Listen for God’s word to you from Revelation 20...
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The Millennium
We see two things in this chapter: the Millennium and the Judgment. We will examine them in that order.
This is the only passage in the Bible that talks about a thousand-year reign of Christ. This raises a number of questions, but the main one is this: when does this thousand-year reign of Christ begin?
Since this is the only passage in the Bible that talks about it, we have to use other words in this passage to help us interpret what is going on here. One of the key words describing the millennium is “bound”. An angel “seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”
Is there anywhere else in the Bible that talks about the binding of Satan? The answer is “yes”. We read about this in the Gospels.
In Mark 3:20-30 we read…
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
This passage in Mark (and the parallel passages in Matthew 12:29 and Luke 11:21) make it clear that Jesus bound Satan during his earthly ministry.
“But” you say, “Satan is obviously still active in our world today.” I would agree. Revelation 20 does not deny this fact. Revelation simply says that Satan will be bound for a thousand years. The key question is: What does this binding mean?
Revelation 20:3 gives us the answer: the angel “threw him [that is Satan] into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”
I would propose to you that Jesus bound Satan during his earthly ministry 2000 years ago, and that since that time Satan has been kept from deceiving the nations. Think about it. Before Jesus came, God’s revelation was given to the Jewish people. But since Jesus came, the Gospel has been going forth to the nations, and the people of many nations have come to believe in him.
So, the binding of Satan is, one might say, the negative side of the millennium. The positive flip side of that is the proclamation of the Gospel. That’s the positive side of what has been going on during the millennium. We who have come to faith in Jesus Christ have come to life and we are reigning with him now.
You may say, “Well I have never heard that before.” Paul talks about this in Ephesians 2:4-6…
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…So, there you have it. We have been brought alive in Christ, raised up with him, and seated with him in the heavenly realms. This is the language of reigning.
You might wonder, “How, practically speaking, do we exercise our reign with Christ?” One of the ways we do that is by extending his kingdom. Every time we share the good news of Jesus with someone, and that person accepts Jesus as their leader and forgiver, and joins Jesus’ kingdom movement, we are thereby extending Jesus’ reign throughout the earth. That is one key manner through which we exercise our reign with him.
“But” you say, “Revelation 20 talks about a thousand-year reign of Christ. If Jesus bound Satan 2000 years ago, why hasn’t the end of the world arrived yet?”
Well, some Christians did expect that Christ was going to return to earth around AD 1000. But he didn’t. Why is that? How did Christians get it wrong a thousand years ago?
Once again, with the number 1000 we have one of John’s symbols. 1000 years is symbolic of a very long time. Just as we have seen that all the other numbers in Revelation are symbolic, and should not be taken at a literal level, so we must understand John’s use of the number 1000.
The Judgment of Satan
The other major thing we see in Revelation 20 is the judgment. And that judgment is divided into two parts. First, we have the judgment of Satan.
After the thousand-year reign of Christ, Satan will be released for a short time and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth. He will gather for battle Gog and Magog, apocalyptic figures from the book of Ezekiel. Gog and Magog are symbolic of Satan’s evil human forces. John tells us that those who join Satan’s side will be like the sand on the seashore. In other words, they will be countless. Satan’s army will then march across the breadth of the earth and surround God’s people. But fire will come down from heaven and devour them. Thus, we see that Satan and all his evil army will not be defeated by human strategy, but rather they will be defeated by heavenly fire. Fire is often a symbol for the Holy Spirit, going all the way back to the day of Pentecost. Once the devil is defeated, he will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet have also been thrown. John tells us that they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. This is a picture which is probably symbolic of the total defeat of all evil by our Triune God.
However, the word for “torment” here is an interesting one. It is used just 12 times in the New Testament. The word is sometimes used of a boat being buffeted by the wind. It is also used of a woman in labor. It is also used of the paralyzed boy who suffered in pain before Jesus healed him.
It is the word used by the demons in Matthew 8:29, Mark 5:7, and Luke 8:28 who ask Jesus not to torment them. The use of this word on the lips of the demons is almost comical because they seem tormented by the very presence of Jesus.
Just so, in Revelation 11:10, evil people say that they have been tormented by the two good prophets of the Lord. There is something about the presence of goodness which is, in and of itself, a sort of torment to evil.
This makes me wonder, is the source of torment for the devil, the beast, and the false prophet the eternal presence of the Lord pleading with them to repent? This is just a guess on my part. But I think it is worth thinking about. And if I am anywhere close to being right, it gives us a completely different picture of the supposed eternal torments of hell.
The Judgment of the Dead
Finally, we read of the last judgement of human beings, something that the Bible talks about throughout its pages.
John sees a great white throne with someone seated upon it. Of course, the whiteness of the throne is symbolic of purity. But who is seated on the throne? John doesn’t tell us in Revelation. But, in John 5:22 we read, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” I believe Jesus will be the one seated on the great white throne. Matthew 25:31-46 presents us with a similar picture.
Next, John tells us something very interesting. He says, “The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” This is, perhaps, one of John’s most profound statements that shows us that what we have in this book is truly a revelation; John tells us some things here that no human being could have or would have made up.
What John is telling us is that the One on the white throne is so great, that there is no room for anyone or anything else in the universe. “So,” you might ask, “How is it that we exist at all?” We exist only because our Triune God withdraws. We exist only because he makes room for us. In the beginning, God was all. There was no room for anything or anyone else. But God was not content to be all. He wanted to be all in all. And so, he withdrew, he made room for his creation, and he still makes room for us. He wants to be all in all; he wants to work through us. (1 Corinthians 15:27-28)
Next, John sees the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books are opened. What is in these books?
John tells us that the dead are judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. Can you imagine—everything you have ever done, written down? Would any of us like to read such a book? How about standing around while the book of your life is read out? I doubt we would like that very much at all.
Thankfully the books filled with our deeds will not be the only books present on Judgment Day. There is “another book”. What book is that? It is the book of life.
This phrase, “the book of life”, appears 8 times in the Bible. First, we read about it in Psalm 69:28. Then Paul talks about it in Philippians 4:3. Paul talks about his coworkers whose names are written in the book of life. Then we read this phrase 6 times in Revelation. We read that those whose names are in the book of life will not be thrown into the lake of fire. Back in Revelation 3:5 we read the promise of Jesus,
The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.
So, this raises the question: how do we get our name written in the book of life? I think the key that unlocks the answer to this question is Jesus’ statement: “but I will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.”
Jesus talked in the Gospels about acknowledging our names before his Father in heaven. In Matthew 10:32 Jesus says, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”
Do you want your name to be written in the book of life? If you do, then acknowledge Jesus before others here on earth. Publicly own Jesus as your leader and forgiver. If you do that then you can be sure that Jesus has acknowledged you before his heavenly Father and written your name in his book of life.
I picture the judgment of the books this way. There is the book of merit that contains the record of all our deeds, and there is the book of mercy, or book of life as John calls it, which has our names written in it. Imagine these two books on either side of a scale. Which one outweighs the other? If our names are written in the book of life, that book will outweigh the book of merit. Mercy is going to win over merit or the lack thereof.
The final thing we see happening in this passage is that death and hell itself will be destroyed in the end. Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. This suggests to me that death and hell are not ultimate. They will not go on forever and ever. They will be burned up in the lake of fire.
And we can avoid that lake as our ultimate destiny if we acknowledge Jesus. If we acknowledge him, he will acknowledge us before his heavenly Father. It won’t matter on that day who knows your name, as long as Jesus knows it and has it written in his book of life.
You may well wonder how this whole jumble of images fit together. Especially you may wonder, “How can we be justified by faith, like Paul says, and at the same time, judged according to our deeds, like John says?”
There is, perhaps, no perfect answer to this thorny question, but let me suggest an image instead which I once heard from another pastor.
The image is that of the conveyer belt.
You may well wonder, “Where does it talk about conveyer belts in the Bible?” I actually found a spot. In Colossians 1:13-14, Paul says that God…
… has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Whenever I think of this image, I think of Lucy in the chocolate factory stuffing chocolates into her blouse because she can’t roll the chocolate and wrap it fast enough. If I were working in the chocolate factory, I imagine I would do no better.
Thankfully, I am not in charge. God is. And the God we serve is a God of grace. The whole conveyer belt of salvation begins in grace, carries on in grace, and ends in grace.
God became a human being, lived a perfect life for us, died in our place, and rose from the dead so that we might receive his grace. The way we receive that grace is through faith. And if we have faith, that faith will inevitably lead to good deeds that, at the end of time, God will judge and reward.
Paul sums this up best in Ephesians 2:8-10, the continuation of a passage we referred to earlier…
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I love what Paul says here. We are God’s handiwork. He is the one putting us together on the conveyer belt. Even faith itself is a gift. And it is his work in us and through us that will be judged at the end of time. All we have to do is remain on the conveyer belt. As Jesus says in John 15:9, “Remain in my love.”
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