In our last blog, we briefly described those who reign with Christ. In chapter twenty, John sees the chronology of events in a big picture. He first sees an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. This is not the “star” that fell from heaven that had the key of the abyss in Revelation 9:1. That angel was the Devil that fell from heaven. This angel came of his own volition. It is the angel of Jesus Christ as is seen in Revelation 15:1). It is He who “opens and none shuts, and that shuts and none open” (Rev. 3:7). Before the death and resurrection of Christ, the Devil had the power of death and hades (Heb. 2:14) as he had their keys. Christ whipped him and took from him the keys of death and hades (Rev. 1:18). At this same time, an angel is sent with a great chain to bind the Dragon, the old serpent for a thousand years, during which the saints are reigning with Him in His kingdom.
The language describing this conflict is similar to Hesiod’s Theogony where Zeus defeats the dragon, Typhon, bound him, and cast him into Tartarus, or the abyss. The abyss was the place that Greek gods threw their enemies. Due to the popularity and common knowledge of Hesiod’s stories, the visions that John was supposed to write down resemble Hesiod’s world of Greek mythology. In John’s vision, the work of Satan’s deception was also a short time, a generation (Rev. 12:12). The first-century covers that generation, wartime between Christ and Satan in which the Messiah’s heel is bruised and Satan’s head is crushed (Gen. 3:15). The Revelation of Jesus Christ is a first-century letter that references events that will soon take place (Rev. 1:1). The opening of death and hades (Rev. 9:2) made a judgment possible (Rev. 11:18) and once completed, that abyss was shut and sealed to open later only to Satan. He remains in the abyss for a long time of rule in Christ’s kingdom. It is, as commonly referenced, a millennium. It began in the first century as the Revelation of Jesus Christ speaks of it as being at hand when John received his visions (Rev. 1:1,3). His work is always described as a work of deception when he is loosed upon the earth. During the 1,000 year reign of Christ with his saints, verse three explains that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years are finished. The millennium would be void of Satan’s deception. This does not mean people cannot delude themselves and that lies do not exist. When Satan is loosed, such deception is notably greater. This second loosing is for a short time and will likely consist of a generation (seventy to eighty years) as was true of the first century time of his loosing.
1000 Yr. Reign
John saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given to them (cf. Lk. 22:29-30; cf. Matt. 19:28). These are likely the apostles. John then sees (1) the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, (2) such as worshipped not the beast or his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand. These people love the truth and righteousness (2 Thess. 2:10-12). They endured the great tribulation and patiently kept the commandments of God (Rev. 7:14-17; 14:9-12). The seal of God was on their foreheads (Rev. 7:3; 14:1). (3) These lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. They were raised. They had their part in the first resurrection (Rev. 20:6; 11:18). They were dead, and behold, they are alive forevermore (Rev. 1:17-18). They reign with Christ for this time called “a thousand years.” As a parenthetical, we are told that the “rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years are finished.” We will come back to this in the following paragraph. Yet, when he writes, “This is the first resurrection,” he is referring to those who lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. When God cleansed the threshing floor of the dead, judgment would be given from Abel to those who died in the great tribulation (Matt. 3:7-12; 23:29-36). This would be accomplished in that generation (Matt. 23:36; 25:31-46; Rev. 11:18). These souls who experienced the first resurrection reigned with Christ during this millennial reign. The righteous dead of the Old Testament were perfected not apart from, but along with those righteous ones who died or were translated during the first century. From the righteous dead, God would take some souls for priests (Isa. 66:21) and the 144,000 became the first fruits to God and to the Lamb (cf. Rev. 14:1-5; 7:15; Ex. 13:1-2; Num. 3:40-51). They were the redeemed Jews who endured the great tribulation. They serve the Lord as priests day and night in his heavenly temple for a thousand years (Rev. 7:15; 20:6).
After 1,000 Yr. Reign
We need to go back a bit and pick up verses five and six. At the time of the first resurrection, John heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for the works follow with them” (Rev. 14:13). And, once the saints secured their place in heaven, the righteous would “go out thence no more (cf. Rev. 3:12). This explains verse 6 which reads, “Blessed and holy is he that has a part in the first resurrection; over these, the second death has no power.” Their resurrection and judgment are complete and would not face the second resurrection and judgment. They have no reason to fear the second death of the lake of fire and brimstone because they have rested from the labors and received their just recompense of reward (cf. 21:8; 2:11).
When the thousand years are finished, Satan is loosed out of his prison to deceive the nations that 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. Josephus identifies the Magogites as those the Greeks called Scythians. These are located north and northeast of the Black Sea. This area describes the U.S.S.R. This is the place for the gathering of the nations for war. From here, the enemies of God’s people will go up over the breadth of the earth and compass the camp of the saints, the beloved city and fire came down and devoured them. This camp may be regarded as the last place of refuge for the saints to gather. Whether the city is a reference to Jerusalem, we cannot tell. It may be a reference to some alignment of saints with the Jews against Russia and her allies. It is possible that the city is a reference to “new Jerusalem?” If so, we are talking about spiritual Zion. In both loosings of Satan, Satan is given a little time to deceive the nations and gather them to war against His people. Each time, armies surround Jerusalem, the beloved city and when the people see that they are surrounded, they know that both desolation and redemption are nigh (Luke 21:20, 28). Both periods end in judgment and both end with Satan and his followers bound and consigned into torment.
When predicting the desolation of the city, Jesus said, “They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). Dominion of the city would one day return to the Jews, “when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” The thousand-year reign and the times of the Gentiles are equivalent to the same period of time. The thousand years began with the binding of Satan to his loosing. At the end of this short period, the Devil that deceived them will be cast into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet are and there these will all be tormented day and night forever.
After the Dragon’s Second and Final Binding: Great White Throne of Judgment
The great white throne scene depicts Jesus on the throne to judge the world. The second cleansing of the threshing floor are the “rest of the dead” who lived not until after the thousand years. Here, he includes all that death and hades will give up will be judged according to their works and death and hades will be cast into the lake of fire along with all whose names are not written in the book of life (20:14-15). While Christ has the keys of death and hades and has given saints great confidence, we still experience death. But, in this scene, death will one day end. Therefore, the description of this great white throne scene has not taken place, yet. When it occurs, death and hades will be no more.