The Book of Revelation Chapter 20 November 9, 2016

1-3 4-7 8-11 12-16 17-19 20 21-22 Vision of Jesus and Seven letters to seven churches Throne of God & Scroll with seven seals Seven trumpets Christ, the Dragon & the Seven Bowls The Harlot on Seven Hills & the Bride The King reigns New Heaven & New Earth Each ends with a promise of 2nd Coming Christ wipes away every tear (7:17) Christ will reign forever & ever (11:15) Fall of the nations “It is done” (16:17) Rider on the White Horse (19:16) Judge & Lake of Fire I am coming quickly (22:20)

Revelation 20:1-3 The Thousand Years 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

Revelation 20:1-3 Chapter 20 introduces us to the most beautiful, peaceful, and rewarding age the world will ever know – the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of our Lord Jesus Christ as King of kings. So far we have seen nothing of the fate of Satan, now we see what is to happen to him We see an angel given the keys that belong to Jesus in order to lock up Satan for a thousand years This is not the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet were cast This is a temporary prison where Satan is held for 1000 years so that Christ’s Millennium reign of peace, happiness and holiness may exist without evil He is bound Triply secure: thrown into the abyss, locked and sealed it Why the devil must be freed for a short time is not explained and is one of the mysteries in this chapter

Revelation 20:1-3 It is possible that the intermediate imprisonment of Satan in the abyss is a parallel to the intermediate imprisonment of the wicked dead in this world Wicked humans experience death of their bodies, go temporarily to Hades/Hell. They are released from Hell for a short time to be judged at Christ’s Throne and are then thrown into the lake of fire

Revelation 20:4-5 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who 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 for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

Revelation 20:6 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Revelation 20:4-6 There appears to be a heavenly court appointed by Jesus to judge When we look at Daniel 7, we can interpret the judges as angelic beings who account the martyrs worthy of their special reward The martyrs – those “beheaded for the testimony of Jesus” and those who refused the antichrist are resurrected with the second coming of Jesus These will reign with Jesus during the Millennium There is debate about who is included in this millennial time and who are “the rest of the dead” Some view “the rest of the dead” as only the wicked dead and think that ALL redeemed will be resurrected and enter into Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom The question of the “first resurrection” could be a special event which happens before the resurrection of all the dead

Revelation 20:4-6 Ultimately, we cannot fully interpret this but know that the greatest result is salvation for those whose names are written in the Book of Life The statement “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection” is often interpreted as a blessing on the righteous redeemed of all ages who will be bodily resurrected at the return of Christ We should see the first death as the death of the human body and the resurrected redeemed have no fear of the second death, punishment in the lake of fire

Revelation 20:7-9 The Defeat of Satan 7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,

Revelation 20:10 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:7-10 One of the rewards of the martyrs appears to be connected to the temporary binding of the devil in the Abyss. Only after the thousand years will Satan get to have his last attack upon God and His people There is a great deal of debate and interpretive disagreement over these verses: Some use it to dismiss the idea of a Millennium and try to see it figuratively Other interpreters see these events literally – that Jesus will rule over the earth with His martyrs for a thousand year period of peace At the end of this time Satan will get to make one last attack on God The question of where other peoples come from to mount up the devil’s army – after the completion of God’s judgements upon creation – is not answered for us

Revelation 20:7-10 A key part of this best / most likely / possible answer to this is that God is so committed to human free will as to permit this and the final strong opposition to His sovereignty BUT – this still leaves the question – are these who are now deceived and joining Satan’s final attack on Jesus, the previously saved who did not give into the temptations and schemes of the beast, false prophet and dragon? That is essentially where this interpretation goes … This explanation makes sense when we see that all who entered the Millennium were redeemed people BUT over the 1000 years procreation took place because they have human bodies (unlike the resurrected martyrs who have resurrected bodies) Having human bodies the redeemed people’s children still are affected by the sin of Adam, still have original sin In this view, Satan’s release is to see if Jesus is real to these children by their choice or have they only obeyed because of a lack of temptation

Revelation 20:7-10 There are numerous verses that support the view of this explanation and of an actual Millennium – these are verses of prediction that clearly do not speak of Heaven but of earthly things and life: Isaiah 65:21, “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit o them.” Isaiah 11:6, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb.” Isaiah 32:1, “And in the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed … and it shall stand for ever.” Matthew 19:28, “Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” This time is referred to later as the restitution (from Acts 3:20-21).

Revelation 20:7-10 The second prevalent view is that this is not literal but is a reflection back to the final ultimate battle we saw in chapter 19 These take literally the announcement at the blowing of the seventh judgement trumpet: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.” (11:15) So these interpreters see these present verses as the third description of the final battle with the forces of evil Whichever way we interpret this battle, it turns out to be much like the final battle of Chapter 19 Where the heavenly army were spectators in Chapter 19, here they are again when the enemy is destroyed when “fire came down from heaven and consumed them” Verse 10 is the only verse in Scripture that describes the fulfillment of Matthew 25:41, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Revelation 20:7-10 An important note about Hell: When does Satan enter Hell? In Scripture we see the truth which is different from conventional human ideas – he doesn’t enter Hell until the very end He is not the tormenter but is tormented along with all those he has deceived throughout time Satan until this time has roamed the earth and has a degree of authority here Hell is truly the Lake of Fire – those who do not accept Jesus Christ go into “Death and Hades” who/which are also cast, ultimately, into Hell, the Lake of Fire Those who die without Jesus as their Savior will go into Death & Hades while believers will go into Heaven

Revelation 20:11-13 Judgment Before the Great White Throne 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.

Revelation 20:11-13 With the final defeat of Satan, Jesus’ kingship is now shown tied to His being the Judge of all creation This confirms and agrees with Matthew 25:31-32, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Jesus now confirms what He said in John 5:22, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son.” Christ is so infinitely powerful that now the earth an sky flee from Him – this is literally the disappearing of the old universe to make way for the new haven and earth. Here, at the end of time, ALL the dead will live again, good and bad, great and small to be judged by Jesus. Some do believe this to be a period of judgement over only the wicked and believe Jesus has already judged the saved earlier.

Revelation 20:11-13 There will be two witnesses brought forward for judgment: “the books” and “the book of life” These two witnesses can be expected to be in agreement “The books” are an account of all that one has done – righteous character is revealed in righteous works, just as evil is revealed in evil actions “The Book of Life” is the account of human destiny from the basis of divine sovereignty, the only names written in this book were those who were saved by faith To emphasize that human beings will face final judgement, we are told all temporary places that receive the bodies of the dead give them up (the sea, the ground [Hades]) ALL are judged by what they have done and the wicked’s destiny is destiny is told before we will find out about the righteous

Revelation 20:14-15 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14-15 Death and Hades in Revelation are always personified as evil twins that swallow up humanity – some believe that is even the redeemed. After they have given up all that resided in them they will be destroyed themselves “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26) Now we see that those who are not in the Book of Life are condemned to spend eternity in the lake of fire. This death of permanent separation from Jesus and eternal punishment is “the second death” Note that here we the horrible punishment for those who don’t accept Jesus put forth in plain and simple, clear, language