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Revelation 20:3
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Revelation 20:3 Meaning and Commentary
And cast him into the bottomless pit
Or deep, into which the devils desired they might not be sent, and which they dreaded as a torment, it may be, because a place of confinement, ( Luke 8:31 ) ( Matthew 8:29 ) for this is called a prison, ( Revelation 20:7 ) and is distinguished from the lake of fire, into which the devil is afterwards cast, ( Revelation 20:10 ) .
And shut him up;
that so he might not rove about in the air, nor go to and fro in the earth, nor walk about like a roaring lion, seeking to affright, disturb, or devour:
and set a seal upon him;
or upon the door of the pit, for further security, as was upon the stone at the mouth of the lion's den, ( Daniel 6:17 ) and of Christ's sepulchre, ( Matthew 27:66 ) . The Jews F21 make mention of a stone they call "Shetijah", with which the Lord of the world "sealed the mouth of the great deep", or bottomless pit, at the beginning; but here not that, but Satan in it, is sealed. The Alexandrian copy reads, "and sealed him firmly", so that it was impossible for him to break out: the end of this apprehension, binding, imprisonment, and security of Satan is,
that he should deceive the nations no more;
that is, by drawing them into idolatry, false worship, and false doctrine; and by exciting them to make war against the saints, or to persecute them, as appears from ( Revelation 20:8 ) as he had done before; and it is notorious enough that he has deceived them both these ways; he deceived the Pagan nations not only before, but since the coming of Christ, to worship the Heathen deities; and the Papists, who are called Gentiles, or nations, ( Revelation 11:2 ) to fall down to idols of gold, silver, stone, and wood; and the nation of the Jews to entertain a false and deluded notion of the Messiah; and all of them, in their turns, to persecute the people of God, as the Jews at the death of Stephen, and afterwards; the Pagan emperors for the first three hundred years after Christ; the Papists from the rise of the beast, who had power given him to make war with the saints, and overcome them; but now he will be under such restraint, and in such close confinement, that he will not be able to move the wicked nations to anything of this kind, as he will when he is loosed at the end of the thousand years; nor will he be able so much as to tempt any of the saints, during this term of time, nor give them the least molestation or uneasiness.
Till the thousand years shall be fulfilled;
or ended, the whole space of them run out:
and after that he must be loosed a little season;
a small space of time, in comparison of the thousand years; how long it will be exactly, cannot be said; and this "must" be, not because he cannot be held any longer, or through any weakness in Christ; but because of the decree of God, who has so appointed it, for the glorifying of himself, in the salvation of his people, and in the final destruction of the devil, and the Gog and Magog army.
F21 Targum Jon. in Exod. xxviii. 30.
Revelation 20:3 In-Context
