son (John 5:22), and Christ’ s judgment is, therefore, the judgment of the Father also.

Revelation 20:11 —rom whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.—The disappearing of the heaven and the earth is what John saw in the picture; and their disappearance was final. Whether this is to be under­stood symbolically to indicate a complete change of religious systems or the final change in the material world, as described in 2 Peter 3:7 2 Peter 3:10-12, is an immaterial matter; for the judg­ment will bring a radical change in both. The old system in both will disappear forever— their purposes will have been accomplished.

Revelation 20:12 —And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne;—Jesus said there would be gathered before him all nations. In the emblem John sees the scenes enacted as predicted. “ The great and the small” is a general expres­sion that includes all, both evil and good. This is in perfect agreement with plain statements in nonfigurative language. Je­sus said “ all nations” would appear before his throne; Paul says we shall “ all” stand before the judgment seat; and that “ each one” may receive the things done in the body. This makes it universal.

Revelation 20:12 —and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:—Both Old and New Testaments use the figure of man’ s name and deeds being recorded in a book. The following passages give clear proof of that fact: Exodus 32:32; Malachi 3:16; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5 Revelation 13:8 Revelation 18:8 Revelation 21:27. The thought is that God’ s infinite memory will enable him to reward properly both bad and good just as if a written record had been kept. His knowledge of men’ s acts is just as accurate as a perfect writing. Some commentators inter­pret the “ books” to mean the record God keeps of men’ s con­duct, and the “ books of life” to be the roll or record of the names of the righteous. But since we are to be judged by the words of Jesus (John 12:48), it seems more probable that one of the books, at least, should represent the Bible which contains the law by which mankind shall be judged.

The other two could be the record of man’ s deeds and a register of the names of the saved. Whatever distinction we make in the application of the books, it is certain that men are to be judged in harmony with God’ s law and according to their deeds. A failure to have our names on God’ s record, or to have them rubbed out because of our sins, will be fatal to us. That is the important thing to remember.

Revelation 20:12 —and the dead were judged out of the things which vrere written in the books, according to their works.—This is a plain statement of what is already implied in the text. The “ dead” is an unlimited term that means all the dead, unless the context or language limits it to some special class of the dead. The language here has no such limitation, but on the other hand the implied contrast between the saved and lost runs through the entire paragraph. Why say “ according to their works” if only the wicked dead were in view? In that case it would have been necessary only to say that the dead were raised to be punished. Revelation 20:13 —And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them:—The Bible definitely shows that it is the body that dies, in the common use of the word die; death can be affirmed of the soul or spirit only in a moral or figurative sense. That leaves the soul alive in the natural sense of the term “ live.” James says “ the body apart from the spirit is dead” (James 2:26), but no inspired writer anywhere says the spirit apart from the body is dead. Luke 16:22-25 and Acts 2:27 are final proofs that the souls in the Hadean world are not dead in the sense that the body is dead. Since the judgment is the door through which the final state is entered, of course a resurrection must precede. Hence, Hades must give up all souls, and the tombs be opened for the resurrection of bodies. But as the sea has claimed a large share of dead bodies, it must give up those in it.

The resurrection must be complete and final. The language here forces the word “ sea” to have its literal meaning; the word “ earth” is implied in the resurrection of those buried in tombs.

Revelation 20:13 —and they were judged every man according to their works, —Once more the universal nature of the resurrection is indi­cated by the expression “ every man.” Doubtless repeated for emphasis. Revelation 20:14 —And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.—The language means that both death and Hades will cease to exist at the judgment. The abolishment of death will render it impos­sible to have dead bodies for tombs in either earth or sea. If there will be no bodies for the tombs, there will be no dis­embodied spirits for Hades. No longer needed, naturally they will cease to exist. Personified, as if human beings, their final end is represented as in the lake of fire, called the second death. This is a forceful way of saying they are eternally banished, and the saved will no longer have reason to fear what does not exist.

Revelation 20:15 —And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.—Returning to the destiny of men, John says anyone not written in God’ s book will be cast into the lake of fire. While this is the last act in the career of the wicked, the implication is evident that those whose names are in the book of life will escape the second death. This event, of course, is still future, yet John said “ was” cast into the lake of fire. As John was permitted to see the judgment in a pictorial representation, the whole matter appeared done; hence, symbolically it was finished, but in reality was then, and yet is, future. This judgment scene pictures what Jesus revealed would take place when he comes again. (Matthew 25:31-46.)

At this point the curtain drops upon the earthly drama in which mankind has played its several parts. The acts will not be repeated; the stage and all furnishings will give place to that which will be suitable to the eternal nature of man in his final abode. The curtain will never rise again upon the lost; their doom is left to our imagination from the pictures already drawn. Not so with the redeemed; for with the most entrancing visions and the sweetest and most alluring promises John lays before his readers Revelation’ s last words concerning the mansions Jesus has gone to prepare for his own. Revelation Chapter XX by B.W. Johnson The Millennium Summary—Satan Bound for a Thousand Years. Thrones and Saints Reigning with Christ. The First Resurrection. Satan Loosed at the End of a Thousand Years. The Gathering of Gog and Magog and of the Nations. Their Attack Upon the Saints.

Their Destruction. The Devil Cast into the Lake of Fire. The Great Judgment.After the mighty conflict, the crisis of the fate of the world, the apostle beholds the results of the glorious victory. Spiritual Babylon and the beast, the Papacy and its secular allies, overwhelmed in the battle of Armageddon, have disappeared from earthly history. The old serpent, the dragon, the devil, who under so many forms, as pagan Rome, as the imperial power, as the kings of the earth, has persecuted the Church, yet exists, but his power is broken, and he is now to meet the results of his disastrous failure. Revelation 20:1-3. And I saw an angel come down from heaven with a chain, and the key of the abyss. The abyss is named in Revelation 9:1 Revelation 9:11; in Revelation 11:7, and Revelation 17:8. It is the present abode of Satan and his evil spirits. The things seen by John are symbolical. They imply that in some way the power of Satan shall be virtually destroyed upon the earth. Revelation 20:2. He laid hold on the dragon… and bound him a thousand years. The chain I suppose to be the Word of God. At this period of the triumph of righteousness the gospel takes such hold of the hearts of men that Satan loses his powers over them. We can easily see how this is accomplished by what takes place under our own eyes. A man may be drunken and lawless, but if he repents under the influence of the gospel he ceases to serve Satan. The devil loses his power over that man. When that period shall come for which the saints in all ages have wistfully looked, when the laws of God shall be written upon every heart, then Satan, bound with a chain, the chain of truth, shall be deprived of influence on the earth. Revelation 20:3. And cast him into the abyss. During this millennial period the chained enemy of man is cast into a prison house, but not the lake of fire. Had he gone there he should never more return. He shall go there as his ultimate fate (see verse 10), but after the thousand years, he is to return to the earth for a little season, and until the final effort of his long struggle against God he shall be confined in the abyss, from whence there is the possibility of escape, instead of being cast into the lake of fire, which is an eternal doom. In the bottomless pit the great deceiver shall remain till the thousand years are ended, when for a little season he shall regain his power. Revelation 20:4-6. And I saw thrones and they that sat upon them. These thrones are symbols of rule. It implies that they who sit on them shall have sway. And judgment was given to them. They shall exercise a moral judgment over humanity. I saw the souls of them. Of the martyrs.

Note that it is the souls that he observes. And they lived and reigned with Christ. John saw that those who sat on the thrones reigned with Christ a thousand years. “ In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow into it.” Isaiah 2:2. Will Christ come visibly to reign in person as an earthly monarch? The personal coming of the Savior is placed by all the sacred writers as the last event before the great judgment day. This great epoch is placed after the millennial period, and also after the overthrow of Satan in his last conflict. If the Savior, then, during the millennial period, is not visibly present upon the earth, how can he reign? Just as he reigns over each saint now.

Those who know the Lord accept him as king, but in this period “ the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters do the channels of the sea.” All men shall hear and obey the gospel, and all shall submit to the beneficent sceptre of Christ. Souls of them that had been beheaded. These are they “ who lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” Is this a literal resurrection from the grave? I answer decidedly in the negative. (1) The apostle does not say one word about the resurrection of the bodies of the martyrs, nor does he say that he saw the martyrs themselves. He is particular to say that he saw the souls or spirits of the martyrs living and reigning with Christ. (2) They had been put to death in the body, and their souls were unseen upon the earth, but there is no intimation in Scripture that their souls had ever ceased to exist. They were alive with Christ, but now they live in some sense different from that existence which they had before.

It cannot mean that their souls came to life, for they had never ceased to have existence. (3) What, then, does the affirmation mean? That as Christ reigns upon the earth during the millennial period by his truth, so the spirit of the martyrs is revived and lives in the Church.

The souls of the martyrs live because the Church is composed of those who love Christ better than goods or liberty or life. This glorious reign of Christ pervades the earth because the souls of the martyrs are resurrected and live in all who name the name of Christ, and who are filled with the spirit of ancient martyrs. (4) If any should think such an interpretation of symbolical language far fetched, let him compare Scripture. This explanation is not forced nor the interpretation of the language unusual. It was predicted by the prophets that Elias must come again before the Messiah. He did come in spirit and power, not in person, but as the stern, fearless, upright reformer of the wilderness of Jordan. In the same sense Ezekiel speaks (Ezekiel 37:12-14) of the return of the captive Jews to their own land: “I will open your graves, oh my people, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” When Martin Luther was engaged in deadly struggle with the Papacy, Pope Adrian sent a brief to the German Diet at Nuremburg, which contained these words: “The heretics Huss and Jerome are now alive again in the person of Martin Luther.” A thousand years.

I am not prepared to say that this blessed period shall be limited to a thousand years, but am rather disposed to believe that a thousand years, a round period of great duration, is chosen to show to the longing student of the prophets that there shall be a long, long period of righteousness upon the same earth that has been reddened with blood, filled with crime, and made foul by sin. The characteristics of this golden period of the human race are clearly pointed out by the prophets. Revelation 20:5. But the rest of the dead lived not. If “ the souls of the martyrs” live again spiritually and morally upon the earth in the millennial period, as I have explained, then this statement is to be explained in harmony. The rest of the dead lived not until the end of the thousand years. The sublime faith of the martyrs pervades the saints during this period, and other men, wicked or less noble, sleep in silence, unseen and unknown, without influence upon the earth, until the millennial period is ended. They have no part of the first resurrection, of the spirits of the martyrs. Revelation 20:6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In this great moral and spiritual resurrection that brings in the Millennium. On such the second death hath no power. The second death is the sad doom of eternal death. See verse 14. Revelation 20:7-10. When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed. The earth shall have its golden age but it shall not last forever. Satan shall, when many ages have rolled away, be loosed for a little season. From some cause, that is wrapped in the darkness of the future, righteousness shall wane; wickedness shall revive; the great adversary shall in part regain his influence over our race. But it is cheering to know that his triumph will be short. He shall be loosed only “ for a little season.” Revelation 20:8. And shall go out to deceive the nations. Again he shall marshal the hosts of sin and renew his old conflict. The four quarters of the earth. From the whole earth. Gog and Magog. See Genesis 10:2 and Ezekiel 38:2. Josephus says that Magog represented the Scythians, a great race spread over the country now occupied by Southern Russia. Revelation 20:9. And they went up over the breadth of the earth. They spread over it. Compassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Assailed the true Church and sought to destroy it. How the Church shall be assailed cannot now be told, but there will be a determined attempt to extirpate it.

The beloved city, the spiritual Jerusalem, the Church, shall be surrounded, but in the day of her extremity the Lord will hear her cry for help. Fire from heaven will descend on her enemies. Christ shall come. “ As the lightning flashes from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” Then shall the Lord consume the wicked “ with the spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming.” “ The day of the Lord shall come, when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and all its works shall be burned up.” Fire came down from God and consumed them. For a comment on this read 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. They shall come in flaming fire to destroy his enemies. The time will have come for the arm of the Lord to be revealed in might. Revelation 20:10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire. This is Satan’s last battle. His time has come. The great deceiver is not cast into the bottomless pit now. The lake of fire is opened, and we discover there the beast and the false prophet, but they have gone whence none ever return. There the devil is cast in and locked up to abide with his allies in wickedness forever. Revelation 20:11-15. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it. This is one more act in the great drama. The throne of judgment is set. The nations, living as well as dead, are called to stand before God. The white throne indicates purity, triumph, and glory. It is the color of the light. From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. See Revelation 21:1. There is to be a new heaven and earth. The old ones are destroyed to be reconstructed. Revelation 20:12. And I saw the dead, small and great. As we learn from the next verse the dead of every land, of earth, and sea and hades deliver their dead and all come to judgment. The books are opened. The records that contain all the deeds of men. Another book. The book of life in which the names of the saints are recorded. From these books all are judged according to their works. Revelation 20:13. The sea. A symbol of the lost dead of whom no man knoweth. Death and Hades. The unseen world which hides from our view those who have departed from earth. The thought of the verse is that all the dead shall be judged. Revelation 20:14. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. After this judgment day “ death and hades” also, death and the unseen land of the dead, disappear forever. This is the significance of being cast into the lake of fire, the eternal prison house. Until the end of the Millennium and the final judgment men shall die, but after the grand epoch in the history of the Universe, there shall be no more death. The last enemy, death, shall be destroyed. Then shall come to pass the saying that is written, “ O! death, where is thy sting? O! grave, where is thy victory?” Revelation 20:15. And whosoever was not found written… was cast into the lake of fire. Into the same lake of fire, that prison house to which have gone the false prophet and the beast, to which has been consigned the dragon, “ that old serpent the devil,” the “ eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” There shall also be banished those whose “ names are not written in the book of life.” This is the second death. As far as Inspiration throws its light upon the sad lot of those consigned to that “ lake of fire,” theirs is an eternal fate. When some one has shown that doors of this final prison of the Universe have opened to permit the escape of those who have been consigned to its keeping, then we may perhaps indulge some hope that its prisoners will, in the lapse of endless years, escape from their sad environment.

Verse 1 SECTION VIIRevelation Chapter Twenty The interpretation of this chapter is largely determined by the view already taken of the preceding chapters. After the introductory letters to the seven churches, the vision of the final judgment has already appeared six times in the preceding chapters: In the relation of the seals (Revelation 6:12-17). In the relation of the trumpets, the judgment of the world city (Revelation 11:14-19). In the harvest of the earth (Revelation 14:14-20). At the pouring out of the vials of wrath (Revelation 16:12-20). In the judgment of the harlot (Revelation 18:21-24). In the judgment of the scarlet beast (Revelation 19:19-21). From this, it should naturally be expected that the seventh and final presentation of the judgment should describe the overthrow of the devil himself; and that is exactly what is depicted in this chapter (Revelation 20:7-15). There is only one judgment day visible in the entire Bible; and these seven views of it are all descriptive of one and the same event. Each of the seven sections of this prophecy (classified according to the judgment scenes) is a recapitulation in the chronological sense, all of the prophecies principally relating to the time between the two Advents of Christ. Beginning back in Revelation 12:1, the three great enemies of Christ were introduced in successive visions: (1) the dragon, identified as Satan himself; (2) the sea-beast with seven heads and ten horns, identified as persecuting government; and (3) the land-beast, later identified as the harlot, and still later as the false prophet, identifiable throughout as false religion, first as paganism, then as apostate Christianity and the derivatives of it. Significantly, in this prophecy, all three of these great enemies are vanquished in reverse order: the harlot (Revelation 18), the sea-beast (in his final form of the “ten kings,” the eighth head) (Revelation 19), and the devil (Revelation 20). All of these enemies perish in the lake of fire simultaneously. And this is a good place to pay some particular attention to the “lake of fire.” “THE LAKE OF FIRE” Like practically everything else in Revelation, this is not literal, because the same terror is envisioned as a pool, or river of blood two hundred miles long (Revelation 14:20), the total silence and inactivity of being found “no more at all” (Revelation 18:21-24), and the innumerable dead bodies of the kings, captains, mighty men, small and great, etc., with the birds gorging themselves upon their flesh, as well as upon the flesh of animals (horses)! None of these figures is literal; yet, strangely enough, the “lake of fire” seems generally to be construed as a literal reality. Of course, it could be! But, as we have pointed out before in this series, the figures which are used to describe this reality, whatever it is, do not fit neatly into any patent description of it. Christ called it an “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12 Matthew 22:13 Matthew 15:30), “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “hell, the unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:44), “hell, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). In this latter reference, Jesus seems to have referred to the valley of Hinnom, the New Testament Gehenna, which was the garbage dump of Jerusalem. It is clear enough that no imaginable visualization can include all these figures. Therefore, we do not think it is profitable to offer any description of this terrible place of eternal punishment. The thought that overwhelms us is, “How utterly unspeakable and absolutely terrible must be a punishment which requires such metaphors to represent it!” Recognizing that this language does indeed seem to be metaphorical affords no relief. The reality is always greater than the symbol of it! This chapter describes the overthrow of Satan in hell; but the harlot is not first destroyed, then the beast, then the devil; they all continue alive and operative until the last and all go down together. Nevertheless, this chapter relates particularly to Satan’s overthrow and to the nature and extent of his opposition to God throughout the whole Christian period. It is not a description of the church’s fortunes on earth, except as they are related to the overthrow of the devil. The “thousand years” mentioned six times in Revelation 20:1-7 relate to the limitations which God imposed upon Satan throughout the Christian age and have no reference at all to the so-called “millennium” of popular fancy. Due to the widespread false theories regarding this, we have included here a special study of it. THE . The history of the doctrine. The first millennarians were the heretics who troubled the church of Thessalonica with their theory that “the day of the Lord is just at hand” (2 Thessalonians 2:2); and the canonical 2Thessalonians was dispatched by the apostle Paul for the express purpose of refuting them. During the first three centuries of the Christian era, the theory recurred in various forms a number of times. Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and other notables were premillennarians of varying degrees. Some of their speculations would put modern millennialists to shame: The elders that saw John, the disciple of the Lord, state that they heard him say how the Lord used to teach in regard to those times (the millennium) and say: The days will come when vines shall grow, each having ten thousand branches, and each branch ten thousand twigs, and each twig ten thousand shoots, and each shoot ten thousand clusters, and in every cluster ten thousand grapes; and every grape would yield twenty-five meters of wine![1]As is so often true, one extreme begets another, and the wild millennial theories of the Ante-Nicene period were destroyed in the “spiritualized” speculations of Augustine and Origen. Origen invented the doctrine of purgatory, and Augustine came up with original sin and total hereditary depravity. Origen was of the third century and Augustine of the fourth; and, after the fourth century, premillennarianism became a dormant heresy, dormant, but not dead. It sprang to life again in the 19th century, due to: (1) a revival of interest in studying the Scriptures; (2) the marvelous scientific advancements; and (3) the special activity of Satan which always appears with renewed preaching of the truth. This was the period that saw the epochal work of Stone, Kelly, Smith, Campbell, Scott, and many others. By the year 1843, the premillennarian prophet William Miller had over one million followers at a time when the total population of North America was only 16,000,000. He announced the end of the world in 1831, which was followed by an unusual meteorite shower on November 13,1833. That display of “the falling stars” confirmed the faith of many in Miller, as did also a comet in 1844. After several recalculations, he finally set the date of the End for October 23,1844. Incredible numbers of people disposed of all earthly possessions and streamed out of Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities to the countryside to see the great event. Some wore white ascension robes; and one prominent Philadelphian in a white robe calmly stepped out of a third-story window to fly to heaven. Some tried to make it from high bridges. In Worcester, Massachusetts, a respectable citizen wearing turkey wings tried to make it from the top of an elm tree. Thousands crawled around on their knees with others on their backs in imitation of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on an ass! When the sun rose with the world still intact, Miller’s followers, with their robes damp and dirty, made their sorrowful return to homes and businesses, if fortunate enough to have either left. Old, weary, and tired, Miller checked and rechecked his calculations for several years and then died still wondering. It does seem that such a disaster would have given other “prophets” pause; but Uriah Smith, Charles T. Russell, and “Judge” Rutherford took up where Miller left off. The world would come to an end every few years. Sensational leaflets announcing that “millions now living will never die” were placed in every home in the United States announcing the end of the world in 1914, later “revised” to 1919.

Finally, Rutherford decided that “it did end”! in 1914. His followers, Jehovah’s Witnesses, still preach that it did![2]II. Complexity of the doctrine. Two separate systems of millennarianism are pre-millennarianism and post-millennarianism, as related to the coming of Christ. The “pre’s” believe Christ will come before the millennium, and the “post’s” believe the millennium will occur first. The “pre” type is more common.

Here is an incomplete summary of what is taught:

1. At the start of the millennium, Christ will literally return to earth and personally take charge of all things for literally one thousand years.
2. He will reign from Jerusalem on the literal throne of David.
3. The righteous dead shall be raised with immortal bodies to help the Lord reign over people with normal bodies.
4. The Lord will personally convert the whole world, who, though they reject the gospel, will receive him.
5. After 1,000 years, the Lord will suddenly turn the devil loose, and the Great Tribulation will follow.
6. The righteous will be caught up (the Rapture) to escape all this.
7. There will be a series of judgments ranging from two to seven, depending on the form of the theory believed.
8. During the Great Tribulation, Enoch and Elijah, who never died, will return to earth, preach Christ, suffer martyrdom, and then be raised from the dead and go on preaching!
9. The Jews will all be converted and rally around Christ in Jerusalem. Rejecting the gospel, they will nevertheless accept Christ!
10. The church becomes a step-child, or a concubine, in all millennially related speculations. It will be totally swallowed up in the glories of the millennium.
11. Resurrections are as plentiful as judgments, depending on the shade of the heresy advocated.
12. Some even assert that the wicked dead will rise and be given a second chance to accept Christ. These are only a few of the “stock in trade” speculations of millennarians, and are merely typical. In all probability, this summary does not accurately represent the views of any particular brand of it. III. Present status of the heresy. Some form of this speculation is today the accepted doctrine of countless thousands. It is not confined to denominational groups, but cuts across all party lines and labels. Whole congregations of many Protestant churches have been swallowed by it. The widespread de-emphasis of the importance of Christ’s church stems, in part, from this heresy. Many books and study systems, and even some Bibles (notably, Scofield) and countless preachers are busy spreading this false doctrine. Some churches have lost all denominational identity, except that of the millennial label. The error is widespread, active, aggressive, and endemic. IV. Doctrinal refutation. As Milligan wrote, “Millennialism is liable to sundry very grave objections, some of which seem to me to be wholly unanswerable."[3] “This whole scheme is in my judgment, and not in mine only, but in that of the vast majority of believing Bible students of all the ages, entirely untenable.[4] “All of the creeds of the Christian church, ancient or modern, Catholic or Protestant, are amillennarian (non-millennarian). Chiliasm has not found recognition in any one of them."[5] What are the objections? Objections:
13. It is based upon a literalism of Rev 20:1-7, a passage which should be interpreted symbolically. It is ridiculous to suppose that the devil could be caught and tied with a literal chain and imprisoned in a pit with no bottom in it!
14. The literal return of Christ to earth could not add anything to him who already has “all authority” in heaven and upon earth (Matthew 28:18-20). Christ is already seated on the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1); bringing him back to earth and placing him in a literal throne in Jerusalem would be more than the equivalent of demoting a five-star general to the grade of private.
15. The physical and liberal return of Christ to earth would cancel and nullify all the benefits of his ascension. He said, “It is expedient for you that I go away; for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you” (John 16:7). The Holy Spirit could not operate if Christ were literally on earth. His return would mean the end of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
16. His physical, literal return would cancel and deny his office as the holy high priest of our sacred religion. “Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all” (Hebrews 8:4).
17. When Christ comes again, he will give the kingdom back to the Father (1 Corinthians 15:22-24). The Second Advent will be the occasion when Christ ends his reign, not when he begins it.
18. Christ is now reigning on David’s throne (Acts 2:30-31). The only possible objection to this is that it places David’s throne in heaven; but that is exactly where the Old Testament says it would be (Psalms 89:35-37 KJV).
19. The whole system belittles the church, a view flatly contradicted by Ephesians 3:21; Acts 20:28, etc.
20. It denies the power of the gospel. The gospel cannot save people, especially the Jews, but Christ can! When Christ comes, it will not be to convert anybody, but to judge the ungodly sinners who rejected his gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
21. Such speculations deny the truth that “no man knoweth the day, nor the hour, of our Lord’s return” (Matthew 24:36). One may only marvel at the gullibility of people who trust some “prophet” who pretends that he knows.
22. The whole complex of multiple resurrections and judgments prevalent in all phases of this heresy is contrary to the plain words of the whole Bible. There is only one literal resurrection of the dead and only one judgment, repeatedly referred to by Christ as “the judgment.” Scofield Bible fabricates multiple judgments; but this is a perversion of the sacred Scriptures.
23. The millennial heresies, whether “pre” or “post,” deny the many New Testament passages (1 Corinthians 10:11; Acts 2:16-17, etc.) which designate the current era as “the last days.”
24. The millennialists read into Revelation 20 an immense amount of material that does not belong there.[6]13. There is not a word in the entire Bible about any “Millennium,” except as it is imported into the first seven verses of this chapter.
25. The many theories constructed on these verses are mutually contradictory and destructive of each other. There is no generally accepted or agreed upon theory of a millennium. Thoughtless and reckless indeed is the man who can devote his time, money, study, talent, and teaching to that which at best is an uncertain and illusive theory, and one that practically the entire company of Christian scholarship of all ages and shades of belief have found it utterly impossible to accept. In a word, the theory is absolutely preposterous and ridiculous. We not only reject all millennial theories, but also the supportive interpretations which have been concocted in order to bolster them. Such things as the Great Tribulation, the Rapture, the Resurrection of the Martyrs in a separate resurrection, which have no proof at all in the New Testament, are among the concepts rejected. [1] J. C. Ayer, Jr., Source Book of Ancient Church History (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons). [2] See Reader’s Digest, January 1943, for many of these details. [3] Robert Milligan, The Scheme of Redemption (St. Louis: Bethany Press, 1960), p. 571. [4] Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 295. [5] Ibid., p. 311. [6] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 296. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. (Revelation 20:1) An angel coming down out of heaven … This angel is not Christ; one nameless angel is all that Christ needed to dispatch Satan finally and irrevocably. Having the key of the abyss … “In all the places where abyss is used (Revelation 9:1 Revelation 2:11 Revelation 11:7 Revelation 17:8, including Luke 8:31), the word signifies the present abode of Satan and his angels, not the place of their final punishment."[7] In only one New Testament passage, does it mean anything different (Romans 10:7). The “key” here indicates that, “Power is given to this angel over Satan during the time of the world’s existence."[8]And a great chain, in his hand … The Greek text here is literally “upon his hand” (ASV margin), and this corresponds to the word of God being “upon the hand” of the angel inRevelation 10:2. Thus the chain is seen to be the word of God. Who can conceive of any other “chain” that would restrain and control the activity of Satan? One little word of Christ is enough to bind Satan for a thousand years.

Hendriksen also identified this passage with 12:7-9, where another scene of Satan’s restraint is given.[9] There also the period of binding is the entire Christian age; and this is the key to understanding the meaning of the 1,000 years in this passage. In that passage, the woman was protected from Satan a thousand, two hundred and three score days, the same period as the binding about to be related here, meaning in both cases the whole Christian age. [7] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 470. [8] Ibid. [9] William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 221. Verse 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,Dragon … serpent … devil … and Satan … Note the fourfold name of the evil one. This ties in with the 12th chapter where this quadruple designation first occurs (Revelation 12:9), and where are also mentioned the 1,260 days. Neither the 1,000 years here nor the 1,260 days there should be literalized. Both refer to the same period of time, all the time between the two Advents of Christ. And bound him for a thousand years … “This means during the entire gospel age."[10] The effective binding of Satan took place in the events of the Incarnation. Satan had already been thrown out of heaven (Revelation 12:7-9); therefore, it is some more restricted phase of Satan’s binding that is revealed here. The “binding” here is exactly that referred to in Matthew 12:29, where Jesus said, concerning his salvation of people, “How can one enter into the house of the strong man (Satan) and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man?” Every saved person since Christ carne is proof of Satan’s being bound throughout the whole period of anybody’s being saved “in Christ.” Not one soul could ever have been saved unless Satan had first been bound. But people will say, “Well, if Satan is bound now, I would sure hate to see him loosed!” Maybe Christ knows Satan a lot better than people who talk like that. The world itself will probably not stand a month when Satan is finally loosed “a little while.” Just how is Satan bound? He is bound in that he cannot destroy the Bible; he cannot tempt a child of God more than he is able to bear; God makes a way of escape with every temptation, etc. See more on this in my Commentary on Matthew, p. 172. Pieters mentioned this interpretation as being favored by Morris, Lenski, Warfield, Masselink, Milligan, etc., adding that, “There is truth in it."[11] We find any other view untenable. The period of Satan’s binding is coextensive in every particular with the times when people are being saved by obeying the gospel. Again, to paraphrase Christ’s question, “How could Christ save anyone at any time when Satan was not bound?” (Matthew 12:29). [10] Ibid. [11] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 299. Verse 3 and cast him into the abyss and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.Cast him into the abyss … shut it … sealed it … This merely stresses the effectiveness of the binding and restraint of the devil by divine power. The shutting and sealing are only the inert trappings of the metaphor. Until the thousand years should be finished … The gospel age will finally close; and when the last person to accept the Son of God shall have done so, that age will end. That he should deceive the nations no more … The contrast between the gospel age and the pre-Christian hardening of the Gentiles, as expounded by Paul in Romans 1, is in view here. Satan has never again achieved the complete mastery over the nations which characterized his domination of the pre-Christian Gentile world. This cannot mean that no individual will ever again be deceived by Satan; it merely means that the blessed knowledge of the truth shall always be available for those who truly desire and will receive it. This cannot deny that many shall be deceived because they reject the truth, not through being deceived, but with their eyes wide open, just like Adam sinned. Having rejected it through a moral decision against it, they will then receive the “strong delusion” of 2 Thessalonians 2:11. After this, he must be loosed for a little time … Some respected scholars identify the “little time” here with the whole dispensation, the “loosing” being applied to Satan’s operations against the vast majority who reject the truth, and the “binding” being applied to the effectual restraint of Satan as far as the righteous are concerned. The time-periods, a little time, and a thousand years, are therefore qualitative and not relative. However, we believe that the “little time” mentioned here means literally a brief period, beginning at the point after which God shall have finally achieved the full salvation of the total number of the redeemed, and lasting only a relatively very short while. Satan will be “loosed” without any restraint whatever during that brief period. Due to all that is revealed of Satan’s nature in the Bible, it cannot be supposed that the race of man, or the whole world, would continue very long after such an eventuality.

See more on this in CMY, pp. 129-134. We must point out that in such an interpretation we might indeed have fallen into the constant danger that assails all commentators on Revelation, that of literalism. That some things in the prophecy are literal is certain; but just which are, and which are not, cannot always be accurately judged. Our interpretation of this requires the construction of “little while” in a literal sense, contrary to the generally figurative nature of the whole prophecy. However, there are a number of other examples of the same necessity throughout Revelation. Summarizing our interpretation of Rev 20:1-3, we have given the following meanings to the symbols: The abyss is the present abode of Satan on the earth. The key is the angel’s authority from God. The chain is the word of God. The dragon and serpent is Satan. The 1,000 years is the gospel age. Deceiving the nations no more means that the availability of the truth shall not fail from the earth. The binding of Satan refers to the limitations imposed upon the devil regarding his hurting the righteous (Matthew 12:29). The binding of Satan took place in the events of the Incarnation of Christ (Matthew 12:29). The loosing of Satan “a little while” refers to the ravages of Satan when all men at least finally reject the truth. Before going on, we shall notice some of the pertinent observations by various scholars on this famous passage: The millennial theories are merely the revamping of the old Jewish dream that the Jews would dominate the whole world.[12] The origin of millennialism is not Christian, but is to be found in certain Jewish beliefs about the Messianic age which were common after 100 B.C.[13] This chapter describes not a millennium of the saints but the overthrow of Satan.[14] The binding of Satan and the casting of him into the abyss mean that during the gospel age Satan is unable to prevent the extension of the church.[15] This passage is parallel to 2 Thessalonians 1:8, indicating that the binding of Satan extends to the Second Advent.[16] How long will this “little while” be? Merely long enough for Satan to gather his host and for the fire out of heaven to destroy them.[17] John never thinks of Satan as having a free hand. Again and again, “is given” was used when he speaks of any authority to do evil.[18] From these verses we must conclude that we are now in the millennium.[19]Perhaps the greatest single obstacle to seeing the 1,000 years as a figure of our own age is the consecutive or sequential view of the several sections of this prophecy. To be sure, if Revelation is interpreted as giving a consecutive, chronological series of events throughout history, the fact of our just having had a view of the final judgment at the end of Revelation 19, would then have to mean that this binding of Satan, etc., comes after the judgment. In our interpretation, Satan was cast into hell (the lake of fire) in Revelation 19:20; and that forces the understanding that the events of this chapter took place before that event. If not, will someone kindly explain to us how Satan got out of hell? This same problem exists in all the other sections of this prophecy concluded by visions of the final judgment; and, to us, this absolutely requires us to see not consecutive events in the prophecy, but repeated recapitulations in the seven sections. Another great impediment to the acceptance of our interpretation of the millennium here was thus stated by Wilbur M. Smith: If this war-ridden age of anarchy and atheistic communism is the Millennium, then the hopes created by the word of God must be abandoned.[20]No doubt, many others feel the same way; and we have the utmost sympathy for those who are “hung up” on dreams of a Utopia on earth, where all shall be peace and light for an incredibly beautiful Golden Age; but, if the people who are thus deluded, can bear to hear, there are no promises of any such thing in the New Testament. We must through “many tribulations” enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22); we must “suffer with him” (Romans 8:17); all of the godly “shall suffer persecutions” (2 Timothy 3:12); all who follow Christ must “take up their cross daily” (Luke 9:23), etc. We could cite a hundred other such passages in the New Testament. Where did all this nonsense come from, anyway, that envisions that “Glorious Millennium” with the lemonade pools and the big rock candy mountain? People overwhelmed with such “hopes” did not get them out of the word of God, but out of the vain speculations of men. The very idea that for an entire, literal thousand years Christians shall be exempt from the sorrows, temptations, and tribulations of life is utterly foreign to the sacred Scriptures.

The popular view of the millennium leaves out the essential quality of suffering in the Christian life. Back of the popular view of the millennium is a false, carnal view of salvation. The heresy eliminates tribulation by putting it in what they call the Great Tribulation and then rescuing the church from it by means of a so-called Rapture. The whole scheme is ingenious but absolutely wrong. There is no Great Tribulation in this prophecy, or anywhere else in the whole New Testament. There will be great tribulations, of course, many of them; and, in a real sense, the entire gospel age might be called “the great tribulation”; but no isolated event or series of events in history may be so designated. People unconsciously tend to materialize the blessings in Christ. Some scholars even make the elevation of Constantine the Great to the throne of Rome the beginning of the millennium. Instead, it was the beginning of the inundation of the church by the world and one of the major steps toward the great apostasy and the onset of the Dark Ages. Yes, the elevation of Constantine was a great victory for Christians, but it did not mean that they were through with Satan; it heralded merely a change in Satan’s strategy. [12] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 570. [13] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 187. [14] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 471. [15] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 226. [16] Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1975), p. 190. [17] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit. p. 577. [18] Leon Morris, Tyndale Commentaries, Vol. 20, The Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 236. [19] John T. Hinds, A Commentary on the Book of Revelation (Nashville: The Gospel Advocate Company, 1962), p. 272. [20] Wilbur M. Smith, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 1095. Verse 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them … This is another proleptic vision of the blessed state of the dead in Christ, introduced for the encouragement and support of suffering and persecuted Christians. It was by this device that this prophecy “strengthened the faith of those who were suffering persecutions by giving them a vision of the final triumph of Christ and of the blessedness of his followers."[21] Some millennial theories place these thrones upon earth, but there is no more reason to do this than to suppose that the “twelve thrones” occupied by the apostles during “the times of the regeneration” (Matthew 19:28) are actually upon earth. In fact, those thrones are exactly like these. And judgment was given unto them … It is wrong to think that this means only the martyrs received judgment and sat upon thrones. “The thrones are occupied by the living, reigning saints, who have either suffered martyrdom or refused to worship the beast."[22] It is also easy to miss the meaning of “the judgment” that was given unto them. It means that God’s judgment was given in their favor, and not that the prerogative of judging other people was to be exercised by them. The New Testament makes it absolutely clear that that prerogative belongs to the Son of God alone (John 5:27). Another view is advocated by some who appeal to1 Corinthians 6:2,3 for support; but that passage also is devoid of any thought that judgment will ever be the prerogative of Christians. Judgment belongs to the Son of God alone. For further discussion of Christians “judging,” see in my Commentary on 1,2Corinthians, pp. 82-85. And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded … Not these alone, but including these, is the thought. Even those who were beheaded are shown by this vision to have been favorably judged by the Lord and granted the right of glorification at the last day. “This assurance was of importance for the Christians of John’s day … even if they were called to yield up their lives, their sacrifice would issue in God’s vindication of them."[23]And such … “In the Greek, this is literally and those who, a second class of persons who had not necessarily been beheaded."[24] This forbids limiting this passage to the martyrs. Worshipped the beast … Glorious indeed as were the martyrs, God also loves those who are faithful throughout life, regardless of the time or manner of their death. One may only deplore the over-emphasis upon “the martyrs” by so many commentators, as if the blessed promise of a passage like this pertained only to martyrs. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years … Again, this is exactly the same promise Christ made to the Twelve (Matthew 19:28), where he defined the period as “the times of the regeneration,” a reference to the whole Christian age; and it is absolutely imperative so to understand it here. Neither did any of the apostles, nor any of those in view here, actually live a thousand years; but what is taught is that the reign of Christians with Christ will be a perpetual phenomenon throughout the whole Christian age (the thousand years). And the souls of them that had been beheaded … “John sees souls, not bodies."[25] The reigning here is not that of people who have been bodily resurrected from the dead. The thrones also are not upon the earth, but in heaven where this vision is centered. And how do they reign with Christ? They do this in the spiritual sense of their victory over sin and temptation, doubt, fear, suffering, and persecution. And they lived … Ladd read this as meaning “They came to life again”;[26] but that is neither what this says nor what it means. It means that the righteous dead do not really die, in the sense of perish; they pass through death but continue to be “with the Lord.” “Although they die, yet their souls will live and reign with Christ."[27] “The selection of the term souls in this passage could not have been accidental, and it certainly indicates that the ‘resurrection’ in this place is not that of bodies."[28]And they lived … is described in Revelation 20:5 as “the first resurrection.” “This can only be referred to that first awakening from sin to the glorious life of the gospel."[29] For more on the first resurrection, see under next verse. [21] James William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 651. [22] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 192. [23] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 293. [24] Ralph Earle, Beacon Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 610. [25] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 230. [26] George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 265. [27] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1089. [28] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 284. [29] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 472. Verse 5 The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection.The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished … This is the passage upon which some fasten their interpretation of Rev 20:4 as a literal resurrection; but there is ample Scriptural authority for words having both a figurative and a literal meaning in the same passage. Christ himself told us exactly what the first resurrection is: The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live … Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in their tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:25-29). An analogy of the above passage inevitably leads to the conclusion that the conversion of sinners by the gospel is the first resurrection. Significantly, this was recorded by John; and it is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to believe that he here advanced some other conception of what the first resurrection is. Also, both the spiritual resurrection in conversion, and the literal resurrection at the last day are presented here, side by side, in the teaching of Jesus. Thus, there is no impediment to seeing the “first resurrection” here as spiritual and the second as literal. “There are few that would agree that the resurrection of the witnesses” (Revelation 11:11) was literal - the passages are parallel."[30] “There is no reason for restricting resurrection to a literal meaning."[31]Therefore, we confidently affirm that the “first resurrection” here is a spiritual resurrection, having reference to the conversion of sinners through the preaching of the gospel. Some dispute this, because, they say, “the second death” has no power over them who had the first resurrection; but this is no better proof of the impossibility of apostasy than John 8:51-52. Impossibility of apostasy is not in either passage. The rest of the dead … These are the rest of the “dead” humanity “in sin,” the remainder of the total humanity dead in trespasses and sins. That portion of the dead race (in sin) who heard and obeyed the truth “live” (spiritually) in the first resurrection; but the rest of the “dead humanity” enjoyed no such resurrection; for them, following their physical death, “they lived not again until the judgment day,” explained here as “till the thousand years were finished.” Many concur in this interpretation: There is no adequate reason to assume that this first resurrection is physical.[32]The first resurrection verily is first.[33] These were sinners who will not experience a resurrection of any kind until the end of time.[34] We tend to forget that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.[35] The New Testament places the bodily resurrection of both saint and sinner at the same time (John 5:28-29); and until that passage is proved false, that point is settled.[36] The rest of the dead means all those who died in unbelief.[37]The rest of the dead … They did not live, that is, they did not inherit eternal life through their obedience of the gospel. Thus the “souls” of verse 4 are the martyrs and others who like the rest of the dead “left their bodies on earth when they died."[38] John tells us here that the wicked dead “did not live” until the thousand years were finished, at which time, all people, good and bad alike, will physically rise from the dead to face the final judgment. [30] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 174. [31] W. Boyd Carpenter, Ellicott’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 624. [32] Ibid. [33] Frank L. Cox, Revelation in 26 Lessons (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1956), p. 116. [34] Ibid. [35] W. Boyd Carpenter, op. cit., p. 624. [36] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 287. [37] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 584. [38] Ibid. Verse 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection … This beatitude pertains to all who are “in Christ.” Such persons already enjoy eternal life in the sense of possessing the promise of it, having the earnest of it, and participating in some of the joys of it. They shall be priests of God and of Christ … Preeminently, throughout the whole New Testament, this status of Christians is established as their status at the present time, and in this dispensation, now! Therefore, the priesthood and the reigning of these saints is exactly the same as that of the Christians of all ages, showing that no special period of any kind whatever is meant by this “thousand years” in this passage. See my comment on 1 Peter 2:5, and also in my Commentary on James, pp. 191-199. “All the evidence we have is against the theory of the first resurrection being understood otherwise than as a spiritual resurrection that takes place when any sinner is converted to Christ."[39]And shall reign with him a thousand years … “This living and reigning must not be limited to the time after the death of those mentioned."[40] All Christians are now living and reigning with Christ. Plummer paraphrased the thought here thus: You Christians sit upon thrones and reign with Christ; yea, even those who suffered shameful death share that perfect safety and exaltation, though, in the eyes of the world, they were afflicted and degraded.[41]A thousand years … This is the whole period of the Christian dispensation, the same as the time and times and half a time, the same as the forty-two months, the same as the one thousand two hundred and threescore days. All these time-periods are exactly the same and refer to the entire period between the two Advents of Christ. [39] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 254. [40] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 472. [41] Ibid. Verse 7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,Shall be loosed … We agree with those commentators who believe that the divine goal of redemption will be fully achieved, but that very near the end, faith shall practically vanish from the earth. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). Just as the old Israel fell away from God and officially and finally rejected even the Messiah himself, their apostasy will be fulfilled in the great antitype of the church, the new Israel, which will apparently do exactly the same thing. “When the final judgment is at hand, the powers of evil will again assemble and gather force."[42] The loosing of Satan will occur at the time when more and more people have chosen wickedness and the true faith shall virtually have disappeared. With the relative number of the righteous greatly diminished, Satan’s powers over people will be vastly multiplied; and it appears from this that very near the end of time Satan will find himself with almost a free hand to work his will. If this should be the case, the situation would almost certainly issue in the destruction of humanity. It could be that, in this final outburst of evil, God will permit the human race to find out through terminal experience just what serving the devil really means.

See the somewhat lengthy discussion of this in “The Mystery of Redemption,” pp. 121-143, “When the final judgment is nigh, the power of evil will gather force again."[43][42] Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 116. [43] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1089. Verse 8 and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.And shall come forth to deceive the nations … At the time indicated here, Satan will do exactly what he did in the pre-Christian world, that is, organize all mankind into one vast, sprawling, interlocking network of evil. This shows that Satan’s power to deceive was not altered by his imprisonment and limitation. Wherever and whenever people are willing to work the works of wickedness, Satan will promote and organize their activities. It was the word of God which broke his powerful stranglehold upon the ancient world; and when people turn away from the word of God, their old nemesis will again seize the whole world. Something resembling that terrible eventuality seems to be indicated here. Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war … These names and symbols of all the enemies of God’s people, as their usage in Ezekiel surely indicates, do not represent any particular earthly states, but all the forces of wickedness. See Ezekiel 35-40. “Gog and Magog, in Jewish thought, carne to stand for everything that is against God."[44]Together to the war … This final “war” against God is exactly the parallel of the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16), another example of the parallelism in this prophecy, both being descriptions of the end, rather, times immediately prior to the final judgment. Earle pointed out that certain millennialists distinguish between these accounts, apply one before, the other after, the millennium; but they are parallel accounts of but one event. As Wilcock noted, “The invitation to the birds (Revelation 19:17) is also thought to be before the millennium; but in Ezekiel 39:17 ff, from whence the imagery is taken, their invitation was to “pick the bones’ of Gog."[45] Again, this indicates parallelism in these recapitulations. Satan will remain “completely bound,” as far as the righteous are concerned, even to the very end;’ but, with the near disappearance of righteousness from the earth as the end approaches, there will nevertheless be, as far as the whole world is concerned, an effective “loosing of Satan.” This is indicated in the next verse. The number of whom is as the sand of the sea … At the time here indicated, the righteous of earth are an insignificant number; but the hosts of evil will be innumerable. But when Satan is loosed, the same thing will happen that always happens when Satan has a free hand. When the demons were permitted to enter the swine, remember what happened? A similar thing shall happen with humanity when Satan has a free hand. “Then shall come the end” (Matthew 24:14). After the gospel work among the nations has been done, after the last soul that it can save has been saved, then the final moment has arrived for the settlement with all the monstrous anti-Christian opposition to God.[46][44] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 194. [45] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 191. [46] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 592. Verse 9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them.And they went up over the breadth of the earth … All of the world will be swallowed up by the empire of evil; and their vicious hatred of the truth and of Christ will not rest as long as any souls, no matter how few, are true believers in Christ and his holy religion. Therefore, they will move to destroy utterly even the remnant of believers left. That is the picture when the judgment falls. And encompassed the camp of the saints about … This has no reference whatever to some locale where Christians will be encamped, as in an army, and barricaded against evil. No! It just means that the devil will finally take it in hand to destroy, utterly and finally, the last vestiges of truth and righteousness upon the earth. Fire from heaven will be God’s answer to that decision on the part of Satan. Ladd, and many others, envision the literal Jerusalem as the earthly scene of this event;[47] but there is no basis in the bible for such a notion. And the beloved city … This symbolizes the true church of God, certainly not literal Jerusalem which crucified Christ and both earned and received the outpouring of the wrath of God upon her as a consequence. This racial thing about literal Jews that gets into millennial calculations is as unchristian and unreasonable as any nonsense ever advocated. Long ago, God thundered the edict from heaven that there is “NO " between Jew and Gentile (Romans 3:22 Romans 10:12), and the Christian is gullible indeed who allows himself to accept any theory of “distinction” regarding Jews, Gentiles, or any other races of mankind. It is just as Scriptural to suppose that God has separate plans for the Albanians, the Laps, the North American Indians, or the Japanese, as it is to imagine that racial Jews shall enter in any special manner into God’s plans for the future. And fire came down from heaven and devoured them … Not much of a “war” was it? God spake, and it was done. God settled the full account with evil in a single fiery blast. ENDNOTE: [47] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 270. Verse 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.And the devil … was cast into the lake of fire … This is the hell of which Jesus so often spoke, and concerning which he revealed it is prepared, not for man, but for Satan and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Alas, men also shall suffer therein, but God never intended that it should be so. Christ spread wide his bleeding hands upon the Cross in order to prevent any man from ever suffering the punishment of the damned; but people who choose to ignore this must assume the full responsibility for the consequence of their failure. Revelation has already clearly recounted how the beast and the false prophet were destroyed in the same lake of fire, but we are not at liberty to suppose these are three separate events. “The fact that John saw the beast destroyed before he saw Satan bound has nothing to do with the order in which these things actually happen."[48] It is clear enough that the final judgment is the occasion when all of these things will occur. Read Matthew 25:31-46, which is the best possible commentary on what the apostle wrote here. Shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever … Here is the doctrine of endless punishment, a teaching visible throughout the New Testament. “Whether the fire is construed literally or figuratively is immaterial: the lesson taught is intense and endless punishment; and no more impressive emblem could have been used."[49] This clause positively identifies this scene as the final judgment, an event already depicted six times previously in this prophecy. See chapter introduction for a list of these. Beginning back at Revelation 12:1, we witnessed in the vision the appearance of the dragon (Satan), the sea-beast (perverted government), and the land-beast (perverted religion); and then there came successive judgments in which these three were destroyed in reverse order, thus bringing to an end the period of the Christian age. All evil will ultimately fall before the will of God. All that remains now is, “to show forth the surpassing glory of the saints in their eternal home, and thus to bring the book to a conclusion. This, therefore, is the theme of the remaining two chapters."[50][48] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 190. [49] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 293. [50] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 474. Verse 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.And I saw a great white throne … Is this God, or Christ? We should probably read it as Christ, to correspond with Matthew 25:31-46, and also with the truth that God has committed judgment unto the Son of man (John 5:22). From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away … Note that very similar things were written inRevelation 6:14; 16:20; 18:21; 19:20, making it emphatic that this is the same occasion as the one in view in those passages also. It is merely an idle quibble to dispute whether God, or Christ, is on the throne. Paul said, “God will judge” (Acts 17:31), and also that, “Christ will judge” (2 Timothy 4:1). “The unity of the Father and the Son is such that there is no difficulty in ascribing the action of one to the other."[51]The removal of earth and heaven at the final judgment are indicated here, and this harmonizes with the New Testament throughout. See 2 Peter 3:6-13; Matthew 5:17; Hebrews 12:27, etc. The destruction of the earth is an event scheduled for the occasion of the Second Advent of Christ. ENDNOTE: [51] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 195. Verse 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne … The general resurrection of all people is assumed to have already occurred at this point in the vision. The dead are there before the throne, standing and waiting for their sentence. The hour has struck which Jesus promised in John 5:28-29. There are no absentees; all are present. “This is the only bodily resurrection that the Scriptures know."[52]The entirety of all people will be there, even the living, who will be “changed” for the occasion (1 Corinthians 15:51). “And the books were opened”? What are these? We may not presume to give any complete answer, but the Scriptures do give some clues. AND THE BOOKS WERE OPENEDOne of Alexander Campbell’s great sermons was based upon this text, the books he mentioned being: I. The Book of Nature. A. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalms 19). B. “His everlasting power and divinity are perceived through the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). C. “He left not himself without witness … he did good, gave rains and fruitful seasons, etc.” (Acts 14:17). D. But there is no such thing as forgiveness in nature. The book of nature does not reveal Christ. II. The Book of RemembranceA. “A book of remembrance was written before him” (Malachi 3:16). B. “Note it in a book that it may be for the time to come” (Isaiah 30:8-9). C. “The Lord will bring to light the hidden things” (1 Corinthians 4:5). D. “Nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest” (Luke 8:17; Romans 2:16). Note: There are some things that God will not remember (Jeremiah 31:31-35). What the record books contain is determined by what God decides to remember and what he decides to forget.[53]III. The Old Testament. The great, continuing witness of all ages is the Bible. The Old Testament continues to be the most impressive witness of the deity and Godhead of Christ in that it establishes his credentials historically for ages prior to the Incarnation. A. “Search the Scriptures … for these are they that testify of me” (John 5:34). B. “All things must needs be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). C. “And the Scriptures cannot be broken” (John 10:35). D. “O, ye fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25; Matthew 22:29). IV. The New Testament A. “These sayings of mine” (Matthew 7:24 Matthew 7:26). B. “Whatsoever I commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20). C. “My word shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). D. “The word of the Lord (the gospel) endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:25; Matthew 24:35;Hebrews 2:3; 2 Peter 3:2; John 6:68). V. The Record of Every Man’s Works. All of the sacred writers make it clear that people shall be judged according to their works. Modern theology is very uncomfortable in the light of this truth; but the record of every person’s deeds will surely enter into the judgment which he shall receive. A. Jesus taught this (John 5:29; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 6:46-49; Matthew 12:27, etc.). B. Paul taught this (Romans 2:6 ff; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 6:1, etc.). C. Peter taught this (Acts 10:35; 1 Peter 2:12 1 Peter 3:8-11; 2 Peter 1:10). D. James taught this (Revelation 2:14 Revelation 2:20 Revelation 2:24 Revelation 2:26, etc.). E. The apostle John taught this (, etc.). F. This prophecy teaches this (Revelation 2:5 Revelation 3:15 Revelation 20:13 Revelation 14:13, etc.). VI. The Book of Life. A. Philippians 4:3. B. Revelation 3:15 Revelation 13:8. C. Revelation 20:12 Revelation 20:15. D. Revelation 21:27.LINES> [52] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 604. [53] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 259. Verse 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.The sea gave up the dead … Perhaps this is included “to show the universality of the resurrection."[54]Some explain it otherwise, but this appears to be the best view of it. This general resurrection of all mankind is the only literal resurrection mentioned in the word of God; and the thought that both the wicked and the just shall rise simultaneously is too often expressed in Scripture for any student of the Bible to be deceived into believing that there are to be two resurrections separated by a thousand years, or seven resurrections, as in Scofield Bible, or any other “multiple” resurrections. And death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them … “Hades” here means “the grave”; and “death and Hades” are therefore synonymous, being personified in this passage, as indicated by Revelation 20:14. ENDNOTE: [54] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 474. Verse 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire … “Death and Hades, though abstractions, are here personified."[55] This still casts no light upon exactly what the lake of fire is; because no literal fire could burn up the grave, personified. The first resurrection is the rising to spiritual life in conversion to Christ, and the second resurrection is the final, physical resurrection of all who ever lived on earth. Ryrie thought that, “Only the wicked are raised here”;[56] but such a thought is nullified by the next verse: “Death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed, as in Paul’s theology” (1 Corinthians 15:26 1 Corinthians 15:54),[57] leaving no further obstacle to the eternal joy of the saints of God. Cast into the lake of fire … “This is not annihilation, but separation forever from God and all good."[58]Repugnant as this doctrine is for many, a believer may not deny it. There is nothing illogical about it. Let two prior facts be accepted, that the soul is imperishable, and that God cannot finally accommodate to evil, and the logical necessity of such a place as this is evident. The revelation of it should always be understood in the light of the truth that it was never meant for people (Matthew 25:41), and that Jesus our Lord suffered the agonies of the Cross for the one purpose of saving every man from it. Then, it is clear that the existence of it in no way denies the love and goodness of God. [55] @@ [56] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1968), p. 117. [57] G. B. Caird, op. cit., p. 260. [58] Ralph Earle, op. cit., p. 614. Verse 15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.And if any was not found written in the book of life … The mention of the righteous in this shows that both the good and the evil participate in the resurrection of the final day, those whose names were written there, and those whose names were not written there. Otherwise, there could have been no reason for using “if” in this verse. Here it is evident that the New Testament contains no promise of any second chance after death. In this series of commentaries, the book of life has often been mentioned; and here the absolute necessity of every man’s being inscribed in it in order to be saved is dogmatically stated. Therefore, out of regard to all men, we shall declare how one may so be written. In Matthew 10:32, Jesus promised that all who confess him will themselves be confessed by Jesus in heaven “before God and the angels.” In Matthew 16:16, is the record of the first man ever to confess Christ; and significantly, Jesus then and there upon that occasion, confessed that man, Peter, using exactly the same formula Peter had used in his confession of Christ. From this we have concluded that the writing of one’s name in the book of life occurs upon the occasion of his confessing Christ and being baptized into him. Certainly, Christians have their names written there during their sojourn as Christians upon the earth (Philippians 4:3); and it is most logical to believe that it is written at the very beginning of that Christian life. Once inscribed in the book of life, one’s name will remain there eternally, except in the case of his apostasy, in which event it will be “blotted out” (Revelation 3:5). “This verse is a solemn reiteration of what has been asserted twice before in Revelation 20:12-13."[59]John, having carried his readers through seven successive periods, each culminating in the final judgment, his purpose must have been clear to all. He was giving in each vision a view of the church’s life between the two Advents, each scene being a recapitulation of one and the same chronological event.

1. In scene I, the church struggled against wars, famine and disease.
2. In scene II, the struggle was against natural disasters and false doctrine.
3. In scene III, there was the struggle against the dragon, the sea-beast and the land-beast.
4. In scene IV, the struggle with the harlot is given.
5. In scene V, the struggle with the harlot is given in greater detail.
6. In scene VI, the struggle with the scarlet beast in the phase of his ten horns, or the eighth head, is seen.
7. And in scene VII, the final victory over the devil himself is depicted. This type of pageantry cannot indicate that consecutive historical events are depicted in order. All of the church’s enemies are in all of the visions. Although the focus changes, being first upon one, then upon another, etc., yet the dragon, the godless city, the sea-beast, the land-beast, the great harlot, the ten kings, the false prophet, etc., all continue to the end of time. No one of them is ever completely out of the total picture. Their operations are coextensive and simultaneous with the entire Christian dispensation; and all are thrown into the “lake of fire” at the same time “alive.” But despite all this, the victory is glorious and complete. John never allows us to forget it even for a moment. Almost every terrible scene is either begun, concluded or interrupted with a marvelous vision of the rejoicing saints in glory, these recurring scenes being injected proleptically to keep up the faith and the patience of the saved. In some ways, this is the most glorious book in the Bible. All of the struggles having been recounted, John will devote the final two chapters to a discussion of heaven, the eternal home of the redeemed. There is absolutely nothing like these final two chapters in the entire record of human thought. The scholars, some of them, have vainly tried to find Revelation in pagan myth or folklore; but it is not there. Only the word of God could have given us this prophecy. ENDNOTE: [59] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 475. “THE BOOK OF "

Chapter Twenty Previous chapters have illustrated the defeat of agents used by Satan to persecute God’s people. One by one we have seen the fall of Babylon, the beast, the false prophet, and the armies they had gathered. What about Satan, the dragon who gave authority to the beast in his efforts to wage war against the saints (Revelation 12:17 to Revelation 13:7)? And what of those killed by the agents of Satan?

This chapter reveals the binding of Satan for “a 1000 years”. It most likely depicts a long period of time in which Satan is no longer able to deceive the nations as he did during the time of the Roman empire (cf. Revelation 13:14; 20:3). It began following the end of Roman persecution and would continue for some time in the future. During this period, John sees souls reigning with Christ, who were beheaded for their faithfulness to Jesus and the word of God. No mention is made of reigning on the earth, so my conclusion is that they reign with Christ in heaven during this period (cf. Revelation 2:26-27 Revelation 3:21). This “first resurrection” may be a special blessing for the martyrs of Christ during the intermediate state (between death and the bodily resurrection at the end of time), while Revelation 7:9-17 may describe the intermediate state for the average Christian. Truly those who had been beheaded for the witness of Christ are “blessed and holy” (Revelation 20:1-6)!

After the “1000 years” are over, Satan is released for a short time where he once again seeks to “deceive the nations” to persecute the people of God (cf. Revelation 13:14 Revelation 20:3 Revelation 20:8 Revelation 20:10). The mention of “Gog and Magog” is likely an apocalyptic reference to forces of evil at Satan’s disposal during this time, not any particular nation or nations. But the final attempt of Satan is quickly thwarted by the Lord, and the devil is cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet were (cf. Revelation 19:20). If any section of Revelation pertains to the time just prior to the Lord’s final coming, I believe it to be this one. The description is brief, for the book was written for the benefit of Christians in Asia Minor about things to shortly come to pass (cf. Revelation 1:1-4 Revelation 22:6 Revelation 22:10). Those Christians would not experience this last attempt of Satan. But to assure them (and us!) that Satan would ultimately be defeated, we have the description found in these few verses (Revelation 20:7-10).

The chapter closes with a description of the final judgment. Before the great white throne and Him who sat on it, all the dead are judged. Books are opened, including the Book of Life, and judgment is based upon their works. None escape the judgment, for the sea, Death, and Hades give up all the dead that are in them. Death and Hades are cast into the lake and fire, described as the “second death”. The same end is given to those whose names were not written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:11-15).

POINTS TO PONDER

• The binding, future release, and ultimate defeat of Satan

• The “thousand year” reign described in this chapter, and who will reign with Christ

• The criteria used in the final judgment, and the importance of the Book of Life

OUTLINE I. THE YEAR REIGN (Revelation 20:1-6) A. SATAN BOUND FOR 1000 YEARS (Revelation 20:1-3)1. John sees an angel come down from heaven a. Having the key to the bottomless pit b. With a great chain in his hand 2. The angel binds Satan for a thousand years a. Casting him into the bottomless pit, shutting him up and setting a seal on him b. So that he should deceive the nations no more for a thousand years – But afterward he will be released for a little while

B. SAINTS REIGN WITH CHRIST FOR 1000 YEARS (Revelation 20:4-6)1. John sees souls upon thrones, to whom judgment was committed a. Who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and the word of God b. Who had not worshiped the beast or his image c. Who had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands 2. These souls lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years a. The rest of the dead not live again until the thousand years were finished b. This is the first resurrection

1. Blessed and holy are those who have a part in the first resurrection
2. Over such the second death has no power
3. They shall be priests of God and of Christ
4. They shall reign with Christ a thousand years

II. SATAN’S FINAL ATTEMPT AND DEFEAT (Revelation 20:7-10) A. HIS RELEASE FROM PRISON (Revelation 20:7-8)1. After the thousand years were completed 2. He will go out to deceive the nations a. Those in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog b. To gather them to battle

B. HIS FINAL ATTEMPT AND DEFEAT (Revelation 20:9)1. To have the nations surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city 2. But fire from God out of heaven devoured those Satan had deceived

C. HIS ETERNAL TORMENT (Revelation 20:10)1. The devil who deceived the nations was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone 2. The same place where the beast and the false prophet are 3. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever

III. THE FINAL (Revelation 20:11-15) A. THE ONE ON THE GREAT WHITE THRONE (Revelation 20:11)1. John sees a great white throne and Him who sat on it 2. Before Whose face the earth and heaven fled away so no place was found for them

B. THE OF THE DEAD (Revelation 20:12-13)1. John sees the dead, small and great, standing before God 2. Books were opened, including the Book of Life a. The dead were judged according to their works b. The dead were judged by the things written in the books 3. All the dead were judged, each according to his works a. For the sea gave the dead who were in it b. For Dead and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them

C. THE LAKE OF FIRE (Revelation 20:14-15)1. Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire (which is the second death) 2. Anyone not found written in the Book of Life were cast into the lake of fire

REVIEW

1. What are the main points of this chapter?- The thousand year reign (Revelation 20:1-6)

• Satan’s final attempt and defeat (Revelation 20:7-10)
• The final judgment (Revelation 20:11-15)

2. What did John see coming down from heaven? (Revelation 20:1)- An angel, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand

3. What did the angel do to Satan? (Revelation 20:2-3)- Laid hold of him and bound him for a thousand years

• Cast him into the bottomless pit and set a seal upon him

4. Why did the angel do this to Satan? (Revelation 20:3)- So that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were completed

5. What souls did John see sitting on thrones? (Revelation 20:4)- Those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God

• Who had not worshiped the beast or his image
• Who had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands

6. How long did they live? With whom did they reign? (Revelation 20:4)- A thousand years; Christ

7. What is this reigning with Christ called? Why are those who have a part considered blessed and holy? (Revelation 20:5-6)- The first resurrection

• Over such the second death has no power, and they shall be priests of God and Christ and reign with Him a thousand years

8. What happens when the thousand years have expired? (Revelation 20:7)- Satan will be released

9. What will he do? (Revelation 20:8-9)- Deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth to gather them for battle

• To surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city

10. What will happen before they succeed? (Revelation 20:9)- Fire from God out of heaven will devour them

11. What will happen to the devil? (Revelation 20:10)- He will be cast into the lake of fire, where the beast and false prophet are

• They will be tormented day and night forever and every

12. What does John see next? What about the earth and the heaven? (Revelation 20:11)- A great white throne and Him who sat on it

• They fled away; no place was found for them

13. Who does John see standing before the throne? What was opened (Revelation 20:12)- The dead, both small and great

• Books, including the Book of Life

14. How were the dead judged? (12)- According to their works

• By the things which were written in the books

15. Who had given up the dead? (Revelation 20:13)- The sea, Death and Hades

16. What is the lake of fire called? Who was cast into it? (Revelation 20:14-15)- The second death

• Death and Hades, and anyone not found written in the Book of Life Questions by E.M. Zerr On Revelation 201. Who was seen coming down from heaven?

2. What did he have?
3. Upon whom did he lay hold?
4. For what period was he bound?
5. Into ‘;‘hat place was he cast?
6. What was set upon him?
7. Whose deception was to be thus cut off?
8. For how long was the cutting off to continue?
9. After that what will be done?
10. What did John Bee next?
11. Were they occupied?
12. What was given unto them?
13. Tell what souls John saw.
14. What had they refused to do?
15. With whom did they live?
16. What else did they do?
17. When did the rest of the dead live?
18. State what resurrection iB considered?
19. Who are said to be blessed?
20. They shall escape what death?
21. Will be in what relation to God and ChriBt?
22. What about their reign?
23. After this reign what will be done with Satan?
24. Whom will he then deceive?
25. Where are these to be found?
26. For what purpose will they be gathered?
27. Describe their number.
28. To what place did they go up?
29. What camp did they surround?
30. And what city did they encompass?
31. From where did fire come?
32. Tell wbat it did.
33. What had the devil done?
34. Tell where he was cast.
35. Who else are to be tbere?
36. What will be done to them in this place?
37. What did John see next?
38. Describe the one who sat thereon.
39. What became of the place of heaven and earth?
40. How many of the dead were seen?
41. Where did they stand?
42. What were first opened?
43. Name the “other book”.
44. Tell what use was made of these books?
45. According to what was this done?
46. What did the sea do?
47. And what did death and hell do?
48. What was done with theae persons then?
49. Then what happened to death and hell?
50. What does this happening constitute?
51. Who else will be cast into this lake?

Revelation 20:1-2

Revelation 20:1. Bottomless pit is from ABUSSOS which means the place in Hades where angels are cast when they sin and where wicked men go when they die. Revelation 20:2. In this verse the four words serpent, dragon, Devil and Satan are applied to the same being, so that we need have no doubt as to the one who is meant. Thousand years is a figurative expression that is not bound by the calendar- In symbolic language the Bible does not restrict itself to exact mathematical values of the numbers mentioned. Sometimes the period will be longer and at others it will be shorter. I shall cite one or two examples by way of illustration on the matter of this use of figurative time. In Daniel 9:24 a prediction is made of seventy weeks and we know it actually means 490 years.

In chapter 6:11 of our book the phrase little season really was to be until the Reformation which was several centuries in the future. The angel bound Satan with the chain mentioned in the preceding verse, and the chain was the Bible that was to be given back to the people in their own language. That chain bound him from the nations, which means the heads of the nations were able to see their rights by the information of the Book and realized that the devil had been deceiving them. When that occurred they resisted him and that chained him from them.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceIntroductionXIIITHE BINDING OF SATAN AND THE REIGN OF THE SAINTS WITH CHRIST(Chapter 20)The last three chapters of Revelation were sequel to the visions of conflict in the preceding nineteen chapters, and presented in contrast a pageant of victory. Beginning with the twentieth chapter a new picture was presented, an imagery of changed conditions. With the close of the nineteenth chapter, Jerusalem had fallen, and the great symbolic enemies of the Cause of Christ–the beast and the false prophet–had been consigned to visional banishment. The dragon who instigated both the activities of the imperial beast and the deceptions of the false prophet (the landbeast) was about to be cast into the abyss, the bottomless pit, and thus be returned to his diabolical region in complete defeat. The twentieth chapter opened with the scenes of the culmination and climax of the great conflict. This chapter has been full of confusion and the source of insurmountable difficulties, all of which have been due to the anachronism of wresting its contents from the period of the imperial persecutors and projecting its visions into centuries yet future for fulfillment. This has been the great mistake of attempting to make the book of Revelation a compendium of history–a thing that it is not. In the structural unity and orderly development of the Revelation, chapter twenty was the beginning of the scenes that made the victory of the church over hostile nations final and complete. Although the picture had changed, the continuity of the apocalyptic imagery in chapter twenty remained unbroken. The apostate harlot Jerusalem had fallen; the great red dragon deceiver had been cast down from the position of assumed exaltation to his place in the abyss; the souls of the martyrs were no longer under the altar of a persecuted cause, but in the figurative first resurrection they have been elevated to thrones, reigning with Christ in the state of complete victory symbolized by thousand years; the surcease of persecution had come, symbolized by the binding of Satan, and his imprisonment to estop the source of deceiving the nations of the empire into the idolatry of emperor- worship; the persecutors represented as dead, lived not again; and the wicked nations stood in judgment before the great white throne of an avenging God. But the spiritual conflict between heathenism and Christianity was not abated by the cessation of the activities of the persecuting powers; and through this idolatry of paganism the influence of Satan was represented as loosed out of his prison to destroy the church, not by the weapon of persecution but by concentrating all the heathen forces of Gog and Magog, the symbolic head of heathendom, into spiritual battle against the beloved city–the New Jerusalem which symbolized the church. Again, in the final scene, the cause of the Christ triumphed over all the influences of the heathen world, and all the enemies of the church were made to stand before God to be judged according to their works. (1) The twentieth chapter of Revelation.It is a common expression, we hear it on every hand; that the Bible plainly says that Christ will reign on the earth a thousand years. That is something that the Bible nowhere says, plainly or vaguely. Like the battle of Armageddon notion, the millennium imagination is not in the Bible. Armageddon is mentioned in the Bible but the “battle of Armageddon” theory is nowhere found in the scriptures. The Bible has something to say about “a thousand years” but nothing about a thousand years reign on the earth. Christ reigns, but the reign of Rev 20:1-15 was not the reign of Christ.

It was rather a peculiar and special reign of certain souls with Christ. It does not mention or refer to the reign of Christ. The ones mentioned were reigning; it was a special use of the word, applied to a special incident of the Revelation vision. The text says they lived and reigned. Where did they live and reign? They lived and reigned with Christ.

John saw souls out of the body, not in the body. It was a vision of the souls of t h e martyrs living and reigning with Christ in a particular and peculiar sense. In a conversation with any group of denominational preachers one will invariably be heard to say that the Bible plainly says that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. When the asserter is asked for the passage that so plainly says it, he will just as invariably and confidently refer his listeners to Revelation 20:1-15, verse 4. It is in order, in time and in place now to dissect this misunderstood and misapplied passage of scripture. This is the way its reads: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.The passage is almost universally believed to actually say that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. The text says, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The pronoun we is a personal pronoun of first person, but they is a personal pronoun of the third person; the verbs lived and reigned are verbs of past tense; but shall live and reign are verbs of future tense. No man can claim the right to change the sentence of this text from the third personal pronoun they to the first personal pronoun we, nor to change the verbs lived and reigned of the past tense to shall live and reign of future tense. That is too much change for any man to make who has an ounce of respect for the word of God. John said, “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” The passage says nothing about “the thousand years reign of Christ.” There is a great difference in the two expressions. Revelation 20:1-15 says, “they lived and reigned with Christ.” They who? Lived–lived where? Reigned –how, with whom and where? “Lived and reigned”–with whom, in what place? It is not the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls “with Christ,” that is mentioned in Revelation 20:1-15. There is a vast difference between living and reigning “with Christ” and a millennial reign “of Christ.“So let us be true to the facts in the case.

It does not mention the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls “with” him. They not only “reigned” with him, they “lived” with him. They “lived and reigned” with Christ a thousand years. The two verbs “lived” and “reigned” are both limited by the thousand years. If the expression denotes time, then when the reign is over, and they ceased to reign; the living would be over and they would cease to live. Revelation 20:1-15 : Note: Revelation 20 :l-6 does not mention the second coming of Christ. That is not the subject of it. It does not mention a bodily resurrection, and that is not the subject of it. It does not mention a reign on the earth, nor does it mention the “reign of Christ”–and neither is the subject. Is it not possible for souls to live and reign “with Christ” without Christ being on earth? Furthermore, it does not mention the throne of David or any other throne on earth. And it does not mention either Jerusalem or Palestine, nor does it mention Christ on earth. Jesus said that Jerusalem is not the place where men should worship (John 4:21), but they want to put it there. He said that his kingdom is not of the world (John 18:36), but they want to put it here, and make it of the world. Can millennialists consistently say that though it mentions none of these things, it teaches all of them? It is altogether possible and consistent for all the things mentioned to exist without being on the earth.

(2) The thousand years reign with Christ.There are twenty figures of speech in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters alone. In a series of symbols such as these, it is not reasonable to make a literal application of the thousand years and a figurative application of all the rest of the symbols, without a contexual or historical reason for doing so. The thousand years, like the other parts of the vision, is a figure of speech–a symbol of something else. It is said in Deuteronomy 7:9 that God keeps his covenant and his mercy unto a thousand generations. God does not count a literal thousand generations, then quits remembering his covenant. It means God’s memory of and faithfulness to his covenant are perfect and complete. The term thousand was a figure of completeness. It does not denote a cycle of time. Then what about the millennium? Nothing was said of a millennium. The thousand years did not mean a millennium. There is no millennium. There never was a millennium. There never will be a millennium. The twentieth of Revelation did not refer to a millennium. The thousand years was not literal, therefore was not a millennium and has no reference to a millennium. There is no connotation for the notion. The magic word millennium is not in the text. In this vision John “saw thrones” and the ones that “sat on them.” And those whom he saw were the souls of the beheaded. They had not “worshipped” the beast. They had not “received” his mark, and they “lived” and “reigned” with Christ. First: They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. It does not mention the second coming of Christ, a bodily resurrection, a reign on the earth, or a literal throne in Jerusalem or elsewhere. It does not mention us, and it does not mention Christ on earth. Revelation 20:1-15 mentions none of those things, and a curse was pronounced on the one who adds to the words of the book. Second: They lived and reigned with Christ. It says “they”–the souls of the martyrs, those who were beheaded. The beheaded souls lived and reigned with Christ. Only those who were beheaded entered into that thousand years. If that thousand years is literal, then the beheading is literal, and only those literally beheaded get into the millennium. If the beheading is figurative, the thousand years is figurative, and that cuts us out; for there could be no literal millennium. If it is a literal thousand years, it is a literal beheading. If it is a figurative beheading, it is a figurative thousand years, and either way there is no millennium for us. Third: They lived and reigned. If the term “reigned” is limited by a thousand years, the verb “lived” is also limited by a thousand years. If the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with a thousand years, and the millennium will end with everybody in it ceasing to live. That would be quite a hopeless millennium.

(3) The meaning of the first resurrection, The expression this is the first resurrection is itself the proof that reference was made to a figurative resurrection. The word was being used in an unusual sense, so unusual that it was necessary for John to explain its use by saying, “this” is the first resurrection–that is why John explained that this is what was meant by the symbol. The resurrection of the twentieth chapter of Revelation was a figurative or spiritual resurrection, and of the same character described by Ezekiel concerning Israel in captivity. The prophet Ezekiel was in Babylon with exiled Israel, and prophesied their return from Babylon in the vision of Eze 37:1-14 : “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, 0 Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, 0 ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord, thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and I will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to bone, and when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold they say, Our bones are dried and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; behold, 0 my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, 0 my people, and brought you up out of your graves. And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it. said the Lord.” Here was the description of a resurrection extraordinary, indeed. Taking Israel out of the land of their captivity and bringing them back to their own land was called a resurrection. They were in the grave of captivity in Babylon, yet they were a living people. God said that he opened their graves and brought them out and caused them to live–in their return to Judea and restoration to their land and their religion. Now hear Isaiah, who prophesied the Babylonian exile one hundred years in advance: “0 Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish”– Isaiah 26:13-19. The reference here was to the wicked lords of the Old Testament. They were exercising dominion over God’s oppressed people. They were “lords” over God’s people. Isaiah said, other lords once had “dominion” over them, but they were “dead,” and should not “live”; they were “deceased,” and should “not rise.” This could not mean that the wicked will not be raised from the dead. It could not mean that the wicked dead will not live again. If that is what it means, there will be no resurrection of the wicked, and a fundamental truth is thereby denied. But that is not the meaning. Here is the meaning: The dominion of the wicked lords over God’s people would be put down. While these lords had dominion over God’s people they were said to “live”–live in their dominion. When their dominion should be destroyed and the oppression of God’s people brought to an end, these lords would be “dead”–they were dead as lords. They shall not live–that is, their dominion would not exist again. But speaking of the persecuted people of God, the prophet said: “thy dead men shall live.” When Israel was in the bondage of the captivity of these lords, they were said to be dead–they were dead as a people in captivity; and the wicked lords were said to live–that is, in power and dominion. But when the dominion of the lords ended, they were demised, their power was deceased–they were dead; they should not “live” in wicked dominion; they should not “rise” as lords. In the opposite imagery of the prophecy Israel in captivity was in a state called “dead,” though living. Isaiah said “They shall live” and “they shall rise.” Thus coming out of the grave of their captivity represented a resurrection, but not a literal resurrection– it was a figurative resurrection. Now that was exactly the kind of resurrection pictured in Revelation 20:1-15. One was the description of the persecuted Israel in the Old Testament; the other was the description of the persecuted church in the New Testament. The principle is the same. Another example is in Paul’s reference to the spiritual resurrection of Israel: “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?”–Romans 11:15. When the Jews were converted to Christ under the gospel, it was the receiving of them “as life from the dead.” That is another figurative resurrection–a spiritual resurrection. When John saw the souls of the martyrs, slain for the testimony of Jesus and the word of God “under the altar” (chapter 6); then saw the same souls “on thrones” (chapter 20); it was a vision of victory. Taking the souls from beneath the altar and elevating them to the thrones was called a resurrection in exactly the same sense that bringing the people of Israel out of bondage in Babylon was opening their graves and causing them to “live”–a figurative death and a figurative resurrection. A comparison here of two passages in the apocalypse will further reveal the nature of the resurrection of the twentieth chapter of Revelation. First: “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death”–Revelation 2:11. Second: “He that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power”–Revelation 20:6. Picturing in advance the persecutions of the early Christians, John declared in Revelation 2:11 that he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. But in Revelation 20:6, the same apostle speaking to the same persons, said, “he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power.” Thus to have part in the first resurrection equaled exemption from the second death. But to overcome these persecutions equaled exemption from the second death.

1. Overcoming the persecutions equaled exemption from the second death.2. Part in the first resurrection equaled exemption from the second death.3. Things equal to the same thing are equal to each other.4. Overcoming the persecutions and part in the first resurrection were equal to the same thing, therefore they were equal to each other. To support the theory of a future millennial reign of Christ, efforts are made to connect Revelation 2:25-28; Revelation 3:21-22 with Revelation 20:1-6, as referring to the second coming of Christ, when he shall then give the saints “power over the nations,” and he shall then “rule them with a rod of iron”–in the millennium. Such an interpretation charges that Jesus deceived the church at Thyatira into believing that he would come during their lifetime. It should be observed again, as previously detailed in Section Two, that the “coming” of Christ is mentioned in several senses, elsewhere in the New Testament, and in Revelation. To Ephesus, Pergamos, Sardis and Laodicea, Christ said he would “come.” He would come in the events named, in things promised or threatened. To Thyatira he said: 1. To hold fast. 2.

To overcome. 3. To keep his works. All of that “till I come,” which obviously did not refer to his second coming. Furthermore, the expressions in verses 26-28 were indicative of things that would occur in the life period of Thyatira: 1. Power over the nations–the influence of the gospel in breaking the power of pagan persecutions and the heathen nations. 2. Rod of iron–the irresistible influence of Christ in the preaching and lives of early Christians, exemplified even in martyrdom. 3.

The morning star–the exalted place of those who overcome, next to Christ, in his glorious empire, the church. On the same erroneous premises it is held that Revelation 3:21-22 makes a distinction between the Father’s throne, upon which Christ is asserted to occupy now, and Christ’s own throne which it is claimed he will occupy when he returns. But the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ are one kingdom (Ephesians 5:5); and the church of God and the church of Christ are one church (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:14); and the throne of God and the throne of Christ are one throne (Hebrews 1:8). Christians share Christ’s kingdom now (Luke 22:29); and they share his throne now (Revelation 3:21-22). For further textual comparisons, in Matthew 19:28 it is stated that “in the regeneration” Jesus would sit on the throne of his glory, and in Matthew 19:28 it is stated that the twelve apostles would occupy the thrones of authority in the same dispensation of regeneration. In Titus 3:4-5 Paul identified this gospel dispensation as “the regeneration.“So in this dispensation Christ is occupying “the throne of his glory.” A comparison of Mat 20:21 and Mark 10:37 will prove that his kingdom and his glory are identical. A further comparison of Luk 24:26 and Hebrews 1:8 will show that entering into his kingdom and glory was connected with his ascension. In Matthew 19:28, Jesus said that the disciples who had followed him would sit on thrones. But in Luke 22:28 he declared that the disciples who had continued would be appointed the kingdom. Therefore to occupy thrones in this gospel dispensation was the same thing as to be appointed the kingdom–and both relations between Christ and Christians exist now. In this gospel dispensation Christ is on the throne of his glory (Matthew 19:28); and he is on the throne of his kingdom. (Hebrews 1:8) This occupancy of his kingdom–glory throne extends from his ascension (Luke 24:26) to his coming (1 Corinthians 15:23-24). Christians who overcome “sit with him in his throne” now. They share his throne in the same sense, degree and extent that they share his glory and his kingdom, shown by the comparisons of these passages. These considerations destroy the millennial interpretation of the Father’s throne and the Son’s throne, as respects a distinction and a difference between them, and refute their interpretations of all the Revelation passages forced to serve their theory. The closing scene of Revelation was pictured in chapters 20,21 and 22 in a general summary of the elegant truths of the vision in relation to the obligations of the triumphant church, emerging from persecution and oppression into glorious victory. As a sequel to the vision of victory, the last chapters of Revelation present the church garbed in the robes of victory “as a bride adorned for her husband.” The figure does not indicate that the church is not now the bride of Christ, as some have assumed. Rather, the apostle declares in Romans 7:4 that the church has been married to Christ and has brought forth fruit unto God in that relationship. The expression “as a bride adorned” was a comparison only–a graphic description of the grandeur of the triumphant church adorned in the glorious habiliments of victory, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Having thus triumphed over all hostility and opposition and oppression and persecution the glorious church renewed her mission to all men in the second great invitation of Rev 22:17 : “The spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.” (4) A textual analysis of chapter twenty.It has been shown that Revelation 20:4 is altogether too inadequate as a text to sustain the millennial theory–and it is the only text that makes mention of the thousand years. Hence, they have no text. No apostle in any epistle has ever mentioned such a period of time, nor such a dispensation, nor such a millennial age or hope. It must not therefore belong to apostolic doctrine, or to the Christian’s hope and duty. Revelation 20:1-15 was but the climax of an imagery that began with the scene of defeat in chapter 6:9 and ends in a scene of victory in chapter 20:4. The comparison of chapters six and twenty reveals the application of the symbols intervening. A running analysis of the final chapters will display the success of the cause of the martyrs and the glory of the victorious church. Verses 1-2.1. The angel coming down out of heaven. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit”–Revelation 20:1-2.The angel was Christ as a messenger of the gospel. The key to the abyss held by the evil angel in chapter 9:1 had been taken by Christ, signifying his power over death and hades, as stated in Revelation 1:18. The chain represented the very purpose of the gospel to prevent the devil from deceiving men. Bound–not permitted to deceive–signified the triumph of the truth over error.

A thousand years–as in all other places where the phrase was mentioned–denoted completeness. Here it had reference to the complete success of the cause over persecutions, and had no reference to a cycle of time. The triumph of Christ over Satan had been fully set forth in Matthew 12:29 and Luke 11:21 in the parable of the strong man’s house; “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth the spoils.” So Jesus did in overcoming Satan and spoiling his goods and bringing to nought his power. So says Paul both in Colossians 2:15 and Hebrews 2:14, as previously shown in this series.

Revelation 20:3

Revelation 20:3. Cast him into the bottomless pit is symbolical of the restrictions that were placed upon Satan as to his influence over nations, for he has been there personally all the time. The restrictions were caused by the chain of the Bible that had been placed IL, he possession of the national leaders. (See again the note at beginning of this chapter.) These restrictions were to continue as long as the leaders of nations and other heads of the channels of thought continued their active defense of the Book. Knowing that human weakness would assert itself causing a letting down of the activities for the truth, the Lord saw the advantage it would give Satan and that he would again come out in his fight against the Bible. Hence it is stated that after the thousand years were expired–after the restrictions of the Bible had weakened due to the loss of activities of the professed friends of truth–Satan would be loosed a little season. This little season is the same as the “battle” of verse 8 which will be discussed at that place.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 3.2. Satan cast into the abyss. “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”–Revelation 20:3.In the vision Satan returned from his prowling to his diabolical abode in ignominious and complete defeat. His abysmal abode was shut by the angel with the key to the bottomless pit that he held; which angel also set a seal upon him, as an authoritative act; such as the seal of state stamped on the documents signed by officials of government. The purpose of this satanic imprisonment was that he should deceive the nations no more–that is, in the idolatry of Caesar-worship, a repetition of the previous symbols of the mark and image of the beast in the heathen emperorworship. The next clause till the thousand years be fulfilled referred to the complete victory over the imperial persecutors, after which Satan was represented as being unleashed to exert influence, not in the form of persecution, but in the spiritual conflict between heathenism and Christianity–a symbolic representation of the upsurge of heathenism.

Revelation 20:4

Revelation 20:4. And I saw thrones . . . given unto them. This is the same vision that is described at chapter 17:12 and the reader should see the comments at that passage. The pronoun they means the kings who had occupied their thrones in form only, but who really had not been free to use their own judgment in their ruling. Sat upon them denotes that they were occupying their thrones in fact and not merely in name. Judgment was given unto them signifies they were allowed to render their own judgment in matters pertaining to their kingdoms.

Saw the souls . . . a thousand years. Before reading further at this place, let the reader reexamine very carefully the first paragraph of the note referred to previously. That is especially necessary to get the significance of the thousand years of reign with Christ. The souls John saw were of those who were beheaded by Papal Rome because they refused to submit to her false demands. Their death recalls a like experience recorded in chapter 6:9 of those who had been slain by Pagan Rome. These whom John saw in our present verse resisted the beast (Babylon), his image (those who imitated the beast) and the mark (those who brought upon themselves the guilt of doing the things originally incited by Nero.)

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 4.3. The souls on the thrones. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the words of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”–Revelation 20:4.These souls were not bodies and were not embodied. They were souls. And a resurrection was not necessary for souls to live. These souls lived–they did not begin to live.

They lived. These souls were under the altar in chapter six; they were on thrones in chapter twenty. In the first scene a cause had suffered in defeat; in the second, a cause has been crowned with victory. They lived and reigned– taking the souls out from under the altar and elevating them to thrones is referred to as a resurrection; the resurrection of a cause. They lived in the cause for which they died. They reigned in the persons of their successors, and like characters of like spirit.

As John came in the spirit and power of Elijah; as the spirit of Huss lived after his martyrdom; a cause survives the death of its advocates and they live in the spirit of its torchbearers. Judgment was given unto them–that is, the avenging for which the souls under the altar had pleaded was now received. In Revelation 6:10 John heard the martyrs crying for judgment: “How long, 0 Lord, holy and true dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Meaning their persecutors. In Revelation 20:4 John saw them receiving the judgment for which they had called. Lived and reigned–if “reigned” is limited by a literal thousand years, “lived” is also thus limited. So if the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with a thousand years, which ending would upset all the glory of a millennium. Thrones–not literal and earthly, but the exalted state of those who had overcome their persecutions. Beheaded–John saw the “souls” of the beheaded; they did not live in an earthly state. If literal, only those who are literally beheaded could enter the millennium. If figurative, there is no millennium, which is the fact of the matter. With Christ–the text says nothing of the reign of Christ, but specifies a reign of the martyred saints with Christ. Reigning with Christ is a state. In 1 Corinthians 4:8, Paul rebuked the Corinthians because they “reigned as kings” in wealth and worldliness; and he wished that they reigned in righteousness with the apostles. In Romans 5:17, Paul referred to the time under the law when death reigned, but under grace the righteous reign in life by Jesus Christ. So these martyred saints reigned with Christ in a state of complete victory over death and in felicity of the beatitude blessed of verse six. Thousand years–the vision of victory, complete victory. It stood for infinity; it was not a cycle of time nor a period of time, and had no reference to time. God remembers his covenant to a thousand generations, and one day with the Lord is as a thousand years–that is, God’s memory of his covenant is infinite; and in God’s infinite world days and years are not reckoned. The term denoted completeness, perfection, infinity. Their victory was complete, their triumph full, and their reign infinite. The fundamental principle of exegesis forbids that the thousand years be interpreted literally here, and the word year symbolically in all the book elsewhere. So, if it is literal, the reign of Christ was for one thousand years only, not one day more or less. And, if literal, since both verbs “lived” and “reigned” are modified by the thousand years, when they shall cease to reign, they shall cease to live also. Furthermore, if literal, only the beheaded lived and reigned. And, finally, the third personal pronoun, they cannot be changed to the first personal we; and the verbs of past tense lived and reigned cannot be changed to verbs of future tense shall live and reign. The conclusion is that there are too many difficulties in the way of the literal application. [NOTE: the following is taken from the writer’s comments overviewing the chapter, and can also be found in the “chapter” section of this module]It is a common expression, we hear it on every hand; that the Bible plainly says that Christ will reign on the earth a thousand years. That is something that the Bible nowhere says, plainly or vaguely. Like the battle of Armageddon notion, the millennium imagination is not in the Bible. Armageddon is mentioned in the Bible but the “battle of Armageddon” theory is nowhere found in the scriptures. The Bible has something to say about “a thousand years” but nothing about a thousand years reign on the earth. Christ reigns, but the reign of Rev 20:1-15 was not the reign of Christ.

It was rather a peculiar and special reign of certain souls with Christ. It does not mention or refer to the reign of Christ. The ones mentioned were reigning; it was a special use of the word, applied to a special incident of the Revelation vision. The text says they lived and reigned. Where did they live and reign? They lived and reigned with Christ.

John saw souls out of the body, not in the body. It was a vision of the souls of the martyrs living and reigning with Christ in a particular and peculiar sense. In a conversation with any group of denominational preachers one will invariably be heard to say that the Bible plainly says that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. When the asserter is asked for the passage that so plainly says it, he will just as invariably and confidently refer his listeners to Revelation 20:1-15, verse 4. It is in order, in time and in place now to dissect this misunderstood and misapplied passage of scripture. This is the way its reads: And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.The passage is almost universally believed to actually say that we shall reign with Christ on earth a thousand years. The text says, they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The pronoun we is a personal pronoun of first person, but they is a personal pronoun of the third person; the verbs lived and reigned are verbs of past tense; but shall live and reign are verbs of future tense. No man can claim the right to change the sentence of this text from the third personal pronoun they to the first personal pronoun we, nor to change the verbs lived and reigned of the past tense to shall live and reign of future tense. That is too much change for any man to make who has an ounce of respect for the word of God. John said, “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” The passage says nothing about “the thousand years reign of Christ.” There is a great difference in the two expressions. Revelation 20:1-15 says, “they lived and reigned with Christ.” They who? Lived–lived where? Reigned –how, with whom and where? “Lived and reigned”–with whom, in what place? It is not the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls “with Christ,” that is mentioned in Revelation 20:1-15. There is a vast difference between living and reigning “with Christ” and a millennial reign “of Christ.” So let us be true to the facts in the case. It does not mention the reign of Christ, but the reign of souls “with” him. They not only “reigned” with him, they “lived” with him. They “lived and reigned” with Christ a thousand years. The two verbs “lived” and “reigned” are both limited by the thousand years. If the expression denotes time, then when the reign is over, and they ceased to reign; the living would be over and they would cease to live. Revelation 20:1-15 does not mention the second coming of Christ. That is not the subject of it. It does not mention a bodily resurrection, and that is not the subject of it. It does not mention a reign on the earth, nor does it mention the “reign of Christ”–and neither is the subject. Is it not possible for souls to live and reign “with Christ” without Christ being on earth? Furthermore, it does not mention the throne of David or any other throne on earth. And it does not mention either Jerusalem or Palestine, nor does it mention Christ on earth. Jesus said that Jerusalem is not the place where men should worship (John 4:21), but they want to put it there. He said that his kingdom is not of the world (John 18:36), but they want to put it here, and make it of the world. Can millennialists consistently say that though it mentions none of these things, it teaches all of them? It is altogether possible and consistent for all the things mentioned to exist without being on the earth. (2) The thousand years reign with Christ.There are twenty figures of speech in the nineteenth and twentieth chapters alone. In a series of symbols such as these, it is not reasonable to make a literal application of the thousand years and a figurative application of all the rest of the symbols, without a contexual or historical reason for doing so. The thousand years, like the other parts of the vision, is a figure of speech–a symbol of something else. It is said in Deuteronomy 7:9 that God keeps his covenant and his mercy unto a thousand generations. God does not count a literal thousand generations, then quits remembering his covenant. It means God’s memory of and faithfulness to his covenant are perfect and complete. The term thousand was a figure of completeness. It does not denote a cycle of time. Then what about the millennium? Nothing was said of a millennium. The thousand years did not mean a millennium. There is no millennium. There never was a millennium. There never will be a millennium. The twentieth of Revelation did not refer to a millennium. The thousand years was not literal, therefore was not a millennium and has no reference to a millennium. There is no connotation for the notion. The magic word millennium is not in the text. In this vision John “saw thrones” and the ones that “sat on them.” And those whom he saw were the souls of the beheaded. They had not “worshipped” the beast. They had not “received” his mark, and they “lived” and “reigned” with Christ. First: They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. It does not mention the second coming of Christ, a bodily resurrection, a reign on the earth, or a literal throne in Jerusalem or elsewhere. It does not mention us, and it does not mention Christ on earth. Revelation 20:1-15 mentions none of those things, and a curse was pronounced on the one who adds to the words of the book. Second: They lived and reigned with Christ. It says “they”–the souls of the martyrs, those who were beheaded. The beheaded souls lived and reigned with Christ. Only those who were beheaded entered into that thousand years. If that thousand years is literal, then the beheading is literal, and only those literally beheaded get into the millennium. If the beheading is figurative, the thousand years is figurative, and that cuts us out; for there could be no literal millennium. If it is a literal thousand years, it is a literal beheading. If it is a figurative beheading, it is a figurative thousand years, and either way there is no millennium for us. Third: They lived and reigned. If the term “reigned” is limited by a thousand years, the verb “lived” is also limited by a thousand years. If the reigning ends with the thousand years, the living ends with a thousand years, and the millennium will end with everybody in it ceasing to live. That would be quite a hopeless millennium.

Revelation 20:5

Revelation 20:5. Rest of the dead is symbolical or figurative and refers to people who did not “have enough life” or interest to be active in defense of the truth. Until the thousand years were finished. When that bright period of the Reformation (here called the thousand years) was over and the former defenders of truth began to lag, then the enemies of the Bible “came to life” and became active in opposition to the word of God, acting under the influence of Satan who was now loosed in that the Bible was not binding him as it did. Such a movement stimulated the former “dead” ones to action and then was begun the conflict between the friends of truth and its enemies, a conflict that has continued to our day. This is the first resurrection.

The pronoun does not refer directly to what has been said but to what is yet to be said, and it refers to the subject as a whole. John 11:25-26 should be considered in connection with the first resurrection, also read the note to which reference was made.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 5.4. The rest of the dead. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection”–Revelation 20:5.The rest of the dead lived not–since the only ones who are said to have lived were the souls of the slain martyrs, and the rest of the dead lived not, but judgment was given to them–whom did they judge, and how? And if “lived” means that they were given literal bodies, then when the rest of the dead “lived not” until the thousand years was finished, it meant that the rest of the dead would be given literal bodies at the end of the thousand years. That consequence forces the resurrection of the wicked too early; before the little season; and before the time for the resurrection and the judgment in the millennial order of things. So their theory bogs down again. The rest of the dead here simply referred to the persecutors whose oppressions had been overcome, just as Isaiah 26:13-14 referred to the wicked lords who had dominion over Israel as being dead and should not live, deceased and should not rise. The statement until the thousand years were finished did not denote that the figuratively deceased persecutors would be revived afterward. The preposition until denotes end or termination, for which there are numerous exemplifications. In Hebrews 9:10 the “carnal ordinances” of the Mosaic order were “imposed on them until the time of reformation”- but this does not mean that after the present gospel dispensation the ordinances of Judaism will be imposed again. In 1 Samuel 15:35, after Saul’s disobedience in the expedition against the Amalekites, it is said that “Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death.” This could not mean that Samuel continued to visit Saul after his death. The use of until expressed end or termination. In Luke 16:16, Jesus said, “the law and the prophets were until John”- -that is, until John’s order ended, but the Lord did not imply that “the law and the prophets” would be re-inaugurated afterward. In Galatians 3:19, the apostle said the law of Moses “was added because of transgression till (until) the seed should come,” but the statement assuredly has no implication that the Mosaic law will be reconstituted after the dispensation of Christ. In Luke 21:24, in foretelling the fall of Jerusalem, the Lord said, “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” On the premises of these passages the Lord’s statement in Luke 21:24, means that the old Jerusalem was trodden down permanently–the end of the apostate harlot Jerusalem. In the light of these examples it is patent that the statement of verse five, “the rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years were finished,” did not imply that the figuratively dead persecutors would come to life afterward. The symbolic statement declared the end of the imperial persecutors of the church, just as Isaiah 26:13-14 meant the end of the dominion of the wicked lords over Israel after deliverance from the Babylonian exile. The imagery was parallel, and the language was figurative in both passages. This is the first resurrection–just as Israel’s deliverance from the bondage of Babylon was referred to in Ezekiel 37:1-28 as a resurrection out of their graves; and the broken dominion of the lords was a resurrection from oppression, of Isaiah 26:1-21; so overcoming these persecutions, triumphing over death and martyrdom, in a victorious cause of Christ, was called a resurrection in Revelation 20:1-15. The visional procedure of taking the souls of the martyrs out from under the altar in chapter 6, and elevating them to thrones in chapter 20, was symbolized as a resurrection; as in Ezekiel 37:11-14 the return of Israel from Babylonian captivity was a symbolic resurrection. In the symbolic picture of Rev 20:5, the martyrs of the altar in chapter six were raised to the thrones of chapter twenty, and were pictured as living and reigning with Christ. It was the resurrection of the cause for which they died. The fact that they had to be told that it was a resurrection is proof that it was used in an unusual sense of the word; it was a figurative, metaphorical use, not a physical employment of the word. The “first resurrection” was therefore spiritual–the resurrection of the cause for they had passed through tribulation and for which the martyrs died. The passage in Revelation 20:1-15 described no period of blessing to be enjoyed at the close of this dispensation. It will not bear the literal construction and the theorists themselves will not accept the conclusions and consequences of it. But as a practical lesson to us, the derived application is this: It is the portion of every true believer in any age who shares the life of the risen Lord through obedience to his commands.

Revelation 20:6

Revelation 20:6. The first resurrection is that mentioned in the preceding verse of which John said he was going to speak. He is doing so now and telling us of the blessing that will be for those who have part in this first resurrection. In John 11:25 Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life.” Jesus was the first one to be resurrected never to die again (Acts 13:34). To have part in the first resurrection means to have part in Christ. And to get the spiritual benefits of the resurrection of Christ as the bodily benefits, it is necessary to be faithful after coming into Him.

That is what is meant in John 11:26 by “liveth and believeth in me.” That person “shall never die” according to Christ’s statement to Martha, which means the same as on suck the second death hath no power in our present verse. This second death is the punishment in the lake of fire and brimstone according to chapter 21:8 of our present book.

Shall reign with him a thousand years. This period is the same that is explained at verse 2. Of course the word reign is not literal because Christ is the sole King on the throne. Thayer’s explanation of the word as it is used here is as follows: “Paul transfers the word to denote the supreme moral dignity, liberty, blessedness, which will be enjoyed by Christ’s redeemed ones.” The principle expressed will apply to the faithful in Christ of all ages. However, the present application is made to those who had been faithful to Christ under the persecutions of Babylon. This spirit of devotion in the presence of death was a reenactment of the spirit of the first martyrs (chapter 6:9-11), and they lived (were in evidence) all through this bright period of the Reformation.

It is in that sense only that they were to be resurrected and reign with Christ through the thousand years. There was no prediction of any literal resurrection of some while others were to remain in their graves.

There will be but one bodily resurrection (and it is still future), and at that same hour all human beings, both good and bad, will be brought to life (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29). It is plainly taught in other passages that when Jesus comes again it will mark the end of the kingdom and all things on the earth. (1 Corinthians 15:24-25; 2 Peter 3:10). All statements of a resurrection that is to occur before the second coming of Christ are figurative only.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 6.5. Part in the first resurrection. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years”–Revelation 20:6.There is an axiom which decrees that things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. In Revelation 2:11 it is said that overcoming the persecutions exempted them from the second death. But in Revelation 20:6 it is said that part in the first resurrection exempted them from the second death. Things equal to the same things being equal to each other– part in the first resurrection referred to overcoming the persecutions and entering into the triumph of that victory. Again, it is the same kind of a resurrection prophesied in Isaiah 26:1-21 and Ezekiel 37:1-28. On such the second death hath no power–the implication of the context is that the first death was the martyrdom of the saints as represented by the souls of them that were slain under the altar in Revelation 6:9. Receiving the guerdon of martyrdom for their overcoming faith, promised by their Lord in Revelation 2:10-11, these martyred saints had exemption from the judgment of them that had received the mark of the beast in submission to the imperial edict commanding the worship of the Caesar-image. They were in a state of special dispensation, not amenable to judgment. This in contrast with those who had “worshipped the beast” and “his image” and who had received “his mark,” and in consequence shared the same retribution–the oblivion of eternal banishment. Priests of God and of Christ–the expressions of “priests of God and Christ” and “reign with” in this imagery were used synonymously, as in Revelation 1:6 and Revelation 5:10; and compares with the phrase “kingdom of Christ and God” in Ephesians 5:5, in which all Christians reign with Christ. It symbolized the perpetual performance of heavenly functions in the presence of God and Christ in “the kingdom of Christ and God.” In this heavenly state they shall reign with him a thousand years–that is, in complete victory and infinite reward, removed from transitory time and terrestrial place. The use of thousand years here is further proof that it had no reference or application to a literal cycle of years. They shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. This, of course, referred to the souls who lived and reigned; and here shall reign with him referred to the continuity of that reign which had begun in the expression “lived and reigned” of verse four. It had reference to the same souls and the same reign and simply denoted its continuation,

Revelation 20:7-8

Revelation 20:7. This is a repetition of verse 3. See Revelation 20:3.

Revelation 20:8. The nations here are the same as in verse 3 as to the meaning of the word. But the identical groups of men who had been deceived by Satan before the Reformation would not be available to him in the same manner, for they still have the Bible in their own languages, and will always know better than to surrender their rights as nations with their kings again. But having found by experience the great advantage of working through the various headquarters, so as to effect a broad-scale opposition to the truth, he determined to direct his efforts along that line. Of course his objective is the destruction of the Bible or the faith of the people in it. That is why this great and long conflict is called Armageddon in chapter 16:16, for one of the terms in Thayer’s definition of the word is “destruction.” Satan’s strategy in this war was to use any means he could command that would destory men’s faith in the Book.

Gog and Magog were ancient peoples and countries that were numerous, savage and at enmity with civilization. The words are used symbolically here to indicate the kind of forces and means that Satan would use in his war against the Bible.

In the note referred to at the beginning of this chapter, it is shown that a phase of Satan’s public attacks upon the Bible is in the form of evolution, seeing that it is taught in the public schools, also be chartered and endorsed by states and educational headquarters. The same objective is now being attempted in the form of communism. In proportion as a man believes in this doctrine he will not believe in the Bible and Satan knows it. That is why he is pressing its tenets upon the people through every channel possible. It accounts for the number of communists among the school teachers of our free school system. Also for the presence of communists and their sympathizers in the three branches of our government; the legislative, executive and judicial.

I am sometimes asked if I believe the present conflict with Russia and her satellites was predicted. My answer is yes as the whole picture is considered.

Communism is just the present objective in the war, the conflict being either for or against it. In that sense it was predicted for it is a continuation of the battle (war) of Armageddon, which was begun after Satan was loosed and is destined to continue until Christ comes. As in most other wars, there are spies and sympathizers who pretend to be on the right side, but whose heart is in favor of the enemy. Such traitors either deny being communists or even refuse to say whether they are or not. We know that when a man refuses to answer questions on ’this subject when propounded by a proper person, that person is a communist at heart and should be regarded as one of Satan’s soldiers in the war of Armageddon. Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerses 7-8.6. The loosing of Satan. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison”–Revelation 20:7.After the catastrophic fall of Judaism, and the victory of the saints over the imperial persecutors, there was a renewed struggle of the church with heathenism, a spiritual conflict symbolized by Satan being loosed out of his prison.With Judaism removed from the path of the church, and the cessation of persecution by the imperial rulers, the way was open for the expansion of Christianity, as foretold by Jesus in Matthew 24:31, and envisioned by John in Revelation 11:15. But it was not without opposition–the remaining enemy was heathenism. Satan’s theatre of activity in this struggle was not persecution, but spiritual and doctrinal: And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth–Revelation 20:8.That declaration was in opposition to the angel–messengers of the gospel–of Matthew 24:31, gathering his elect “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” This part of the vision was descriptive of the battle with heathenism, hence the reference to Gog and Magog (a combination of one name), the mythical ruler of heathendom, and which title was so used in similar symbolic reference, by the prophet in Rev. 38:l-23, prophesying the threat of heathenism to Israel from Gog and Magog. As the beast was symbolic of the Roman empire, personified in the persecuting emperors, so was the Gog and Magog personification symbolic of the spiritual forces of heathenism launched against the church in the “battle” of verse eight, in which the heathen forces of Gog and Magog were represented to be in number as the sand of the sea, which symbolized the proportions of the conflict and its challenge to the church; and verse nine stated that they compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The reference to the “beloved city” here could not mean Jerusalem–the apostate harlot Jerusalem was no longer “beloved,” and was no more. This beloved city was the church, the New Jerusalem, which was compassed about with heathenism, in the midst of its idolatries, surrounded by all of its antagonism to the church.

Revelation 20:9

Revelation 20:9. The pronoun they stands for the hostile forces of Satan symbolically mustered from the regions of Gog and Magog. This is the army of Satan that is described in the preceding paragraph. They will fight under his directions with the object of destroying men’s faith in the Bible. The apostate church of Rome taught that the religious conduct of men should be regulated according to the pope and his college of cardinals. The teaching of Christ is that men’s lives should be regulated by the Bible (1 Peter 4:11; 1 John 1:7), that the sole institution for making that Book known is the church (Ephesians 3:10 Ephesians 3:21; 1 Timothy 3:15).

Hence the army of Satan was to compass the camp of the saints. This means the church when considered as a group of individuals, and the beloved city means the church if spiritual Jerusalem is used as a symbol.

So here is where the issue is joined in this great battle of Armageddon. The church of Christ is on one side, and everything else is on the other in all controversies that involve moral and religious interests, and where belief in or opposition to the Bible is at stake. The first two thirds of this brief verse covers the entire period of the war of Armageddon, beginning when Satan was loosed and extending to the coming of Christ. The last sentence of the verse marks the end of the war. Not that it tells of the date (no passage does), but it names the event that will bring the conflict to a close, namely, the consuming fire out of heaven. We are told in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 that the pope will be destroyed at the coming of Christ.

It is very fitting that the war of Armageddon should be destroyed at the same time, since the pope and Satan have been allies arrayed against the forces of Christ for centuries. And with this verse the prophetic symbols of the book of Revelation bring us to the judgment day for the final showing.

At various places in our study we have been brought to that event, then taken back to some earlier period and started all over again. But the rest of the chapter will describe the events on the day of judgment and not go back.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 9.As the beast was symbolic of the Roman empire, personified in the persecuting emperors, so was the Gog and Magog personification symbolic of the spiritual forces of heathenism launched against the church in the “battle” of verse eight, in which the heathen forces of Gog and Magog were represented to be in number as the sand of the sea, which symbolized the proportions of the conflict and its challenge to the church; and verse nine stated that they compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The reference to the “beloved city” here could not mean Jerusalem–the apostate harlot Jerusalem was no longer “beloved,” and was no more. This beloved city was the church, the New Jerusalem, which was compassed about with heathenism, in the midst of its idolatries, surrounded by all of its antagonism to the church. The first chapter of Romans, and the Corinthian, Ephesian, and Colossian epistles confirm this great danger to the church. It was concerning this threat of heathen influence that Paul specifically exhorted the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. The description of verse nine that the legions of the heathen ruler went upon the breath of the earth in the forays of his satanic forces against the church emphasizes the extent of the opposition to Christianity, and of its threat to the church. But as in the finale of the imperial persecutions, the church prevailed against heathenism, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.This was the symbol of the consuming power of the word of God in exposing the error and evil of heathen idolatry. The apostle declared in 2 Corinthians 4:2-4 that the light of the gospel of Christ dispelled the darkness of “the god of this world.” Neither the imperial beast nor the heathen Magog could withstand the power of God. It was in reference to these same things that Paul said in Romans 16:20 : “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”

Revelation 20:10

Revelation 20:10. Devil that deceived them refers to the vast hordes who comprised the army of Satan. This verse says nothing about the fate of the deceived ones; that will be shown later. This is the lake of fire and brimstone that is mentioned in chapter 21:8. Tormented day and night is figurative as to the parts of the time for there will be no recurrence of day and night literally. The expression is used to give emphasis to the literal part of the sentence, namely, for ever and ever. In other words there will be no “breathing spell” or even brief intermission for the sake of relief; it will be continuous and endless.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerese 10.The defeat of the emperor-worship was described in verse ten with metaphors of torment and endless punishment. The three great enemies of the church had been vanquished. The devil who had employed the forces of heathenism to deceive the people and destroy the church, together with the beast and false prophet of Rev. 19:20, was cast into the region of oblivion and eternal torment. The meaning of the vision, simply stated, is that the combined effort of the imperial persecutors and of the heathen powers to stop the advance of the church resulted in colossal failure. There is no rule of exegesis or of interpretation that could warrant a literal application of the wide sweep of this symbolic language. It was the figurative description of the end and doom of the rulers who oppressed the church of Christ; and it signified that they should nevermore exist to humiliate the Lord’s church, the Lamb’s Bride.

Revelation 20:11

Revelation 20:11. Great white throne signifies purity and justice. From whose face . . . fled away . . . no place for them. This agrees with the next chapter that will tell us of the new heaven and earth.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 11.(5) The tribunal of the great white throne. The progress of the apocalypse from the opening vision of chapter four surrounded Christ, the Rider and Conqueror; and the church, his Bride; in conflict with multiple opposing powers. But in the scene of verses eleven to fifteen the visions turned to the judgment throne of God, as “the dead both small and great stand before God,” The picture in these verses was but the continuation of the contrast between the causes of righteousness and wickedness, truth and error, Christianity and heathenism; and their standing respectively before the great throne of divine judgment. The issues had been joined in the fierce conflict between the church on one hand, and all the forces of Judaism, Romanism and paganism on the other. Now the participants stood before the bar of divine decision, where the issues were settled. The cause of righteousness was acquitted, and the cause of wickedness was convicted, and forever condemned. A continuation of the textual analysis will add “precept upon precept” that the apocalypse was limited to the period of the struggle and triumph of the church with opposing powers in the first century of its existence.

1. The great white throne. “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them”–Revelation 20:11.This visional tribunal was the bar of divine justice to be meted to the criminals of war against Christ and the church. The description of the great white throne adds awe to the vision, as it also symbolized the character of pure and unmingled justice from the magnificent seat of judgment dispensed by the righteous Judge of the small and great. The Psalmist put it to verse in Psalms 84:14 : “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” From before the face of God the earth and the heaven fled away: and there w a s found no place for them. This was not flight from one locality to another–the phrase fled away indicated complete disappearance. The earth, as in other visions, referred to the inhabitants of the land of Palestine; and the heaven signified the authorities and governments. After complete defeat there was no place for their activities of persecution and opposition, and they disappeared from their visional positions before the face of the great God of judgment.

Revelation 20:12

Revelation 20:12. Small and great. In God’s eyes there are no “big I and little you,” so the phrase is used only to denote that all human beings will be brought before the judgment. This conclusion also agrees with the literal statements of scripture in other passages (2 Corinthians 5:10). Books occurs twice in this verse and it is stated that the judgment will be rendered according to the works that are written in the books. Hence the books means God’s books of remembrance. (See Psalms 56:8; Malachi 3:16.) God does not literally need the mechanical use of books, but the words are used symbolically to impress us with the truth that none of the things we do will escape His knowledge.

The other book is described as the book of life. It is referred to in the last verse as containing the names of the faithful servants of the Lord. This same thought is expressed in chapter 21:27; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3. Upon the basis of this information we may conclude that the books were the records of men’s actions, and the book of life contained a list of those whose conduct had caused their names to be written in this book, and whose continued good deeds had prevented their names from being blotted out (Revelation 3:5).

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 12.2. The dead small and great. “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works”– Revelation 20:12.These dead were the class of verse five, and of Rev 19:18. They were the “rest of the dead,” the persecutors of the church, small and great–from the lowest to the highest officials of the imperial beast–all of them together stood before the tribunal of retribution. Comparison again with Isaiah’s vision of the demise of the wicked lords who had exercised evil dominion over Israel in Isaiah 26:13-14 will lend force to this application of the judgment throne vision. These dead were held in contrast with the blessed of verse six, and there was no blessing for any of these dead, small and great–they stood before the throne of the great God, as culprits called to account for their crimes. When the books were opened that contained the record of their works they were judged accordingly. In the same symbolism, the beasts of Daniel’s vision, Revelation 7:10, were judged by the books which were opened. These books symbolized the record of evil deeds, a book of remembrance. But the reference to another book . . . which is the book of life symbolized the registry of the approved, which are written in heaven. The names of these dead included in the rest of the dead were not in it. The distinction was made between the books, and the book of life. The names of the dead, small and great, referred to the judgment of the evil persecutors and opposers of the church; they were judged out of those things which were written in the books–not the book. These things were the record of their own evil works. The whole vision, of course, was figurative, and must be applied in the sense of the visions which represented the deadly struggle of the church with the persecuting powers.

Revelation 20:13

Revelation 20:13. The preceding verse makes a general statement of the persons to be summoned before the judgment. “Small and great” would virtually include all human beings that ever lived. The present verse gives particulars, doubtless to impress us with the completeness of the resurrection of all persons regardless of where their bodies and spirits had been, even including the sea with its millions of ravenous creatures to feed upon the bodies of the dead. Death refers to the dead bodies and hell (from HADES), is the place where the spirits had been. Both will be reunited and brought before the judgment.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 13.3. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works”–Revelation 20:13.The symbolism continued, the reference was not to the literal sea nor to physical death. Although the principles may be applied generally, the language belongs visionally to this apocalypse, and has direct reference to the judgment of the persecuting rulers and their subjects. The use of the word sea applied to the heathen society, consistent with the employment of the symbol elsewhere in the apocalypse; as mentioned in the classification of symbols in the first chapter. There was no reference to the bodily resurrection of the dead at the general judgment.

This surrender by the sea of its dead was as figurative as the first resurrection of verse six. The realm of death and hell (hades) in like figure were also said to deliver up the dead which were in them.The words death and hades were used as a synecdoche–a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole; the genus for the species, the name of the substance for the thing. So death and hades were used here for the subjects of the diabolical and infernal powers. In the same symbolism that the first resurrection of verse six was described as a resurrection to a state of victory–the resurrection of a cause; the “rest of the dead” were envisioned in a resurrection of retribution–of judgment on the evil rulers and their wicked subjects who had persecuted the cause of the Lamb of God.

Revelation 20:14

Revelation 20:14. Death (of the body) and hell (HADES), will not be needed any longer, hence they will be consigned to the lake of fire. Not all men, of course, but the ones who will be designated in the next verse.

Verse 14.4. Death and hades cast into the lake of fire. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death:–Revelation 20:14.These were the figurative representatives of the realms of opposition to the cause of the saints, and they were consigned to the same figurative oblivion with the beast. The symbolism meant that the period of martyrdom had ended, and there was surcease from persecution. This judgment on the evil instigators of the persecutions and martyrdom of the saints of God and Christ was specifically named the second death, which again was as visional and metaphorical as “the first resurrection.” It denoted in symbolic language the destruction of the evil forces which had moved against the church to destroy it.

Revelation 20:15

Revelation 20:15. This explains who is meant in the preceding verse to be cast into the lake of fire. In order to avoid such a doom it behooves us all to get our names written in the book of life, then live so that they will not be blotted out.

Comments by Foy E. WallaceVerse 15.5. The names not written in the book of life. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire”–Revelation 20:15. The book of life was the registry of the approved of God. The names not found in it were not a part of God’s called and chosen people–they belonged to the society opposed to the church. The same reference in Revelation 13:8 mentioned the names not written in the book of life “from the foundation of the earth,” which affirms the great truth that in all nations and ages the only people who belong to God in the true sense of the people of God were and are the people who have lived and now live in obedience to His divine will. Let it be impressed on the minds of the readers of Revelation, that these visions of resurrection; of second death and judgment; were all extraordinary and of special character. They were not intended for future and general application. They belonged to the apocalypse, and the apocalypse belonged to that period. The depiction of the first resurrection and the second death were not meant for expositions of the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead and the future eternal punishment of the wicked, abundantly taught elsewhere in numerous scriptures. Though the imagery has basis in these fundamental doctrinal truths, the visions of Revelation were limited in application to the pageantry of apocalyptic description of the fortunes of the early church and the divine judgments on its enemies.