IX. The Millennium and the Final Judgment (Revelation 20:1-15)

IX. The Millennium and the Final Judgment (20:1-15)

20:1-2 The abyss (20:1) is a place of captivity and judgment. The angel who comes down from heaven has the key to this prison, symbolic of God’s authority over it, as well as a great chain. The angel seizes the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and [binds] him for a thousand years (20:1). The word “thousand” is repeated six times in this chapter and marks a key theological concept in this section of the book. We derive the word millennium from the Latin words for “thousand years.” Theologians use this term to reference various interpretations of the “thousand years” in Revelation 20.

Premillennialism, which is the position adopted in this commentary, teaches that Christ will return before his thousand-year reign on earth and Satan’s thousand-year binding. Postmillennialism teaches that there will be a thousand-year period of peace and righteousness on earth preceding Christ’s return. Amillennialism teaches that the “thousand years” is not a future era of earth’s history, but a figurative designation for either Christ’s present reign in the church or his eternal reign in the new heaven and new earth.

20:3 During Satan’s thousand-year captivity in the abyss, he will no longer be able to deceive the nations. The sinfulness of humanity will not be removed during this period, but the devil’s ability to exacerbate it through deception will be. After the thousand years, however, Satan must be released for a short time.

20:4 Immediately following the tribulation, at the opening of the millennium, God will judge all non-believers to come out of the tribulation, those who took the mark of the best and cast their allegiance with the Antichrist. This judgment is implied by the presence of thrones and the people seated on them who were given authority to judge. In contrast to the judgment of non-believers from the tribulation, all followers of Christ from all ages will reign with Christ during the millennium, including those from the tribulation who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands.

20:5-6 Nonbelievers from all periods of history other than the tribulation will not be raised for judgment until the thousand years [are] completed. That post-millennial resurrection will be the first resurrection of that group (20:5). Importantly, in verse 6, the phrase the first resurrection is used with a different referent: the resurrection of believers at the beginning of the millennium to reign with Jesus. Over such people, the second death (i.e., eternal judgment) has no power.

The millennial reign of Christ and his followers is the utopia for which the world longs. There will be no war. The lion will lie down with the lamb. Lifespans will increase exponentially as in the early days of the Old Testament. The reason such utopia will be possible is that Jesus will be ruling with a rod of iron, and there will be no allowance for rebellion. Each believer will be a co-regent with Jesus, receiving rewards and responsibilities in accordance with his or her level of faithfulness in the present life. Because Christ’s followers will have glorified, heavenly bodies, each person will be perfectly suited to carry out his or her responsibilities.

20:7-8 At the end of the millennium, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations as he has been doing since the fall of mankind (see Gen 3). Surprisingly, even following a thousand years of utopia on earth under the reign of Christ, there will be people who rebel against him and fall for Satan’s deception. These will be like people in the first century AD who followed Jesus and applauded his miracles but then yelled, “Crucify him!” before Pilate (Luke 23:21). Such people follow Jesus outwardly but have experienced no heart transformation. When Satan is released from captivity, he will not force anyone to rebel against Christ. He simply will take advantage of what’s already inside them.

The people Satan deceives are referred to as Gog and Magog, an evil man in Ezekiel 38-39 and the land over which he ruled, respectively. Here the terms are symbolic of the enemies of God in general. Such people will gather . . . for battle against Jesus, and their numbers will be vast, like the sand of the sea (20:8). Until the final judgment, there will always be people who choose to rebel against Jesus.

20:9 These allies of Satan will come up across the breadth of the earth and [surround] the encampment of the saints, the beloved city—that is, Jerusalem. But unlike the protracted battle God wages against his enemies during the tribulation, divine victory in this situation is going to come quickly. Fire will come down from heaven and [consume] them.

20:10 The judgment experienced by individuals in hell will not be identical. Rather, the judgment a person or demon receives will be in proportion to their sin. In this case, the devil is thrown straight into the same portion of hell as the beast and the false prophet. Second, punishment in hell lasts forever and ever. Third, as Matthew 25:41 teaches, hell was “prepared for” Satan and his demons. It was never prepared for people. The only way people go there is by actively choosing the way of Satan. No one goes to hell by chance.

20:11-12 The great white throne (20:11) is the site at which unbelievers from all ages of history will be judged by God. This judgment will involve the consultation of two heavenly records: the books and the book of life. The former are records of people’s deeds, by which their levels of judgment will be determined, since their names will be shown not to be in the book of life. Each nonbeliever’s level of punishment will be according to their works (20:12)—that is, in proportion to their sins and good things committed while in the body. The book of life lists those who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and been credited with his imputed righteousness. No one will receive salvation based on what’s written in a book of deeds because everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect standard (see Rom 3:23; 6:23). Having one’s name appear in the book of life is the only way of salvation.

20:13 Non-believers will appear at the judgment in a resurrected state, in which their souls are united with non-glorified bodies. John describes a bodily resurrection to judgment when he says the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. At death, the soul is separated from the body, with the soul going immediately into the presence of God (see Luke 23:43) or to a state of judgment (see Luke 16:22-24). At the rapture, believers’ souls will be united with glorified bodies appropriate to their eternal existence in paradise. Here, nonbelievers’ souls are united with bodies suited for their eternal location.

20:14-15 The lake of fire will be the final, eternal location of every human whose name [is] not found written in the book of life (20:15; see the commentary on 13:8). It is a place of eternal, conscious torment received in proportion to one’s sins in the body. Those who receive this judgment have not necessarily committed worse sins than those who dwell with God in paradise. They simply are reaping the fruit of their sins rather than enjoying the benefits of having Christ’s perfect record credited to their accounts. The second death (20:14) is another way of speaking of eternal judgment. The first death is the physical death of the body. The second death is eternal separation from the love, blessings, and benefits of God.