THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 20 – Satan Bound, Millennial Reign, The Final Judgement
Episode 22
(These Episodes are meant to not only ask and answer the questions, “When, Why, How and What?”, but also the question, ” WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO ME”)
The Purpose of God’s Eternal Plan is “Perfection”. Through many trials and the formative pressure of tribulation, He has been shaping, molding, maturing and perfecting His people into His image, ultimately to live in Perfect harmony with Him and with one another, in a New and Perfect heaven and earth.
“Because by a single offering He has made perfect for all time those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:14
Each and every chapter, verse and word in the Bible, when viewed within this context of God’s Eternal Plan of Perfection, begins to make perfect sense.
You come to see, with these things in mind, everything in life has a purpose; the good things and the ugly, the sunshine and the rain; times of plenty and times of want. And you will come to know that all things are indeed working together for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose.
Chapter 20 is the final scene of the complete and utter destruction of earth and all her inhabitants, to be followed by the final step in God’s Plan and our Journey to Perfection: Living in perfect harmony with God and with one another in a new and perfect heaven and earth!
Satan Bound
Revelation 20:1, [footnote ‘a’], And then I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding the key of the abyss (the bottomless pit) and a great chain was in his hand. Verse 2. And he overpowered and laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent [of primeval times], who is the devil and Satan, and bound him [securely] for a thousand years, (a millennium); verse 3, and the angel hurled him into the abyss, and closed it and sealed it above him [preventing his escape or rescue], so that he would no longer deceive and seduce the nations, until the thousand years were at an end. After these things he must be liberated for a short time.
(Commentary Break: Verses 1 through 3 describe the fate of Satan and the relief that will come upon the earth for one thousand years! There are those who will say that the thousand years is metaphorical or that we are currently in a metaphorical one thousand years.
The Greek word and meaning of ‘a thousand years’ in verse 2 from Strong’s Bible concordance #5507 is ‘xílioi;, and translates as ‘a thousand’; the product of 10 x 10 x 10 (or, 103 ten cubed); figuratively it can mean emphatic, total inclusiveness, showing no one and nothing is left out.
Furthermore, ‘ten’ in Scripture can already express the symbolic meaning “completely” (or inclusively), so #5507, (xílioi), as the cube of 10 (“a thousand”) powerfully stresses the meaning “full and inclusive” totality.
Additionally, the occurrence and placement of Satan’s confinement for one thousand years, tell us otherwise. Scriptures plainly state that this will occur at a future time, following the final Great Tribulation judgements.
The fact, however, that this passage stands alone in this respect, makes it the more important to endeavor accurately to determine its meaning. There are but three ways in which the phrase “a thousand years” can be understood here: either:
(a) literally; or,
(b) in the prophetic use of the term, where a day would stand for a year, thus making a period of three hundred and sixty thousand years; or,
(c) figuratively, supposing that it refers to a long but indefinite period of time.
It may be impossible to determine which of these periods is intended, though the first has been generally supposed to be the true one, and hence the common notion of the millennium. (End Commentary Break).
The Millennial Reign
Verse 4. And then I saw thrones, and sitting on them were those to whom judgment [that is, the authority to act as judges] was given. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had refused to worship the beast or his image, and had not accepted his mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
Verse 5. The rest of the dead [the non-believers] did not come to life again until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Verse 6. [footnote ‘b’] Blessed (happy, prosperous, to be admired) and holy is the person who takes part in the first resurrection; over these the second death [which is eternal separation from God, the lake of fire] has no power or authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and they will reign with Him a thousand years.
(Commentary Break: We are witnessing, in verses 4 and 5, the prelude to the coming great White Throne Judgement. First, we are told that all who have died, (throughout the ages), as Christians, who by God’s grace, through their faith in Jesus, are raised to life and will reign with Christ for a thousand years as priests of God for the thousand years. This is what is known as the 1st resurrection.
All others will not come to life again until the thousand years are completed, and then only to face what is known as the second death, and a sentencing to an eternity in the lake of fire, where there is darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth, separated forever from God, (End Commentary Break).
The Final Rebellion
Verse 7. And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison (the abyss), verse 8, and will come out to deceive and mislead the [footnote ‘c’] nations which are in the four corners of the earth, [including] Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; their number is like the sand of the seashore. Verse 9. And they swarmed up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints (God’s people) and the beloved city [[footnote ‘d’] Jerusalem]; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them. Verse 10. And the devil who had deceived them was hurled into the lake of fire and burning brimstone (sulfur), where the beast (Antichrist) and false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.
(Commentary Break: Once the thousand years are complete, Satan is released from the abyss and gathers his armies for war. They are described as ‘numerous as the sands of the seashore’. Once again, these armies, as found in Ezekiel 38, are Russia, with an army of one million one-hundred thousand; Turkey, with an army of three hundred fifty-five thousand; Iran, with an army of five hundred twenty-three thousand, (including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard); Ethiopia’s army of one hundred thirty eight thousand; Chechnya’s army is approximately ten thousand; the army of Georgia is approximately twenty-one thousand; We can count two million, one hundred forty two thousand fighting troops.
Satan’s armies surround Jerusalem and ‘fire comes down from heaven and consumes them’!
If there were any remaining doubt if Jesus actually comes down to the earth to destroy the armies of Satan, this plainly and absolutely refutes that.
This is important to know, because
(1). It confirms that the 2nd advent, the 2nd coming of Christ begins at the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal, and
(2). It confirms that the rapture takes place at the breaking of the 6th Tribulation Seal.
(3). It confirms that some will be saved after the rapture, up and until the 6th Tribulation Trumpet, then no one else will escape God’s final judgements and eternity in hell.
(4). Knowing this gives you a firm warning and incentive to surrender your life to Jesus, now; and if you are already counted as one of His, then you must warn others of the coming dread and its dangers. (End Commentary Break).
The Final Judgment
Verse 11. And I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them [for this heaven and earth are passing away]. Verse 12. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life; and the dead were judged according to what they had done as written in the books [that is, everything done while on earth]. Verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and Hades (the realm of the dead) surrendered the dead who were in them; and they were judged and sentenced, every one according to their deeds.
Verse 14. Then death and Hades [the realm of the dead] were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire [the eternal separation from God]. Verse 15. And if [footnote ‘e’] anyone’s name was not found [footnote ‘f’] written in the Book of Life, he was hurled into the lake of fire.
(Commentary Break: The most dramatic of all the scenes in the Bible. God is seated on His Great White Throne, and the earth and the heavens ‘fled away’; i.e., the heavens and the earth disappear. (1st Peter 3 verse 10 tells us, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are on it will be burned up.”)
First, books were opened containing the names and deeds of those whose names are not written in the Book of Life. This is a multitude of people that is almost unimaginable. The Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC, by way of a very sophisticated formula, estimates that as of the year mid-2022, 117,020,448,575 people have lived on the earth since creation. By a similar formula, it is estimated that 3,159,552,111 have been Christians. So, 113,860,896,464 would be the number condemned, and hurled into the eternal lake of fire! Dramatic by these very numbers, but even more so, tragic.
Then another book, The Book of Life is opened. Jesus, reminded us in Revelation 3:5 that, “‘The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way (as Jesus), in white garments; and I, (Jesus), will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels”. (End Commentary Break).
God’s Plan of Perfection is completed. We, His created ones, having been redeemed from the curse, and transformed into His children of Light. We will have graduated from sorrow and toil. No longer will we have to deal with the thorns and thistles of the old earth, nor eating the plants of the field. We no longer toil by and eat bread by the sweat of our face, waiting to return to the ground, being known as the dust of the soil, and no longer to dust shall we return.
The end of this present age has come to its end and a new age, the Age of Eternity with God has begun where we, His bond-servants, will serve and worship Him with great awe and joy and loving devotion; We will see His face, and His name will be on our foreheads. There will no longer be any darkness or night and we will have no need for lights at night nor sunlight by day, because our Lord God will illumine us; and we will reign with Him forever and ever.
For it is by grace, that is God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ, that we are saved, actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life through faith. And, even more remarkably, this salvation is not of ourselves, that is, it is not through your own effort, but it is the undeserved, gracious gift of God.
Grasp it!
Your Brother and Friend,
Mike Young
Previous: THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 19 – The Doom of Babylon, The Victory of The Lamb – Episode 21
Next: THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION – Chapter 21 – The New Heaven & Earth, The New Jerusalem – Episode 23
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