Chapters 17 through 22 of Revelation deal specifically with the final events of earth's history, and in this section we will be looking at the thousand years of peace described in chapter 20.
Some people believe that we're already in that thousand year period, but the Bible says that during this period the devil will be chained up (figuratively speaking), which at this present time he is not, he's still free to deceive and tempt human beings, so that period can't have started yet.
We are going to look at when this thousand year period starts, when it ends and what goes on during that period, where is the devil, where are the righteous and where are the wicked - all of this has to fit together.
There are certain things that have to be done in order to prepare for eternity, and in this chapter the Bible describes a period of 1,000 years that is set aside for that purpose. The righteous have to be sure in their hearts that God is completely just. The wicked also have to understand that God is just in carrying out the punishment for their rebellion against Him. And the entire universe has to know that God is just. For righteousness to reign throughout eternity, these things have to be settled. The events described in chapter 20 follow immediately upon those portrayed in chapter 19.
So we'll take a look at this thousand years and what takes place during this period that God has set aside for this purpose - for you and I to become settled for eternity.
Revelation 20:1 "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand."
John saw the angel descending coming down to Earth.
The Key the angel has is no doubt symbolic of being able to imprison or confine. The fact that an angel carries the key shows that he has complete control of events. The dragon will be unable to avoid being cast into the pit.
The bottomless pit - In the Greek is "abussos" (Revelation 9:1). This is a symbolic vision. So the bottomless pit is not some subterranean cavern or some yawning chasm elsewhere in the universe. John is describing the prophetic picture that unfolded before his eyes. In vision he saw an actual pit, but the shutting up of the dragon in the pit was merely a symbolic way of showing that Satan's activities would be brought to a halt. This is made clear by the statement showing the purpose of his confinement; "that he should deceive the nations no more" (Revelation 20:3).
Revelation 20:2 "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years."
How Satan's activities will be brought to a halt is clear from the context and other scriptures, which show that the earth will be utterly depopulated at the second coming of Christ. According to Revelation 19:19-21 the wicked are destroyed in connection with the coming. At the same time the righteous are "caught up ... in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Paul's language shows that at His second coming Christ does not establish His kingdom on earth. Else why would He remove the saints from the earth? Its establishment takes place after the close of the millennium when the New Jerusalem comes down. (Revelation 21:1-3) That Jesus removes the saints from the earth at His coming is further implied in John 14:1-3. In comforting His disciples in their sorrow concerning His departure, Jesus informed them that He was going to His Father's house, where He would prepare dwellings for them. Then He would return and take them to be with Him. Compare John 13:36; 17:24. The dwellings are no doubt in the New Jerusalem, which is not transferred to this earth until the close of the millennium (Revelation 21:1-3).
Revelation 20:3 "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."
So the devil is bound for a thousand years, no longer able to deceive the nations.
Set a seal - Greek "sphragizo" - meaning "to seal". For the function of ancient seals (Revelation 7:2). The present seal may be compared with that placed on the tomb of Jesus (Matthew 27:66). The sealing symbolizes that Satan will be effectively restrained for the period indicated.
Satan's work of deception will be cut short by the depopulation of the earth. There will be no one whom he can deceive.
Greek "dei" - meaning "it is necessary". Dei suggests necessity based upon moral and ethical reasons. Here it is a necessity because God wills that it shall be so as a part of His divine plan.
To be loosed represents the reverse of the binding of the devil at the second coming of Christ. Satan is once again in the position to deceive men and work his will in opposition to God. It was the depopulation of the earth that terminated his deceptive work. His loosing will therefore be accomplished by a repopulation of the earth. An event brought about by the resurrection of the wicked at the close of the thousand years. These newly resurrected ones will be subject to his deceptions as he plans his final test of strength with Jehovah.
A little season or a little time - how long this little time will be we are not informed but it will be time enough for Satan to organize the resurrected wicked for an assault upon the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 20:4 "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 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."
Thrones are symbols of authority to exercise and rule as a king (Revelation 13:2) or as a judge (Matthew 19:28).
Now we see that Judgment was given to those who sat upon these thrones, Greek "krima", meaning "sentence", "verdict", "a decision rendered". Here "krima" seems to mean the authority to pass sentence. The passage does not refer to a verdict in favor of the righteous. The saints sit upon thrones, which indicates that they are the ones who will pronounce sentence. The passage is no doubt an allusion to Daniel 7:22 where the prophet notes that "judgment was given to the saints of the most High".
The work of judgment referred to by the revelator is no doubt that spoken of by Paul:
The work of judgment will no doubt involve a careful investigation of the records of evil men so that every man will be convinced of the justice of God in the destruction of the wicked. These souls/people (Revelation 6:9; Psalms 16:10) have been beheaded - Greek "pelekizo" - meaning literally "to cut off with an ax", specifically "to behead". The word comes from the Greek "pelekus - "an ax". The ax was the usual instrument used in executions in ancient Rome. Later it was replaced by the sword and later by the guillotine. They were killed because of their witness their testimony of Jesus, the Word of God (Revelation 1:2, 9).
These people had not worshipped the beast or his image. In other words they heeded the warning of the third angel message in Revelation 14:9-12 and refused to bow to the power represented by the beast even though threatened with boycott and death (Revelation 13:15-17). Only two classes of saints are mentioned in this verse. Martyrs and victors over the beast. This does not mean that they are the only ones to share in the millennial reign, for it has been shown that all the righteous dead (not only the martyrs) come forth in the first resurrection (Revelation 20:6; Daniel 12:2). Perhaps the martyrs and the victors over the beast are singled out because they represent those who have suffered most.
So who will the saints reign if all the wicked have been destroyed? They are said to reign "with Christ". When the seventh angel sounds, "the kingdoms of this world ... become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ" (Revelation 11:15). Daniel speaks of the "kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom" being "given to the people of the saints of the most High" (Revelation 7:27). The saints have been under the oppressive rule of kings who had drunk with the wine of Babylon's fornication (Revelation 18:3). Now the tables have been turned.
Yes the wicked are dead, but they will return to life at the end of the millennial period. They are shut up as it were, to later receive their punishment. In the meantime the saints assist in the work of judgment that determines the punishment to be meted out. After the wicked return to life they go down in utter defeat, receive their punishment and are destroyed (Revelation 14:10; 20:9).
The millennial reign as the Bible clearly shows is with Christ in heaven, not on earth as many Bible interpreters assert.
Revelation 20:5-6 "5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 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."
The scripture tells us clearly that the thousand years begins with the first resurrection - the resurrection of the righteous - we know it's the resurrection of the righteous because it says "blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection". All the righteous, all those that have accepted Christ, all those that have given their lives to Him, all those that have walked with Him, they will come forth from the grave first.
If all the righteous have been resurrected in the first resurrection and have come forth from the grave, then who is left? The wicked. They're the only ones left. So when it says "the rest of the dead" that can only refer to the wicked. So this is telling us that there is a thousand years between the first resurrection and a second resurrection. And in John it clarifies this further:
So there are two resurrections. There is the resurrection of life, in which the righteous are resurrected, and there is the resurrection of condemnation, in which the wicked are resurrected. And these two resurrections are separated by a thousand years.
Now the scripture reveals that there are five events that take place at the beginning of this thousand years.
1. The second coming of Christ.
Nothing is going to happen concerning the thousand years until Jesus returns. But with the coming of Christ, then the thousand years will begin. Christ is coming back to claim his people, all the righteous, and to set up His everlasting kingdom that will last for eternity. And the coming of Christ initiates the remaining events.
2. The righteous dead are resurrected.
Christ returns, and as He returns the scripture says He will shout and His voice will roll through the earth like peals of the loudest thunder, and all those that are in the grave that have died in Christ will hear His voice and come forth:
So the righteous dead will come forth from the grave at the call of Christ. When you accept Christ as your saviour, He gives you a new nature, a spiritual nature that is in tune with Him, so when He returns and calls, that new nature responds to His call. And the righteous come forth from the grave in perfect health, with no sickness or pain, no sorrow or death – all those things have gone forever.
To be raised incorruptible means to be raised perfect, with nothing wrong, and immortality will be bestowed upon all the righteous.
3. The righteous living are translated.
All those who have died in Christ have been resurrected, but now the living righteous that are alive in the earth at the time Christ comes back, it says all those people will be translated. This means that they will be changed.
So the resurrected righteous will come forth from their graves and rise to meet Christ , and the righteous who are alive when Christ returns will be changed and caught up together with the resurrected righteous, and they will all meet Christ in the air. So God has gathered together all of His children to meet Him.
4. The wicked living are slain.
What about the wicked who are living on the earth when Christ returns? Well this is what the scripture says will happen to them:
The Bible does not teach anything about the righteous being raptured away without anyone knowing about it - that's not scriptural. If the sky rolls back like a scroll, if islands start disappearing and mountains are moving around, do you think people will realise that something is happening? It's not very secret!
So it's clear that the wicked know exactly what's happening, they're fully aware of it.
So it makes it clear that the living wicked will be destroyed by the brightness of Christ's coming, as if a fire covered the whole earth.
But what about all the wicked who are dead?
5. The wicked dead are not disturbed.
When Christ comes, and He shouts, and His voice rolls through the earth, the righteous dead hear that voice and respond and come out of the grave, but the wicked dead don't hear a thing, they're not disturbed in the grave! And in fact they don't appear again for another thousand years.
So a thousand years will elapse before the wicked dead come up again out of the grave in the second resurrection - the resurrection of condemnation.
When Christ comes, the resurrected righteous and the living righteous meet Christ in the air and are all taken to heaven together. The wicked that were living are slain. The wicked that were dead are not disturbed. And so the devil is bound.
So with all the righteous in heaven, and all the wicked dead, the devil no longer has anyone to tempt, and this is how he is bound. It doesn't mean he is literally bound with chains – no physical chain could hold Satan. But yet it says he is bound or chained for a thousand years.
It's like if a friend came to your house and asked you to go somewhere with them, but you said; “I'd really like to but I'm just tied up right now". What would you mean? You would simply mean that circumstances are preventing you from going. And it's the same with Satan – he is bound by circumstance, because there is no one left for him to tempt, and he remains like that for a thousand years.
The righteous are in heaven, the wicked are dead, the earth is empty, it's desolate, and the devil and his angels are bound here for a thousand years. The Bible describes the earth at this time with these words in Jeremiah:
When Christ comes the living wicked will be slain, they will fall, and there they will remain until the end of the thousand years.
At this point the Bible says that judgment is given to the righteous. Note that we do not have it now; it's given to the saints during the thousand years, so we have no right to judge one another now.
So the righteous are given judgment during the thousand years.
Why is judgment given to the righteous? Isn't God's judgement good enough? Well the Bible tells us that the problem of sin is not going to arise a second time.
God does not intend that sin will rise a second time, and so God will answer every question that the righteous might have. Have you ever thought about what will happen when you get to heaven? Is God going to turn a key and we will all become mindless obedient servants? No, God is going to let each one of us use our mind, in fact we will use it more than we do now!
Let's say that you get to heaven, and there is someone who you thought for sure would be there but who isn't there. What would you do? Would you be happy to just keep quiet and not say anything? Would you keep wondering why that person wasn't there? God does not intend to get 10,000 years into eternity only for you to suddenly turn round and ask Him why that person isn't there who you thought should be there. God is going to answer that question during the thousand years, He is going to answer that question for every person and show exactly what happened to each individual and show exactly the reasons why they are not in heaven. That's why the books will be opened and the righteous will go through them, and they are going to see that God was perfectly loving, kind, merciful and just in everything that He did. And this is how judgment is given to the saints.
If you or I don't make it to heaven, it won't be God's fault, because He is doing everything He can to see that each one of us makes it into the kingdom of heaven.
What is this verse telling us? It's telling us that there have to be tears in order for God to wipe them away. And this is what the thousand years is for, to settle things once and for all, so that there will be no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain – all the questions will be answered. Everything will be settled so that sin will never rise again.
The righteous have spent a thousand years in heaven, living in the city of New Jerusalem, the place that Jesus went to prepare for His bride.
Now just as there were five events that marked the beginning of the thousand years, there are also five events that mark its close.
1. New Jerusalem descends.
At the end of the thousand years, the city of New Jerusalem that Jesus prepared and in which the saints have lived during the thousand years, will descend back to this earth.
This earth will become the place where God dwells. We will look at this more in our study of chapter 21.
2. The wicked dead are resurrected.
When the New Jerusalem descends to earth, at that point the wicked dead, who have been in the grave for a thousand years, are resurrected. This is the second resurrection, the resurrection of condemnation. And what a difference this second resurrection is to the first. Those in the first resurrection, at the beginning of the thousand years, are resurrected incorruptible, immortal, with no sickness, no pain, no sorrow, everything is absolutely perfect. But for those in the second resurrection, there is no change, they come out of the grave exactly as they went in – if they went in blind then they come out of the grave blind. If they went in sick, they come out with the same sickness. So for those in the second resurrection there is no change in their physical condition and there is also no change in their character.
It's now, at this time, that our character is to be developed – this does not happen after the resurrection. If you think that at the resurrection God is going to miraculously change you into being patient, kind and loving, then you're deceiving yourself – that is not going to happen. We must learn to love others before the resurrection – it will be too late to do that after.
3. Satan released from his prison.
How is Satan released from the prison that he has been in for a thousand years? Because now there are people again. All of the wicked have been resurrected and they are as numerous as the sand of the sea, and so now Satan has people to work with and deceive once again.
Revelation 20:7-8 "7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."
The names Gog and Magog were associated with the enemies of Israel, who were to attack God's people and Jerusalem after the exile (see Ezekiel 38:2, 14-16). Various of the Old Testament prophecies regarding Israel were not fulfilled. They will meet their fulfillment in spiritual Israel. So the mighty enemy confederation Ezekiel spoke of as coming against Jerusalem will find its fulfillment when God allows Satan, with his armies of the unsaved, to come against His people and His beloved city for the final battle of the great controversy.
Another great event which marks the close of the millennium is the resurrection of the wicked:
The raising of the wicked dead also explains Revelation 20:7:
Satan now has people in whose lives he can operate. And he begins to work feverishly to mobilize all those countless wicked ones who had been resurrected. Verse 8 tells us that he "shall go out to Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."
The Bible often uses typology and we find this when we read of Gog and Magog. Gog and Magog are referred to in Ezekiel 38-39 and in Revelation 20:7-8. While these two instances carry the same names, a close study of Scripture clearly demonstrates they do not refer to the same people and events. In Ezekiel's prophecy, Gog will be the leader of a great army that attacks the land of Israel (God's people). Gog is described as "of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal" (Ezekiel 38:2-3).
When Gog and Magog are mentioned again in Revelation 20:7-8, it is to show that these people demonstrate the same rebellion against God and antagonism toward God and His people as those in Ezekiel 38-39. It is similar to someone today calling a person "the devil" because he or she is sinful and evil. We know that person is not really Satan, but because that person shares similar characteristics, he or she might be referred to as "the devil."
The book of Revelation uses Ezekiel's prophecy about Magog to portray a final end-times attack on the city of God (The New Jerusalem - Revelation 21:1-2, 20:8-9). The result of this battle is that all the wicked are finally destroyed with Satan and will find their final place in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).
For those who say Gog and Magog are literal places such as Israel, Russia etc. (people have many different ideas) the Bible clearly says in Revelation 20:7-8 that Gog and Magog (typology) gather together after the 1,000 years, therefore this is clearly not any literal nation.
We may ask, why don't Satan and the wicked just decide to leave those in the New Jerusalem alone? Why don't they decide to simply live in another part of the earth and not bother God and His people? Remember, the wicked are resurrected exactly as they went into the grave – that means they do not have immortality. So there's something in the city of New Jerusalem that they desperately need. To see what this is, let's go back to the beginning, in the garden of Eden.
If man had been allowed to continue to eat from the tree of life, he would have had immortality, he would have lived forever in a sinful state, so God had to put an angel at the entrance to the garden of Eden to guard the tree of life, to prevent man having any access to it. And where is the tree of life now?
The tree of life is inside the city of New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem has now descended to earth. So Satan tells the wicked; if we can just get inside the city and eat from the tree of life, we'll live forever.
Revelation 20:9 "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."
Satan deceives the wicked one last time, and they go up and try to take the city, thinking that maybe they can just get inside, eat from the tree of life, and live forever.
Revelation 20:10 "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."
Many people like to use this verse to prove the existence of a literal hell where the wicked of all ages, including Satan and his angels, will be tormented forever in fire. Is that what this verse really teaches? As always, we must compare scripture with scripture. On one side you can stack quite a few scripture verses that talk about the wicked being mortal, not immortal, that they perish, they die, they’re consumed, they are no more. Then there are some verses like Revelation 20:10 that are more nebulous, where it talks about Satan being tormented day and night forever and ever in the lake of fire, but when you put all these verses side by side and compare them, the weight of evidence is on the side that the wicked are not immortalized in hell.
There are two choices for the Christian: life and death. Satan said to Eve, ‘you will not really die.’ God said, ‘you will die.’ How many Christians, even Preachers, have taken the devil’s side? They say you don’t really die – you live forever in heaven or you live forever in hell. But the Bible is clear that eternal life does not go to those who are thrown into the lake of fire, eternal life is only for the righteous. Here are a few examples:
These verses tell us that the wicked will be burned up, burned to ashes. In Psalms the Bible says:
Jude 7 makes this subject very plain:
Sodom and Gomorrah are not burning today, yet the Bible says they suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. How can this be explained? It means that these cities were completely burned, until there was nothing left.
There is another way to determine the meaning of the word eternal or everlasting. In English these words mean that the fire will go on forever, but in the Greek it has a different meaning. Dr. Basil Atkinson explains it this way:
The Bible says, God is love:
God loves even His enemies. As the soldiers were nailing Jesus to the cross, He prayed:
God is not willing that anyone should perish, but wants all people to be saved:
As loving and patient as He is, God cannot allow sin, crime and violence to continue to cause suffering and death in this world indefinitely, there will come a time when He will bring it all to an end. But He is not one to torture His children, that would be contrary to His nature. So He does the most loving thing He can do, He destroys them eternally. The Bible says:
4. Great white throne judgment takes place.
It's at this point that God's final judgment takes place. Inside the city are all the righteous that have ever lived. Outside the city are all the wicked that have ever lived. So at this time all humanity stands before God - all through the ages, all who have ever lived.
Revelation 20:11-13 "11 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. 12 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. 13 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."
Here God is before all of humanity, and mankind realises and understands that God has been just in all of His dealings.
The Scriptures present both Christ (Romans 14:10) and the Father (Hebrews 12:23) as sitting in judgment. In Revelation 4:2, 8-9; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4 and 21:5, it is the Father who is seated on the throne as the divine Judge. The Father and Son work in closest unity (John 10:30). The official acts of one become the official acts of the other.
Every one of us will come forth in a resurrection, but the righteous will live while the wicked will die.
The earth is going to burn. And all the wicked, and all their works, will be burned up. The New Jerusalem will ride those waves of fire, just like Noah's ark rode the waves of the flood. The righteous will all be inside the city, they will be cared for by God. And then after the fire has purified this earth, there will be no signs left of sin and degradation, it will all be gone.
Revelation 20:14 "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."
The righteous may die the first death, but they don't have to die the second death. The wicked die twice. They die the first time, and then they die again here at the second death. Some of the wicked will even die three times.
Those who were mainly responsible for the death of Christ will be raised to see Him come in all His glory, not as the humble crucified Saviour but as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Revelation 20:15 "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
This is the cleansing of the universe, the cleansing of sin; it will be eradicated from the earth.
We must not pass up the opportunity. This is the time God has given us to have the opportunity of eternal life.
5. Earth made new.
The earth will be made brand new. All the things that we put up with now, things like pollution etc. will all be gone never to rise again.
God says to His people; Come, I've prepared a place, a kingdom, just for you.
There will be no more sin. God will have been justified in the eyes of the universe. It will be settled that He is just, that He is righteous, that He is merciful, kind and loving.
God simply says to you and me; Come, enjoy the things that I have prepared for you.
Down through the ceaseless ages of eternity, all the righteous will be able to live, enjoy and rejoice in all the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love Him.