Revelation Chapter 20:
Daniel 2 describes a dream God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar concerning four great kingdoms that were to rule the world. They were Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom of Babylon, then Medo-Persia, next, Greece, and last, the Roman Empire. Since the rule of Rome, there has never again been a kingdom that has had power over the whole world. According to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, out of the Roman Empire would come ten smaller kingdoms which would be prominent in the end times and upon which a “stone cut out without hands” would fall, breaking these kingdoms to pieces. Then the stone would become a “great mountain” filling the whole earth. This stone cut out without hands is Jesus’ kingdom that is sent directly from God, which needs the help of no man. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” (Daniel 2:44) This will be the answer to Jesus’ prayer of Matthew 6: 10 when He prayed, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”
After Jesus and His saints have come down from heaven and Jesus has cast the anti-Christ and false prophet into the lake of fire—all sinners have been slain and Satan has been bound and cast into the bottomless pit—then Jesus will be ready to set up His kingdom. “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)
In our present chapter of Revelation, there are five main subjects:
In verse 1, John sees an angel who had the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. This angel is probably Michael, since he was the one who cast Satan out of heaven, which we read about in chapter 12. Now he binds Satan and casts him into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. I doubt if this is a literal chain since Satan is a spirit, but the bottomless pit is literal and Satan’s being cast there and not being loosed for 1,000 years is literal and real. What a time that will be when this great destructive adversary is no longer around to deceive people as he has done for so many years! However, after the thousand years are over, God will allow Satan to be loosed for a short time as a last test to mankind.
The next three verses speak of the resurrection of the dead. The first ones mentioned are those who were seated on thrones from which they had been given authority to judge. Once more we turn to Daniel for help in understanding these events. Daniel 7: 14 again speaks of Jesus’ kingdom which will be set up as an everlasting kingdom never to be destroyed. Verse 22 tells us that judgment will be given to the “saints of the most High.” These are Old Testament believers to whom God has promised to “plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more …” (2 Samuel 7:10) Also, in Daniel 7:18 we read, “But the saints of the most High shall take (receive) the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Zechariah 13:8, 9 tells us that the Lord will bring one-third of Israel through the fire and they will say, “The Lord is my God.” They will have gone through the Tribulation without succumbing to the demands of the anti-Christ, and when Jesus returns to fight against those evil nations, they will look upon Him and acknowledge Him as their Messiah. God has always had a remnant that would follow Him.
During the Millennium, the Lord will set judges over the land as He ordained at the first (see Isaiah 1:26, 27). Revelation 20:4 gives us the time of the resurrection of these Old Testament saints—at the end of the seven years’ Tribulation. This is also the time of the resurrection of those believers who have been martyred during the last 3 ½ years of Tribulation. They will be raised to live and reign with Christ from the New Jerusalem during the Millennium. The martyrs of chapter 6:9 will be raised when the great multitude of chapter 7:9-17 are raised up into heaven. Those of chapter 15:2 are raised before the seven bowls of wrath are poured out. This attests to the fact that the resurrection of believers is in different stages.
Notice 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. Christ is the “First fruits” of the resurrection, and then, “every man in his own order (rank).” Then we read in Matthew 27:52, 53: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” These were no doubt at least some of the Old Testament overcomers who looked for a “better resurrection.”
In 1 Thessalonians 4: 14-16, we read of the dead in Christ that shall arise. These refer to the overcomers of the church who have died before the rapture. The overcomers of the church who are alive at His coming will, of course, be translated, and not have to see death. Then the great multitude of Revelation 7 will be resurrected and go into heaven sometime during the first half of the Tribulation, before the seven trumpet judgments are poured out upon the earth. Next, the two witnesses are killed right at the middle of the Tribulation, and after 3 ½ days, the Spirit of life from God will enter into them and they will ascend up into heaven. (Revelation 11: 12) Close to that same time, the martyrs of Revelation 15:2 will be resurrected and stand on the sea of glass in heaven. And then the people we have been studying about in Revelation 20:4 will be raised at the end of the Tribulation to live and reign with Christ over the earth for a thousand years, which will be just the beginning of their eternal time of glory and blessing. All of these stages of the resurrection of believers are called the “first resurrection.”
However, in John 5:28, 29, Jesus said, “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves 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 damnation.” And so the unbelievers also will be raised from the dead, but their resurrection will be unto judgment. ” ….. There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15) The phrase, “the rest of the dead” in Revelation 20:5, speaks of the resurrection of the unjust which will not occur until 1,000 years after the resurrection of believers. The first sentence of verse 5 is a parenthetical thought. The last sentence, “This is the first resurrection,” describes the resurrection of the just, on which he expounds in verse 6.
In these verses, we have the only place in scripture where we read how long the kingdom of Christ will continue on the earth. However, the kingdom age is one of the most frequently mentioned subjects in the Bible. This period of time is often called the Millennium, which simply means a thousand years. During this time God will bring the final testing of mankind before the beginning of the eternal state. Jesus will be ruling as King of kings and Lord of lords. His rule will be one of righteousness and peace. Below are listed several facts that will be true of the Kingdom age:
However, when the thousand years are over, God will allow Satan to be loosed from the bottomless pit where he has been bound during this time, and he will once again deceive the nations from the four corners of the world and gather them together to fight against the “camp of the saints” (Israel) and the “beloved city” (Jerusalem).
Gog and Magog are mentioned once again as enemies of Israel. Gog is the leader, and Magog is the country involved. Ezekiel 38, 39 introduced these names to us, and it is not difficult to trace them back to the land of Russia and its leaders. These (along with several other countries) are the ones who will come to fight against Israel just prior to the Tribulation, and attempt to destroy her. However, God will intervene in Israel’s behalf, leaving only one-sixth of Russia’s army alive. And now Gog and Magog are once again mentioned as enemies of Israel. These are evidently descendants of the ones mentioned in Ezekiel, and their hatred again arises from the deception of Satan.
It is difficult to imagine that Satan could get together as many as the sand of the sea to fight against God’s people, and thus against God, Himself. But remember, the carnal mind is enmity against God, and there will be many who will live in this beautiful place of righteousness and peace, and still refuse to accept the King of kings as their Savior. There will be only righteousness around them, for any sin that is manifest will be immediately judged. Satan will not be present to deceive them, and yet they will still reject God’s salvation through His Son. Therefore, as soon as Satan is loosed, they will immediately fall prey to His wiles.
There will be many births during the Kingdom age because the life span will be 1,000 years, and only those persons who sin openly after the age of 100 years will have to die. Therefore, there will be a large population by the time Satan is loosed to deceive them into thinking they can win in this battle. But God sends fire down out of heaven which destroys them all. Then the final judgment comes upon Satan. He is cast into the lake of fire where the anti-Christ and false prophet still are, after 1,000 years, and they will all be tormented forever and ever!
Next it is time for the final judgment on all sinners. This will occur before a “great white throne” upon which Jesus is seated. Read John 5:22-29. Revelation 20:11 states, “…from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.” We will speak more of this in our next chapter, but we are reminded here of the holiness of our Lord, and nothing unholy can stay in His presence.
The “dead” of verse 12 are unbelievers who were dead in trespasses and sins, and have either died a natural death, or they were killed without having accepted Jesus as their Savior. These sinners are the “rest of the dead” of verse 5 who will be raised at the end of the thousand years to stand before this throne and be judged according to the books mentioned here.
The Bible speaks of several “books” that have to do with man’s eternal state. A careful comparison of the scriptures listed below will reveal the fact that every person born into the world has his name written in heaven in a “book of life.” These names remain in this book unless that person completely and finally rejects the wooing of the Holy Spirit to receive Jesus as their Savior. At that time God blots his name out of the book of life. If the person is still alive, only God knows if and when that final rejection happens. Of course, if the person has died in that state of rejection, it is then that his name is blotted out. Then there is a “book of life of the Lamb” in which every person’s name is recorded at the time of his salvation. Those names will never be blotted out of that book! And last, our present text speaks of books in which are written the works of unbelievers. (Malachi 3:16 speaks of a “book of remembrance” that is written for those that love the Lord.) God is just and righteous in all He does, and even sinners will be judged according to their works, although the eternal destiny of each of them will be the lake of fire. (Scriptures: Exodus 32:32, 33; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8)
According to verse 13, even though men’s bodies have decomposed in the sea, or have returned to dust in the grave, they will receive a new body at the time of the resurrection. For an explanation of the phrase, “Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them”, “death” speaks of the grave where their bodies are, and “hell” (hades) is the waiting place of the unbelieving dead; where their spirits are. So both body and spirit will be cast into the lake of fire. This is called the “second death.”
After Jesus and His saints have come down from heaven and Jesus has cast the anti-Christ and false prophet into the lake of fire—all sinners have been slain and Satan has been bound and cast into the bottomless pit—then Jesus will be ready to set up His kingdom. “And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.” (Zechariah 14:9)
In our present chapter of Revelation, there are five main subjects:
- Judgment of Satan for 1,000 years (vs. 1-3)
- Resurrection of the dead (vs. 4-6)
- Millennium (vs. 2-7)
- Satan’s final judgment (v. 10)
- Judgment of unbelievers (vs. 11-15)
In verse 1, John sees an angel who had the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. This angel is probably Michael, since he was the one who cast Satan out of heaven, which we read about in chapter 12. Now he binds Satan and casts him into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. I doubt if this is a literal chain since Satan is a spirit, but the bottomless pit is literal and Satan’s being cast there and not being loosed for 1,000 years is literal and real. What a time that will be when this great destructive adversary is no longer around to deceive people as he has done for so many years! However, after the thousand years are over, God will allow Satan to be loosed for a short time as a last test to mankind.
The next three verses speak of the resurrection of the dead. The first ones mentioned are those who were seated on thrones from which they had been given authority to judge. Once more we turn to Daniel for help in understanding these events. Daniel 7: 14 again speaks of Jesus’ kingdom which will be set up as an everlasting kingdom never to be destroyed. Verse 22 tells us that judgment will be given to the “saints of the most High.” These are Old Testament believers to whom God has promised to “plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more …” (2 Samuel 7:10) Also, in Daniel 7:18 we read, “But the saints of the most High shall take (receive) the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” Zechariah 13:8, 9 tells us that the Lord will bring one-third of Israel through the fire and they will say, “The Lord is my God.” They will have gone through the Tribulation without succumbing to the demands of the anti-Christ, and when Jesus returns to fight against those evil nations, they will look upon Him and acknowledge Him as their Messiah. God has always had a remnant that would follow Him.
During the Millennium, the Lord will set judges over the land as He ordained at the first (see Isaiah 1:26, 27). Revelation 20:4 gives us the time of the resurrection of these Old Testament saints—at the end of the seven years’ Tribulation. This is also the time of the resurrection of those believers who have been martyred during the last 3 ½ years of Tribulation. They will be raised to live and reign with Christ from the New Jerusalem during the Millennium. The martyrs of chapter 6:9 will be raised when the great multitude of chapter 7:9-17 are raised up into heaven. Those of chapter 15:2 are raised before the seven bowls of wrath are poured out. This attests to the fact that the resurrection of believers is in different stages.
Notice 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. Christ is the “First fruits” of the resurrection, and then, “every man in his own order (rank).” Then we read in Matthew 27:52, 53: “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” These were no doubt at least some of the Old Testament overcomers who looked for a “better resurrection.”
In 1 Thessalonians 4: 14-16, we read of the dead in Christ that shall arise. These refer to the overcomers of the church who have died before the rapture. The overcomers of the church who are alive at His coming will, of course, be translated, and not have to see death. Then the great multitude of Revelation 7 will be resurrected and go into heaven sometime during the first half of the Tribulation, before the seven trumpet judgments are poured out upon the earth. Next, the two witnesses are killed right at the middle of the Tribulation, and after 3 ½ days, the Spirit of life from God will enter into them and they will ascend up into heaven. (Revelation 11: 12) Close to that same time, the martyrs of Revelation 15:2 will be resurrected and stand on the sea of glass in heaven. And then the people we have been studying about in Revelation 20:4 will be raised at the end of the Tribulation to live and reign with Christ over the earth for a thousand years, which will be just the beginning of their eternal time of glory and blessing. All of these stages of the resurrection of believers are called the “first resurrection.”
However, in John 5:28, 29, Jesus said, “Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves 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 damnation.” And so the unbelievers also will be raised from the dead, but their resurrection will be unto judgment. ” ….. There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.” (Acts 24:15) The phrase, “the rest of the dead” in Revelation 20:5, speaks of the resurrection of the unjust which will not occur until 1,000 years after the resurrection of believers. The first sentence of verse 5 is a parenthetical thought. The last sentence, “This is the first resurrection,” describes the resurrection of the just, on which he expounds in verse 6.
In these verses, we have the only place in scripture where we read how long the kingdom of Christ will continue on the earth. However, the kingdom age is one of the most frequently mentioned subjects in the Bible. This period of time is often called the Millennium, which simply means a thousand years. During this time God will bring the final testing of mankind before the beginning of the eternal state. Jesus will be ruling as King of kings and Lord of lords. His rule will be one of righteousness and peace. Below are listed several facts that will be true of the Kingdom age:
- Form of government: Theocracy, Luke 1: 30-33
- Seat of government: Jerusalem, Isaiah 2; Zechariah 8:3; 14: 17
- Character of government: Righteousness, Isaiah 11
- One universal religion: Isaiah 2:3; Jeremiah 31:33, 34
- Earth will bring forth abundantly, Isaiah 35: 1; Joel 3: 18
- No wild animals, Isaiah 11: 6-9; 65: 25
- No sickness, Isaiah 35:5,6, 10
- Longevity of life, Isaiah 65:20, 22; Zechariah 8:4
- Israel, leading nation, Isaiah 60: 12; Deuteronomy 28: 13
However, when the thousand years are over, God will allow Satan to be loosed from the bottomless pit where he has been bound during this time, and he will once again deceive the nations from the four corners of the world and gather them together to fight against the “camp of the saints” (Israel) and the “beloved city” (Jerusalem).
Gog and Magog are mentioned once again as enemies of Israel. Gog is the leader, and Magog is the country involved. Ezekiel 38, 39 introduced these names to us, and it is not difficult to trace them back to the land of Russia and its leaders. These (along with several other countries) are the ones who will come to fight against Israel just prior to the Tribulation, and attempt to destroy her. However, God will intervene in Israel’s behalf, leaving only one-sixth of Russia’s army alive. And now Gog and Magog are once again mentioned as enemies of Israel. These are evidently descendants of the ones mentioned in Ezekiel, and their hatred again arises from the deception of Satan.
It is difficult to imagine that Satan could get together as many as the sand of the sea to fight against God’s people, and thus against God, Himself. But remember, the carnal mind is enmity against God, and there will be many who will live in this beautiful place of righteousness and peace, and still refuse to accept the King of kings as their Savior. There will be only righteousness around them, for any sin that is manifest will be immediately judged. Satan will not be present to deceive them, and yet they will still reject God’s salvation through His Son. Therefore, as soon as Satan is loosed, they will immediately fall prey to His wiles.
There will be many births during the Kingdom age because the life span will be 1,000 years, and only those persons who sin openly after the age of 100 years will have to die. Therefore, there will be a large population by the time Satan is loosed to deceive them into thinking they can win in this battle. But God sends fire down out of heaven which destroys them all. Then the final judgment comes upon Satan. He is cast into the lake of fire where the anti-Christ and false prophet still are, after 1,000 years, and they will all be tormented forever and ever!
Next it is time for the final judgment on all sinners. This will occur before a “great white throne” upon which Jesus is seated. Read John 5:22-29. Revelation 20:11 states, “…from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.” We will speak more of this in our next chapter, but we are reminded here of the holiness of our Lord, and nothing unholy can stay in His presence.
The “dead” of verse 12 are unbelievers who were dead in trespasses and sins, and have either died a natural death, or they were killed without having accepted Jesus as their Savior. These sinners are the “rest of the dead” of verse 5 who will be raised at the end of the thousand years to stand before this throne and be judged according to the books mentioned here.
The Bible speaks of several “books” that have to do with man’s eternal state. A careful comparison of the scriptures listed below will reveal the fact that every person born into the world has his name written in heaven in a “book of life.” These names remain in this book unless that person completely and finally rejects the wooing of the Holy Spirit to receive Jesus as their Savior. At that time God blots his name out of the book of life. If the person is still alive, only God knows if and when that final rejection happens. Of course, if the person has died in that state of rejection, it is then that his name is blotted out. Then there is a “book of life of the Lamb” in which every person’s name is recorded at the time of his salvation. Those names will never be blotted out of that book! And last, our present text speaks of books in which are written the works of unbelievers. (Malachi 3:16 speaks of a “book of remembrance” that is written for those that love the Lord.) God is just and righteous in all He does, and even sinners will be judged according to their works, although the eternal destiny of each of them will be the lake of fire. (Scriptures: Exodus 32:32, 33; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8)
According to verse 13, even though men’s bodies have decomposed in the sea, or have returned to dust in the grave, they will receive a new body at the time of the resurrection. For an explanation of the phrase, “Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them”, “death” speaks of the grave where their bodies are, and “hell” (hades) is the waiting place of the unbelieving dead; where their spirits are. So both body and spirit will be cast into the lake of fire. This is called the “second death.”