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| Chapter 20 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4 And I saw thrones and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or on their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 and shall go out to deceive the nations to the four quarters of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them together for battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went out over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil who had deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 ¶ And I saw a great white throne and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. |
A reference to "the thousand years" is mentioned six times in this chapter, this we call the "Millennium." Christ and His people will reign over the earth. What is the reason for this thousand year period, the millennial kingdom? This will be a display of the glory of God through Christ, the world system will operate as God originally intended, Rom 8:18-22, and as promised, Luke 1:30-33, for the Christ child and the disciples, Luke 22:30-33. See also Rev 5:10; Rev 2:26-28; Rev 3:12,21; 1 Thess 4:13-18; 2 Tim 2:12. Some Bible students believe that this period will include the resurrection of the Old Testament saints, Dan 12:1-4. The Bible seems to only teach two resurrections, the first is for those who have turned to Jesus as Saviour, the second for all the lost and goes on to the day of judgement. These two resurrections are separated by a thousand years. v1-3 Satan, "the dragon," is chained and placed in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, during this period he will not be allowed to have power in the world. Satan was originally a powerful angel, either God has taken away that power or this guardian angel has been given even greater power to control Satan. The ‘angel’ could even be Jesus Christ Himself. We must remember that during this thousand year period the people on the earth will be the glorified saints and any citizens of earth who had not received the ‘Mark of the Beast.’ Consider Matt 25:31-40. These people will marry and have children, living to a great age. Isaiah 65:17-25. The world will outwardly appear to follow the rule of Christ, but some will not be born again and so will be open to Satan when he is released at the end of the thousand years. Rev 20:7-9. v7-10 Satan released and turns against God. Satan’s release shows that the heart and mind of man is still wicked even after a time of the "golden age," it is only by the grace of God the heart is made clean. They had been living under the perfect rule of Christ, in a perfect world, yet still they turn away from God to Satan. v8 The names "Gog and Magog" may be the names of the earthly leaders of this revolt. They attack the city of God but God destroys them with fire. v10 Satan is now cast into the lake of fire for eternal punishment, joining the ‘beast’ and ‘false prophet’ who had already been there for a thousand years. v11-15 Final Judgement. The second resurrection, the unsaved are now raised and will stand before God’s judgement. This is a different judgement to the Judgement seat of Christ, this only applied to those who were believers. This final day of judgement is for those who rejected God, no rewards, just punishment faces them. From John’s description it is going to be an event impossible to imagine, heaven and earth have fled away, v11, no where to hide. The millions of people, who rejected God’s offer of grace, are now standing before the Judge, no sinner will escape. The Judge is Jesus Christ, the Father gave all judgement to Him, John 5:22-30; Matt 19:28; Acts 17:31. Judgement is based upon what is recording "in the books." What books? 1) "The Book of Life" which contains the names of those who had been redeemed by the grace of God. Phil 4:3; Rev 21:27; Luke 10:20. 2) The Word of God will be there. John 12:48. 3) Books containing the works of each person being judged. This does not mean a person can ‘work’ their way to heaven, Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5. These records are to be used to decide the degree of punishment in hell, Matt 11:20-24. Each will receive what they deserved. There will be a judge and prosecution but no defence or jury. The people themselves will be the evidence, their thoughts and actions during their life will provide all that is necessary. On completion of the judgement, all of the lost will be thrown into hell, the lake of fire, the second death, not only physical punishment but total separation from God, not for a period but for eternity. There are many Bible students who think that ‘hell’ cannot exist due to a ‘loving God,’ but He is also a pure God who cannot accept disobedience, so He must eventually punish. In addition, Jesus taught that hell existed, giving warnings about how not to get into it, Matt 18:8,9; Matt 23:15;,33; Matt 25:46; Mark 9:43-48. God does not send people to hell, they do it themselves by rejecting Jesus the Saviour, John 3:16; Matt 25:41. If we look at Calvary and what happened there we cannot blame God for people going to hell, He made a way to escape. God has now dealt with the sin of the evil angel’s and Man, so He can now bring into being His planned perfect heaven and earth. |
Easy English Translation
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