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Adult Class

March-June 2006

Revelation 20

Lesson 12

            In our last lesson, we saw the city of Rome symbolized as a great prostitute that was overthrown and destroyed. That vision showed the persecuted Christians that they were victorious over the beast (the Roman Empire), the false prophet (the system of imperial worship), and the prostitute (the city of Rome, itself). Still, the greatest enemy of the faithful had yet to be addressed. The dragon, or Satan, had yet to be finally defeated.

            As chapter 20 opens, John sees an angel descend from heaven with a chain and a key. He seizes the devil, binds him with the chain, and then throws him into the Abyss for a thousand years. The Abyss is locked and sealed over him and he is not able to deceive the nations anymore during that time. He will be set free for a brief time later on.

            After that scene, John saw the souls of the earlier martyrs (seen before in 6:9-11 and 14:1-5) who had come to life and were sitting on thrones in heaven where they reigned with Christ for that same 1,000 years. This is the first resurrection, but we are plainly told that the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years are over.

            Perhaps more ink has been spilled and more passion poured into this thousand years than any comparable three-verse section of the Bible. If Revelation 20:4-6 were not in the Bible, nobody would ever have come to the idea that Christ would reign on the earth for a thousand years. The Jehovah’s Witness scheme would evaporate, the Left Behind novels would be laughed off, and the dispensationalists would be considered to be more than eccentric.

            Concerning the 1,000 years of Revelation 20:

• This symbolizes a transition period between the end of the persecutor and the final judgment. It lasts from the end of the beasts (19:20) to near the end of time (20:11-12). It is a symbol of a long time, not a literal interval of 1,000 years.
• The 1,000 years take place before Christ’s return, because we know that at Christ’s return, 1 Corinthians 15:22-26 points out some things that will happen:
              1. The resurrection of the righteous,
              2. The end,
              3. Jesus will hand over the kingdom to God, and,
              4. Death will be destroyed.
  Note: at Christ’s return, the end comes and He finishes His reign as king.
• During the 1,000 years, the devil is not able to deceive the nations as he did by using the Roman Empire to persecute the church. Still, he is not completely disabled, and he is able to attack the church in other ways and to influence people to reject the gospel.
• Those reigning during the 1,000 years are souls beheaded for the testimony of Christ. They reign in heaven, not on earth. There is no mention of any earthly reign for 1,000 years.

            After the 1,000 years are completed, the devil is released for a short time. He tries again to deceive the nations and gather them together to make war upon the church. He is entirely unsuccessful and the enemies of God are destroyed. Since this attempt has no success, this does not seem to signify a time of intense persecution of the church that is to take place just before Christ’s return. The labels “Gog and Magog” serve as symbols of God’s enemies—they were used in a similar way in Ezekiel 38. With this episode, the devil is cast into hell and his power and influence are forever destroyed. So, the final end of the greatest enemy of the Christians is certain and the persecuted Christians are reassured that God is truly in control.

            Then John saw the great white throne and God sitting upon it. All the dead were gathered for judgment and books were opened. These included books of deeds and a book of life. Every person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades (the temporary realm of the dead) were also thrown into the lake of fire, as were all whose names were not written in the book of life.

            There is much we do not know about the final judgment and the exact order of events at the end. What do we know about the final judgment?

• There is one great resurrection of all—John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15.
• All will be judged—2 Corinthians 5:10.
• Those whose names are written in the book of life are members of Christ’s church—Hebrews 12:23.
• Those not in the book of life go to the lake of fire with the devil and his allies—Matthew 25:41.
• Since all of us have unrighteous deeds, those in the book of life must have justification to cover our sins.

            Revelation 20 deals with three time periods:

1. A period of 1,000 years after the judgment on Rome, the Roman Empire and the system of emperor worship while the devil is bound and unable to deceive the nations into serving as persecutors of the Lord’s church,
2. A brief time just before the end when the devil is released from that restriction, yet is entirely defeated and destroyed,
3. The final judgment of all souls.

            There is nothing in this chapter or elsewhere in the Bible to suggest that Jesus will return to the earth and set up an earthly kingdom to last 1,000 years. Neither is there anything to suggest a “rapture,” a supremely evil one-world ruler, a vicious tribulation of Christians, a series of resurrections, additional opportunities to repent, or any of the other hallmarks of premillennial dispensationalists. The book of Revelation is about the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire and the subsequent destruction of Rome as a judgment from God. This chapter serves as the transition between that event and the final defeat of the devil, the judgment of all humanity and the inauguration of our final hope that is realized in heaven. It is to that pleasant end that we next turn.