And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
The Loosing of Satan, the War of Gog and Magog, the Judgement on the Devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet, Rev 20:7-10
7. Satan shall be loosed ] “for a little season,” as we heard in Rev 20:3. The words are different from the “short time” of Rev 12:12, and we have no reason to understand that they refer to the same period: still the two passages to a certain extent illustrate one another.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And when the thousand years are expired – See Rev 20:2.
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison – See Rev 20:3. That is, a state of things will then occur as if Satan should be for a time let loose again, and should be permitted to go as formerly over the world. No intimation is given why or how he would be thus released from his prison. We are not, however, to infer that it would be a mere arbitrary act on the part of God. All that is necessary to be supposed is, that there would be, in certain parts of the world, a temporary outbreak of wickedness, as if Satan were for a time released from his chains.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 20:7-15
When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed
Satan loosed
Notice what immediately follows this thousand years.
1. The devil is let loose. He who lets him loose is, of course, the same who bound him, and sealed him in the prison of the abyss. It seems like a great pity, after the world has rested for a thousand years, that this arch-enemy of its peace should again be let loose upon it. But there seems to be some sort of necessity for it. The statement to John was, that he must be loosed a little time (verse 3). Some interest of righteousness and moral government renders it proper that he should be allowed this last limited freedom. If for nothing else, it is not unimportant that he should have this opportunity to prove how little an imprisonment of a thousand years had served to change him, or reform his malignity.
2. He seduces Gog and Magog into rebellion. He does not send forth this time to the kings of the earth, for there are then no mortal kings to be led astray, but he goes direct to the people, insinuates his malice against the rule under which the King of kings has placed the nations, and seeks to persuade them into an attempt to overthrow it. To those who dwell in the outskirts and darker places of the earth, he wends his sullen way. Who Gog and Magog are we may not be able to tell. But the allusion to the corners of the earth as the regions whence these rebels come, sufficiently indicates that they are among the hindermost of peoples and the least advanced and cultured among the millennial nations. Satan succeeds in rendering them dissatisfied with the holy rule of Gods glorified saints, and induces them to believe that they can successfully throw it off and crush it out, as the deluded kings under the Antichrist were persuaded a thousand years before.
3. A terrible disaster ensues. A madder thing than Gog and Magogs attempt was never undertaken upon earth. It is simply a march into the jaws of death, for no rebellion against the kings who then hold the reins of government can be tolerated. The insane war is quickly terminated. There came down fire out of heaven and devoured them. Not a man of them escapes.
4. Satan meets his final perdition. He was imprisoned in the abyss before; but he is now cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also the Beast and the False Prophet [are]. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Satan loosed from his prison after the thousand years
During the millennial period on earth, while the departed saints are living and reigning with Christ, evil will be subdued and restrained, but by no means will it be extinct. Had it been extinct it could not have broken out again, nor would there be any need for the of the saints. The new uprising of evil after the thousand years rest is certainly not what we should expect or desire. But doubtless there is a Divine reason for permitting it so to be, or it would not be. Let us look at this matter closely in the light of Gods Word, and maybe we shall find more to instruct us on this theme than at first sight appears probable.
I. We gather from this passage some hints as to the state of the Church on earth during the millennial period.
1. There is no reason to doubt that the millennium, owing to the effective restraint then put upon evil through the Word of truth and the power of God, will be a period of very great blessedness. Satan is the active agent in so much evil, and when he is bound a large proportion of evil will cease to exist, and a far more rapid diffusion of good will be the blessed result.
2. There is no reason whatever to suppose, from any of the teaching of Scripture, that our Lord Jesus Christ will then be present on the earth in any other way than in the power of His Spirit.
3. It is equally clear that the millennium will not be a period of unmixed good, nor will it be a time when the saints can dispense with the . Compared with things as they are now, the earth will be at rest; but it will not be heaven. Evil will be subdued, but far from extinct. The possibility of an outbreak will exist still.
4. There will also still be death in the world. The deathless state enters not in till the new heavens and the new earth appear, and Paradise is regained. Not till then will there be no more curse.
5. The Church will still have to be prepared for war. Obviously, if the state of things on earth during the millennium were one of universal righteousness, there would be no nations to be deceived. Still less can we suppose that, after the resurrection from the dead, the glorified saints are to go about, sword in hand, to the holy war.
II. What do we gather from Scripture concerning this onset of ill after the millennium?
1. It is necessary. There is a little word in the third verse of this chapter of which we are too apt to lose sight. It is the word must. After that, he must be loosed a little season. Must! Why? We are not told.
2. It will be a fierce onset. It will be after the old kind, by deception (verse 8). What will be the special form of deceit he will use we are not told, and conjecture is useless.
3. It will be a restricted struggle. Satan will be bound by time even when loosed as to space. The same hand that bound retains its power even when the evil one is loosed. Not even at the worst of times is the world given over to the devil.
4. It will be for a little season. Not only restricted, but within very narrow limits. The conflict may be sharp, but it will be short.
5. It will be suicidal. Satan will overshoot the mark, and fall into his own snare.
6. The struggle will be even serviceable to the Church; for not only will it reveal more and more the majesty of God in defending His own cause, but it will end in the hurling of Satan to a lower depth than before. In chap. 12:9 we read that the devil was cast down to earth. In Rev 20:3 he is cast into the abyss. But in Rev 20:10 he is cast into the lake of fire. Hence–
7. The struggle will be–the last. If the reader has followed the plan of the book, he will have noted how one after another of the foes of God and man are destroyed. They were four.
(1) The dragon–Satan.
(2) The beast.
(3) The false prophet.
(4) Babylon the great.
III. What are the related truths to which this passage points us?
1. In the light of the views of the millennium and of what is to follow, two sets of apparently conflicting passages fall into place. There is one set which indicates that, as the result of the first coming of Christ, all the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord; there is another set which indicates that there will be a fierce outbreak of evil before our Lord shall come. It is no small confirmation of the correctness of an interpretation of this passage if thereby apparently conflicting statements fall in place. The binding of Satan, which was and is effected through our Lord Jesus Christ, has become more and more stringent as souls are plucked from his grasp; and we are to see a time of peace and calm when he will be even more completely bound than he is now. But after that there is to be the new onrush of evil, so that before our Lord shall come a fiercer conflict than has ever been known will be fought, ere the great struggle shall be completely at an end, and then the Lord shall come.
2. We see that there are two ways in which evil is being dealt with. That of removal, when souls are being renewed; and that of restraint, when evil beings are kept with prescribed limits. And both these ways of working are going on now, and will do during this millennial age.
3. Be it ours to take heart as we get a fresh glimpse of the Divine plan, viz., that however oft the conflict with evil and the evil one may be renewed, yet in every case the issue is that of the defeat of evil, and its banishment to a lower depth of disgrace than before. Who hath ever hardened himself against God and prospered?
4. Finally, what God will ultimately do with evil and the evil one, no one can positively say. (C. Clemance, D. D.)
The age of moral reaction
I. The reaction is brought about in the manner in which mankind have ever degenerated.
1. Here is deception. Hell and heaven are acting on our world through thoughts–the one through the false, and the other through the true.
2. Here is deception employed by Satan. He hath blinded the minds of men.
3. Here is deception employed by Satan, first upon those who are most assailable, and afterwards through them upon others.
II. The reaction is of a character the most threatening.
1. The vast number of its agents.
2. The anti-Christian aim of its agents. They made efforts to assault the most central and vital part of religion.
III. The reaction terminates in the everlasting destruction of all its agents.
1. There is in the universe a distinct local scene, where the wicked of all classes are to receive their righteous retribution.
2. The retribution which the wicked will endure in this scene will be of a most terrible description. Fire is the emblem of suffering (Zec 13:9; 1Co 3:13-15; 1Pe 1:7); brimstone is the emblem of desolation (Job 18:15). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Compassed the camp of the saints about.—
The saints compassed by evil
1. Whereas it is said that they compassed the camp of the saints about, we see that the saints and Church of Christ is still, and ever hath been, and shall be to the end, the butt of Satans malice, whereof she needs not to expect either intermission or mitigation.
2. We see the extremity that she may by Gods permission be brought unto, to be compassed about on all sides without any outget, as Israel was coming out of Egypt, or that boat wherein Christ was (Mat 8:1-34.); yet the Lord will never fail her, but her extremity will be seen to be His opportunity.
3. Whereas the Church is called the beloved city, this is a cordial to all the truly godly, that whatever their estate be here, hated of the world and persecuted, yet they are beloved of God, and shall be preserved by Him.
4. Whereas it is said that fire came down from heaven and devoured them, we see that full and final destruction at last shall be the end of all Gods enemies. (Wm. Guild, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Satan shall be loosed] How can this bear any kind of literal interpretation? Satan is bound a thousand years, and the earth is in peace; righteousness flourishes, and Jesus Christ alone reigns. This state of things may continue for ever if the imprisonment of Satan be continued. Satan, however, is loosed at the end of the thousand years, and goes out and deceives the nations, and peace is banished from the face of the earth, and a most dreadful war takes place, &c., &c. These can be only symbolical representations, utterly incapable of the sense generally put upon them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When the long time expressed under the notion of a thousand years shall be expired, God shall take off his restraint from the devil, so as he shall influence the wicked of the earth once more to make opposition to his church.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. expiredGreek,“finished.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when the thousand years are expired,…. Which are not yet expired; not in the year 1000, or 1033 or 4, reckoning from the birth or death of Christ, when Paganism, which had been destroyed in the Gentile world, was introduced into the church, which bore the Christian name, through the man of sin; for this had been bringing in by degrees more or less from the times of Constantine; whence it appears, that Satan in this respect was loose before, and therefore this was not the time of his loosing; nor in 1073, reckoning from the destruction of Jerusalem, and the carrying and spread of the Gospel among the Gentiles, in which year Hildebrand came to the popedom, who may be truly called the brand of hell; Damianus, a brother cardinal, who lived at the same time with him when he was archdeacon of Rome, calls him the holy devil; he was an impostor, sorcerer, and necromancer, and by wicked arts got into the Papal chair; this pope raised the Papal power over princes to a very great height, and made the see of Rome absolutely independent, and all bishops dependent on it; he forbid bishops receiving their investiture from the emperor, or any lay person, under pain of excommunication: this is the pope that made the emperor, with his empress and child, wait three days barefoot at his gates, in the depth of winter, before they could be admitted to him; that doctrine of devils, forbidding priests to marry, was established by him; and in his days that monstrous and absurd notion of transubstantiation began to prevail, though he himself used his breaden god but very roughly; for taking it to be really God, he required an answer from it against the emperor; but it not speaking, he threw it into the fire, and burnt it. Now it will be allowed, that the devil was loose at this time, but then so he was before: there had been popes before this who were conjurers, necromancers, and had familiarity and confederacy with the devil; and near five hundred years before this time, the pope was declared universal bishop by Phocas; and the forbidding priests marriage was started in the council of Nice, and was approved of by Pope Siricius, long before this time, though it was now more firmly established; add to this, that if the expiration of the 1000 years and the loosing of Satan were at this time, he must have been loosed near 700 years, which can never be called a little season, as in Re 20:3 especially in comparison of the 1000 years, the time of his binding; when it is two thirds of that time: nor did these years expire in or about 1300, reckoning from Constantine, about which time Pope Boniface the Eighth lived, of whom it is said, that he came in like a fox, railed like a lion, and died like a dog; upon his accession to the popedom, he instituted a jubilee, and on the first day he appeared in his pontifical habit, and gave the benediction to the people, and on the next day he clothed himself with an imperial habit, and put on a rich diadem, and sat on a throne, with a naked sword bore before him, when he uttered these words, “Ecce hic duo gladii”, “Behold here are two swords”, referring to Lu 22:38 which the Papists would have understood of the temporal and spiritual power which Peter and his successors are possessed of; at the same time Ottoman was crowned emperor of the Mahometan nations, who founded the Turkish empire, and spread the Mahometan religion in Asia and Greece; and by both these, great disturbances and wars were occasioned, both in the east and west: but still this does not make it appear that now was the time of Satan’s loosing; since before this time the Papal power was at its utmost height, and the Mahometan religion had been hundreds of years in the world, and had greatly prevailed; and therefore Satan must be loosed before; and indeed it is in vain to seek after the expiration of these years, and the loosing of Satan, when as yet the years are not begun, nor has Satan been bound, as has been shown on Re 20:2 but however, when they will be ended,
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison; during the thousand years he will be in a state of confinement, being bound, shut, and sealed up in the bottomless pit, which is therefore here called a prison, as is the place of damned spirits, in 1Pe 3:19 but when these will be at an end; his chain will be taken off, at least will be lengthened; the seal upon him will be broken off, the bottomless pit will be opened, and he let loose; which will be done not by himself, but by him that bound him, or by divine permission.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When are finished ( ). Indefinite future temporal clause with and the first aorist passive subjunctive of , “whenever are finished.”
Shall be loosed (). Future passive of , no longer bound as in 20:2f. He uses the future as a prophet in verses Rev 20:7; Rev 20:8, but in Rev 20:9; Rev 20:10 he uses the aorist as a seer.
Out of his prison ( ). For in this sense see 2:10. Out of the abyss of verses Rev 20:2; Rev 20:3.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
5) SATAN LOOSED AND THE DOOM
OF GOG AND MAGOG v. 7-9
1) “And when the thousand years are expired,” (kai hotan telesthe ta chilia ete) “And whenever the thousand years (the millennium) is (are) completed, finished, or expired; Nothing short of a literal reign of Christ over the earth, at (during) his second coming, satisfies the literal occurrence and truth of the Scriptures, 2Sa 7:11-13; Psa 119:160; Isa 9:6-7; Luk 1:32-33; Act 15:15-17.
2) “Satan shall be loosed,” (luthesetai ho satanas) “Satan will be released,” loosed, or turned out of the Abyss, the bottomless pit, (Rev 20:2-3) where he shall have been sealed, incarcerated, inescapably for the one thousand years.
3) “Out of his prison,” (ek tes phulakes autou) “Out of, (from) his prison,” re he had been sealed, restrained, detained, for a thousand years. Note, this is called “his prison,” chief headquarters of his reign, while he is prince of this world, and prince of the power of the air, and his jurisdiction over principalities, through influence and power of his demon spirits; from this prison he goes, and has gone forth, in this age, not only over the creation but also before the throne of God in heaven to bring accusations against the redeemed for their wrongs on the earth; But Jesus advocates for and defends his own there today, Heb 7:25; 1Jn 2:1-2; Yes, this roving creature shall roam the earth no more, during that. golden millennial era, 1Pe 5:8-9; Joh 12:31; Luk 10:18; Eph 2:2; Eph 6:18; Rev 12:7-14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Strauss Comments
SECTION 67
Text Rev. 20:7-10
7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Initial Questions Rev. 20:7-10
1.
Discuss some of the necessary features of sinful man which make deception possible Rev. 20:7.
2.
How extensive is Satans deception according to Rev. 20:8?
3.
What O.T. event is similar to the imagery of Rev. 20:9? (A clue: a mighty Empire sent a besieging army to Jerusalem).
4.
How long is the torment of Satan, the beast and the false prophet Rev. 20:10?
Rev. 20:7
Whenever the appointed time (1000 years) has been fulfilled Satan will be loosed out of his prison. Notice that Satan does not break out of prison, but he will be loosed (luthesetai future tense, passive voice, indicative moodat some specific time in the future someone (God) will set Satan free again in order to enable him to continue his deceiving.)
Rev. 20:8
The great battle between Christ and Satan ensues after the evil one is released from his prison. John uses the names of Gog and Magog which come from Ezekiel 38 f. They will ultimately be defeated and be cast into the company of the two beasts (see Rev. 19:20). The Millennium is not a time of bliss and perfection because Satan still has followers. John says that the number of them is as the sand of the sea. Evil still had its followers even during the 1000 years reign (Rev. 20:4-5) as multitudes respond to his marshalling war trumpet.
Rev. 20:9
The imagery of this verse is similar in content to the event of the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacheribs army (2Ki. 19:20 ff). The Assyrian hordes had circled the city of David. God sent a sign to the embattered league of defenders. The Assyrian army shall not shoot an arrow there, or cast up a mound against it. In the night the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Assyrians. (2Ki. 19:32-37.) John declares that the enemy of Gods people went up over the breadth of the land, and encircled the camp of the saints and the having been loved city; and fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. Certainly this imagery fits the imagery of besieged Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah and Gods judgment upon all evil.
Rev. 20:10
The Devil was cast (eblth 1st aor. passive voice was cast finally and forever by God) into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet (were not in text), and they will be tormented day and night unto the ages of the ages. The last enemy of Christ and His servants is forever cast from the presence of God and His saints.
Discussion Questions
See Rev. 20:11-15.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
THE LOOSING OF SATAN AND HIS FINAL OVERTHROW.
(7) And when the thousand years are expired.Rather, And when the thousand years have been finished. The binding of Satan implied restraint put upon his power and freedom of action; the loosing means the removing of these restraints. The reign of Christ with His saints has been a witness to the power of our Master over the wicked one. This witness has been an opportunity also to the world. It was the earthly approximation to the ideal picture. It testified how completely all power in heaven and in earth was given to Christ, and how there lay, therefore, within the reach of men the power of Him who would tread down their true enemies, and turn His hand against their adversaries (Psa. 81:13-14). But the time of opportunity must end. O that Israel would have hearkened, is a cry that might have its counterpart over the history of earths lost opportunities. Christendom is planted in the world to be a framework of regenerating power to mankind, just as the Law and its adjuncts were designed to be in Israel. But, as there the old idolatrous influences broke in upon the rule of Gods covenant, so here do we find the vision picturing to us how Christendom will be invaded by the influences of the evil one, when mankind has let slip this splendid opportunity of a really golden age.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The new rebellion of Satan closed by his destruction, Rev 20:7-10.
7. Are expired It is interesting to note how the seer bridges us over the period of the thousand years in less than an hour. His own position remains the same as in Rev 19:4, in presence of the royal state of Rev 4:11. In describing the millennium, he repeatedly changes the tense; sometimes predicting in the future, and sometimes describing or narrating as in the past.
Shall be Will be; the simple future, as also in next verse. Why is Satan loosed? We might, also, ask, Why was he first permitted to enter Eden? Which resolves itself into the general question, Why is evil allowed in the universe? Why the possibility of, or the agent’s freedom to, sin? Why allow free agency, tried virtue, penalty for guilt, or reward for virtue? Because a system of free-agents, a moral system, a probationary system, is superior to and better than a system of pure moral machines. But, in the present case, doubtless, an age had arrived when the free tendencies to apostasy called for Satan, as apostate Israel called for a king, whom God granted in his wrath. And if it be asked how so pure an age could apostatize, we may ask in reply, How could the first angels rebel? and how could our first parents fall? The most perfect free-agent in a scene of temptation is one with whom it is easy to keep right with care. Hence we cannot be sure that in the millennium there will be no exceptions to the general rule of holiness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when the thousand years are over Satan will be loosed from his prison and will come forth to deceive the nations who are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people (the saints) and the beloved city, and fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.’
Satan’s loosing from his prison (Rev 9:11) indicates that in the final days before Christ’s coming he will be given greater rein (Rev 12:12; Rev 17:12), although, as we learn earlier, unable to touch those who have been sealed by God (Rev 9:4). He especially reveals the effect of this release in the rising up of the beast from the abyss (Rev 17:8) and of the dreadful spiritual creatures headed by their equally dreadful king Apollyon, which is almost certainly another name for Satan himself (Rev 9:2-11).
‘And will come forth to deceive the nations.’ The emphasis is here laid on his deceitfulness. This is one of the characteristics most often applied to Satan, along with his pride (1Ti 3:6). He is ‘the father of lies’ (Joh 8:44 compare 2Co 11:3). His known career began with deceit in the Garden of Eden and here it ends in deceit, and he has deceived people all the way through (2Co 4:4). It is because of him that people ‘believe a lie’ (2Th 2:11 in context). This ‘coming forth’ has very much the rise of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 in mind.
‘Gog and Magog —’. This idea is taken from Ezekiel 38, 39 where in the final days Gog, of Magog (Eze 38:2), – both the king and his people – will come against the people of God only to be totally defeated and destroyed (compare Rev 19:21). In Ezekiel they are situated in Asia Minor, and there is no question but that this comes before Christ’s second coming, for the final restoration of God’s people is then described. In apocalyptic and Rabbinic literature, however, ‘Gog and Magog’ have become symbolic figures representing the enemies of God, so that they have by this time become world figures, which explains why they can gather such huge forces.
‘The number of whom is as the sand of the sea.’ It was on the sand of the sea that Satan first stood when the beast first came out of the sea (Rev 13:1). His standing on it signified his dominion over it, just as later the strong angel would stand on the sea and the earth to indicate God’s taking control (Rev 10:5). Now he makes use of those whom he dominates.
‘To gather them together to war.’ This parallels Rev 19:19. Now we see what chapter 19 is indicating. Satan was not expecting the rider on the white horse to appear. He had gathered his armies together to finally eliminate the people of God.
‘And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people and the beloved city.’ Note that God’s people live in ‘a camp’, in temporary accommodation (parembole – fortified camp or barracks) for they are soldiers of Christ (2Ti 2:3-4) and strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Heb 11:13). They seek a city which is above whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:10).
‘The beloved city’ is in contrast to ‘the great city’ likened to Sodom and Gomorrah in Rev 11:8. The latter is physical Jerusalem. The former is those in that city who are true to God (the sanctuary of Rev 11:1-2) and look to the city that is above (Gal 4:26). Compare how in Psa 78:68 ‘the mount Zion which He loved’ is the tribe of Judah, the ‘chosen’ tribe, over against the remainder of Jacob’s descendants, so that ‘He loves the gates of Zion more than the dwellings of Jacob’ (Psa 87:2). The ‘beloved city’ therefore refers to the camp of the chosen remnant. This suggests that here the people of God are the beloved city, as they are the components of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:2 with Rev 21:12-14).
This is confirmed elsewhere in Revelation for it is clear that while the literal Jerusalem itself is a city rejected and condemned, ‘trodden down’, there is a chosen remnant within with whom God deals (chapter 11, see especially Rev 20:8) . The thought of a fortified camp of Christians fits well with the picture of Satan making war with God’s people (Rev 11:7 and elsewhere). This explains why the armies go ‘over the breadth of the earth’ (compare Hab 1:6) for the camp of the people of God is worldwide. Compare Eze 38:11 where Gog’s attack is on ‘the land of unwalled village, — those who are quiet and dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates’, a perfect description of the people of God whose stronghold is God. This camp of God’s people is in total contrast to the first camp when Cain ‘built an encampment’ (Gen 4:17 with Num 13:19). Cain’s action was leading up to Babel and Great Babylon. The camp of God’s people is a leaving of Babel to stand with God.
‘And fire came down from Heaven and devoured them.’ When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to call on their God (who was god of storm and lightning) to light the fires of sacrifice directly (through his lightning) they failed in their endeavours, but for Elijah the fire came down from Heaven and devoured the sacrifice (1Ki 18:24; 1Ki 18:38). This same fire came down on Elijah’s enemies from God (2Ki 1:10; 2Ki 1:12). So will God’s fire finally fall on Satan’s hosts.
Here again we have an illumination of chapter 19. As we saw there, there was really no battle, and yet the hosts were destroyed. Here we have the explanation. There they were described as slain by the sword from the mouth of the Word of God (Rev 19:21), here we learn it was a fiery ‘sword’, a sword of lightning like the sword in Gen 3:24. Once again those who rebel against God are being prevented from having access to the tree of life by the fiery sword, but this time it is permanent. Ezekiel 38 links the sword with fire and brimstone (Rev 19:21 with 22).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The release of Satan and the coming of Gog and Magog:
v. 7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
v. 8. and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
v. 9. And they went up on 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.
v. 10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. According to this description, the final period of the earth’s history and of that of the Church on earth will be one in which the faithfulness of the saints will be sorely tried: And when the thousand years will have come to an end, Satan will be released from his prison, and will go forth to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to muster them for the battle, whose number was like the sand of the sea. That is the last act in the world’s drama: Satan loosed from his confinement of a thousand years and going forth with rage and bloodthirstiness to wage war against the army of the Lord, against the Christian Church. To this end he musters Gog and Magog, the innumerable host of all the enemies of the people of God, no matter under what name they may appear in the world. Satan marshals all the anti-Christian forces and their number is beyond calculation for a last terrible onslaught.
This combat and its outcome are next pictured: And they went up on the broad places of the earth, and they surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And there fell down fire from God out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where also the beast and the false prophet are; and they were tormented day and night forever and ever. From all sides the enemies of the Lord and of His believers come, equipped with every form of weapon to take the beloved city of God, to overcome the Church of Jesus Christ. But even this last supreme effort is futile against the power of the Lord, who sends down fire from heaven to destroy them, since He Himself is a devouring fire, Psa 18:8; Eze 15:7; Heb 12:29. God; in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early, Psa 46:5. It was the end also for Satan, for he was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, to join those whom he had inspired before, the beast and the false prophet, Anti-Christ and his representative, the Pope. In this place of torment they shall forever remain. There will be no more loosing and delivering. Satan will be bound forever at the return of Christ on the last day.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 20:7. The following verses of this chapter to Rev 20:11. inform us, that the happy days of the church, prophesied of in the foregoing vision, will at length have their period: though they are to continue for a long time, and are not to expire till after a thousand years: yetthen there shall be one attempt more against the purity of religion, and against the peace and prosperity of the church. Satan is to be released for a little time, or season; but in that little season he shall deceive many; and so far seduce them, as to prevail upon them to join with him in his apostacy. This new attempt against truth and righteousness, shall end in the utter ruinof the enemies of Christ and his religion: they shall be totally defeated, and their obstinate wickedness punished with everlasting destruction. This state of the church and world, so different from the preceding, deserves to be considered as a new period, which will therefore be the fifth in order.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 20:7-10. When the thousand years are expired, &c. At the expiration of the thousand years, the restraint will be taken off from wickedness,Satan shall be loosed, and make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in Paradise, so he will have the artifice to deceive the nations after the millennium, to shew, that no state or condition on earth is secured from sinning. The nations whom he shall deceive, are described as living in the remotest parts of the world,in the four quarters, or more literally, in the four angles or corners of the earth; and they are distinguished by the names of Gog and Magog, and are said to be as numerous as the sand of the sea, Rev 20:8. Gog and Magog seem to have been formerly the general names of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophesy concerning Gog and Magog; and this prophesy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel, and this of St. John, remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event; but it appears more probable, that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take effect before, but the other will not take effect till after the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Eze 38:6-15; Eze 39:2 . are said expressly to come from the north quarters, and the north parts; but in St. John they come from the four quarters; or corners of the earth. Gog and Magog in Ezekiel send their forces against the Jews re-settled in their own land; but in St. John they march up against the saints and church of God in general. Gog and Magog in Ezekiel are, with very good reason, supposed to be the Turks; but the Turks are the authors of the second woe, which is past before the third woe; and the third woe long precedes the time here treated of. It may therefore be concluded, that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they will be we cannot pretend to say with any degree of certainty: but whoever they will be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, the new Jerusalem, with the saints encamping round it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernaclein the wilderness. But they shall not succeed in their attempts; theyshall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven, Rev 20:9. And the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished, together with the beast and false prophet, for ever and ever, Rev 20:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 20:7-10 . After the completion of the one thousand years, Satan is let loose; then he leads the heathen nations, Gog and Magog, to an attack upon the saints. But fire from heaven consumes those nations, and Satan is cast eternally into the lake of fire.
. Here and in Rev 20:8 ( ) the statement has the express form of prophecy, which also is repeated in Rev 20:10 b ( ); in Rev 20:9 and Rev 20:10 a , however, the prophet speaks so as to report the revelation imparted to him concerning the events impending at the end. [4176]
. The difficulty that here the heathen nations once again enter into conflicts against the saints, after, Rev 19:21 , all nations and kings (rendering allegiance to the beast) have been annihilated, to which also the other difficulty is added, that enemies to be found in the earthly life contend against believers who are partakers in the first resurrection, [4177] is not explained fully by emphasizing [4178] the fact that these , Gog and Magog, dwell at the extreme ends of the earth. Vitr., Ewald, De Wette, etc., are indeed right when in harmony with the prototype, Eze 38:3-9 , [4179] and the idea of Rev 20:9 ( ), they regard the farthest ends of the earth as the abode of these nations; [4180] but in the entire description of ch. 8. it was presupposed that all unbelieving inhabitants of the earth without exception, all kings and nations, had served the beast, and with him had perished. It is also to be acknowledged that the introduction of in this passage is a similar inconsistency as was previously shown in that the winds prepared at Rev 7:1 for destruction do not afterwards come into activity; but this inconsistency which is in general a material, and that, too, an inexplicable difficulty, only when the entire description, Rev 20:1-10 , is regarded in all its individual parts as a prophecy to be thus actually fulfilled, instead of distinguishing the ideal character of the Apocalyptic mode of representation, and the actual contents of the prophecy to be determined from the analogy of the Holy Scriptures is modified by the fact that the nations here presented, Gog and Magog, stand in no relation whatever to the beast, and dwell at such a distance that also, in this respect, they may appear with the dwellers on earth formerly found in the empire of the beast. For it is also in harmony with this, that these heathen nations are led to the conflict against the saints immediately by Satan himself. [4181]
. Even in Jewish theology these two names occur, of which the first in Ezekiel, l. c., designates the king of the land and people of Magog [4182] as names of nations belonging together. [4183] Already, in Ezek., Magog appears, whose ethnographical determination, [4184] of course, nevertheless, lies in the background of the description [4185] as the representative and leader of the heathen nations in general, who rage against the people of God ruled by the Messiah, and are then destroyed by God. This prediction of Ezekiel was made use of already at Rev 19:17 sqq.; [4186] but only in this passage is it expressly interwoven in the description of the final catastrophe. Therefore the art. of the refers to the final attack to be made on the part of those heathen nations, as a conflict which is confessedly to be expected. [4187] [See Note LXXXIX., p. 473.] . From the ends of the earth (Rev 20:8 ) those nations come up to the broad plain of the earth, [4188] in order thus to reach the city in which the saints are encamped. The , which is a common expression for military expeditions, [4189] because the position of the attacked is naturally regarded as one that is to be found at an elevation, [4190] is here the more appropriate, because the going up of the nations is properly regarded against Jerusalem. [4191]
. The expression first of all distinguishes between the camp of the saints and the beloved city, i.e., Jerusalem, of course not in the sense wherein, e.g., Grot. understands by the camp, the seven churches, chs. 1 3, and by the beloved city, Constantinople; but the saints are to be regarded as gathered in the camp, in order to defend the holy city against the attacks of the heathen. [4192] The camp possibly surrounds the city, so that enemies at the same time enclose both. [4193] That the beloved city is the earthly Jerusalem, not the new Jerusalem [4194] coming from heaven only at Rev 21:1 sqq., after the judgment of the world (Rev 20:15 ), is acknowledged with substantial unanimity; but it is an ordinary eluding of the context when Jerusalem is regarded as having the force only of a symbolical designation of the Church. [4195]
, . . . Already, even in Ezekiel (Eze 39:6 ), this means of destruction alone is mentioned, [4196] because it is represented in the most terrible manner as an immediate instrument of the Divine judgment of wrath. [4197]
. Here, where, with the final judgment upon the Devil, there is an allusion to his peculiar guilt, the pres. [4198] marks in a general way his seductive influence.
, . . . Eternal torture; cf. Rev 14:11 .
[4176] Cf. Rev 19:9 sq., 17 sq.
[4177] See on Rev 20:10 .
[4178] Vitr.
[4179] Cf. especially Eze 38:15 . .
[4180] Against Hengstenb.: “The corners comprise whatever lies within the corners,” so that the four corners of the earth designate, in fact, the same as .
[4181] Cf., on the other hand, Rev 16:13 sq.
[4182] Gen 10:2 . Cf. Winer, Rwb. , on this word.
[4183] “At the end of the extremity of the days shall Gog and Magog, and their army, come up against Jerusalem; but by the hand of King Messiah shall they fall, and seven years of days shall the children of Israel kindle their fire with their weapons of war” ( Targ. of Jerusalem on Num 11:27 ). Avoda Sara I.: “When Gog and Magog shall see war, the Messiah will say to them, Why hast thou come hither? They will reply, Against the Lord and his Christ.” Cf. Wetst.
[4184] Cf. Joseph., Ant. Jud. , I. Revelation 6 : , (sc. ) [Magog colonized those named from him , but called by them (sc. the Greeks) Scythians]. M. Uhlemann ( Zeitschr. fr Wissenschaftl. Theol. herausg. von Hilgenfeld , 1862, p. 265 fl.) has in an exceedingly instructive way shown that Magog originally meant nothing but “dwelling-place, the land of Gog.” But the name of the people, Gog, means “mountain.” All etymological and geographical marks show that we are to recognize the actual people of Gog in the inhabitants of the Caucasus, as also the Greek in Herodotus really says nothing else than “the Asiatic Kauk (Gog), or the Asiatic high mountain” (p. 283).
[4185] Cf. Eze 38:15 .
[4186] Cf. Rev 16:13 sqq.
[4187] Cf. Rev 16:14 : . , . . .
[4188] Cf. Hab 1:6 .
[4189] 1Ki 22:4 ; Jdg 1:1 .
[4190] Hengstenb.
[4191] Cf. Luk 18:31 .
[4192] De Wette.
[4193] . Cf. Luk 19:43 .
[4194] Cf. Andr., who, indeed, if the text is correct, says expressly ., but in his other remarks presupposes the earthly Jerusalem.
[4195] Augustine, Beda, Andr., Vitr., Hengstenb. Likewise Klief.: “The essential meaning is “that finally also the peripheral nations shall in a mass arise somewhere against the Lord and his people, and that thereby, at some place, the Divine judgment of destruction shall occur” (p. 280).
[4196] Cf., on the other hand, Eze 38:22 .
[4197] Cf. Gen 19:24 ; Lev 10:2 ; Num 16:35 ; Luk 9:54 .
[4198] Cf. Rev 14:13 .
With respect to what is said Rev 20:1-10 , we must distinguish between the unprejudiced establishment of the exegetical results, and the theological judgment of what is found based upon the analogy of Scripture; and only from the former can we arrive at the latter. The exegetical comprehension of Rev 20:1-10 , as a whole and in its details, has its most essential condition in the recognition of the fact that what is here described lies immediately before the proper judgment of the world (Rev 20:11 sqq.) and after those judicial acts of the entire final catastrophe which are described in Rev 19:19-21 ; i.e., in other words, every exposition must utterly fail which in Rev 20:1-10 maintains a recapitulatio , [4199] which can occur only if the interpretation here be also allegorical. This false mode of exposition is expressly applied by Augustine, [4200] and that, too, from polemical interests against the Chiliasts. [4201] But the exegetical principle determining it is followed also by all those who [4202] have found in Rev 20:1-10 predictions whose fulfilment could be recognized in certain historical events and states of the Church or the world, i.e., such as still occur within the present development of time. That mode of exposition must be comprehended as allegorizing, which necessarily is most arbitrary in points of the text that most clearly demand another mode of explanation. Augustine, e.g., in order to be able to recognize the one thousand years reign in the present state of the Church, [4203] must find its beginning, viz., the binding of Satan, in the earthly life of Christ, and interpret the : “The innumerable multitude of the godless is signified, whose hearts are very deep in malignity towards the Church of God.” The resurrection, Rev 20:5 , he interprets in the sense of Col 3:1 ; and on Rev 20:4 remarks: “It must not be thought that he speaks concerning the final judgment, but the thrones of rulers and the rulers themselves, by whom the Church is now governed, are to be understood.” He accordingly explains Rev 20:8 sq., since Gog means “roof,” and Magog “from a roof:” “They are, therefore, nations in which we understand the Devil enclosed, as it were, from above, and he himself proceeding in some way from them, as they are the roof and he, from the roof.” As to the declaration also: “They went up on the breadth of the earth,” they are indicated not at all as having come, or about to come, to one place, as though the camp of the saints and the beloved city were in one place, although this is nothing but the Church of Christ spread abroad throughout the whole world. Similar misconceptions occur in Victorin., [4204] Beda, [4205] Luther, [4206] Hammond, Grot., etc., [4207] Wetst., [4208] Hengstenb, [4209] and others.
[4199] Introduction, p. 13 sq.
[4200] De Civ. D. , XX. c. 9, Revelation 2 : “Afterwards by recapitulating what the Church is doing in those thousand years.” Cf. Beda: “Recapitulating from the origin, he explains more fully as he said above: The beast,” etc. Cf. Rev 17:8 .
[4201] Id. , XX. c. 7, Revelation 1 : “They call them from a Greek word, whom we, by a literal rendering, may call millenarians. It is tedious, however, to give a refutation in details, but we ought rather to show how this scripture is to be received.”
[4202] As especially also Hengstenb.
[4203] l. c., c. 7, Revelation 2 : “The thousand years, moreover, may be understood in two ways, either because in those last years, this is done: i.e., in the sixth millennium of years, as on the sixth day, whose later spaces are now passing, and finally on the sabbath that shall follow, which has no evening, viz., during the repose of the saints which has no end; or he certainly represented the one thousand years as all the years of this age.”
[4204] Who, regarding the number 1000 as composed of 10 which is to be interpreted as indicating the Decalogue, and 100 as intended for “the crown of virginity,” explains: “He who has maintained with integrity his purpose of virginity, and has faithfully fulfilled the commandments of the Decalogue, is a true priest of Christ, and, perfecting with integrity the millenarian number, is believed to reign with Christ, and for him the Devil is bound aright.”
[4205] Who, e.g., refers the first resurrection, to baptism.
[4206] Who reckons from the time of John to the Turks.
[4207] Who put the binding of Satan in the time of Constantine, and by Gog and Magog understand, like Luther, the Turks.
[4208] Who understands the thousand years as “the times of the Messiah,” whose duration also is specified as forty years, occurring in the forty years from the death of Domitian, and, by Gog and Magog, understands Barcocheba.
[4209] Who finds the beginning of the thousand years’ reign in the coronation of Charlemagne in the year 800.
More correct than the interpretations of all these allegorists is that of the chiliasts, inasmuch as they do not maintain the recapitulation, so greatly cherished by the former, but rather leave the thousand-years’ reign in the place in which it occurs in the Apocalyptic description of the entire end. Nor have all who upon the basis of the Apoc. seriously believed in the future entrance of the thousand-years’ reign, [4210] indulged in such sensuous portrayals of the Apocalyptic picture, as were peculiar to Cerinthus [4211] and Papias, [4212] and in general to heretics regarded as chiliasts. In accordance with the text, Justin and Irenaeus especially maintain the points, that the thousand-years’ reign follows the first resurrection, that of the righteous, and that it occurs upon earth, as they properly regard the beloved city as Jerusalem. The thousand years, both these Fathers take literally. [4213] Their interpretation of the former reference is more correct than that of Auberlen, who upon the presumption that “the earth, as yet not glorified, could not be the place for the glorified Church,” [4214] infers that believers coming forth with Christ from the invisibility of heaven shall be invested with glorified bodies ( . . , Rev 20:5 ), and then are to return with Christ to heaven, in order thence to rule over the earth [4215] in connection with which the contradictory Rev 20:9 is not at all taken into consideration. In regard to the second, viz., the chronological reference, the ancients have seen more correctly than Bengel, who even traced two periods of one thousand years each, of which the former was to begin in the year 1836, with the destruction of the beast (Rev 19:20 ) and the binding of Satan, and the second was to begin with the loosing of the Devil, and to cease immediately before the end of the world (Rev 20:11 ).
[4210] Justin, Dialogue with Trypho , c. 81. See Introduction, p. 74 sq. Cf. Iren., Adv. Haer. , V. c 36: “John, therefore, with delight foresaw the first resurrection of the just, and their inheritance in the kingdom of the earth.” Cf. V. c. 34 sq.
[4211] Euseb., H. E. , III. 28.
[4212] Iren., V. 33.
[4213] Cf. Psa 90:4 ; Gen 2:17 ; Gen 5:5 . Adam is regarded as dying “on the day” of his eating, because he was not fully a thousand years old.
[4214] p. 381.
[4215] p. 378 sqq.
The biblical-theological discussion of Rev 20:6 , which John Gerhard [4216] directs against the chiliasts, [4217] he opens by recalling the fact that the expressions of the Apoc. must be explained the more certainly from the analogy of Holy Scripture, for the reason that it is a deutero-canonical book. Moreover, from this analogy it is maintained, [4218] first, that the kingdom of Christ on earth never, even not at the end of days, is to be one that is to prevail externally; then that all the dead are to arise on one day; that there will be only one general resurrection of the dead at the coming of the Lord; therefore so Gerhard evades by incorrectly interpreting what stands written, Rev 20:1-10 the beginning of the thousand-years’ reign is probably to be discerned in the time of Constantine, Gog and Magog are to be taken as Turks, etc. It is, however, rather to be decided, that neither the distinction made by the writer of the Apoc. between a first and a second resurrection, nor the insertion of a thousand-years’ reign in the space of time thus obtained, nor the binding and loosing of Satan, and the attack of the heathen, coincide with the eschatological statements of the Holy Scriptures in such a way that this Apocalyptic description could be understood in dogmatical seriousness; but the text itself makes us acquainted with an ideal description, whose particular features appear in harmonious connection only when the ideal character of the entire poetical picture is correctly estimated. What according to the real doctrinal prophecy of Scripture fall upon one day of the coming of the Lord, viz., the resurrection of all the dead (among whom believers have indeed the priority, [4219] but in no way in the sense as though a special period of time, as the thousand-years’ reign, intervened between the resurrection of believers and that of other men) and the judgment of the world, appears in the Apocalyptic description distributed into a long series of special, but coherent, acts. Upon this depends the vivid beauty of the Apocalyptic drama; but this poetical beauty is not only destroyed, but also perverted to a chiliastic want of judgment, if the ideal representation be taken as a theological statement of doctrine. The ideal character of the entire description is unambiguously presented, especially in that the risen saints have their camp in the earthly Jerusalem, and are attacked by earthly heathen nations; and yet the presence of heathen enemies, after all the dwellers on earth have been slain (Rev 19:21 ), is an inoffensive inconsistency, only if the treatment be neither in the one case nor the other of actual things. Klief. also approximates this view by avoiding the extension of time, and finding in the symbolical number only the idea indicated that the Lord’s victory is one that is absolute.
A vain attempt to put in a favorable light chiliasm, supposed to be based upon the analogy of the Holy Scriptures, has recently been made by L. Kraussold. [4220] He denies that in Rev 20:4-5 a resurrection of dead believers is indicated, and says: [4221] “The souls of the righteous live before God and with God, that is their first resurrection.” But by thus ascribing to the righteous a twofold “resurrection,” he emphatically asserts that the souls of the righteous, after the first resurrection, are still without glorified bodies, and at the same time understands the thousand-years’ reign of which these righteous souls are participants as referring to a finally impending, actually historical time of the peaceful development of the kingdom of God on earth. [4222]
[4216] Loci Theol. , T. XX., p. 124. Ed. Cotta, Tb., 1781.
[4217] Cf. also Aug. Conf., Art. XVII.
[4218] l. c., p. 121.
[4219] 1Co 15:23 ; 1Th 4:16 ; cf. Introduction, p. 85.
[4220] Das Tausend-jhrige Reich u. die Offenb. Joh. Erl. , 1863.
[4221] p. 72.
[4222] p. 75.
At all events, Luthardt is in better agreement with the text, when correctly estimating Rev 20:4-5 , he finds the hope pledged of the future dominion of Christ and his glorified Church, over the rest of mankind, but is content with not being able to determine that which lies beyond the present order of things. [See Note XC., p. 474.] If the ideal character of the entire description be acknowledged, the numerical designation of a thousand years can be stated only in a schematical sense, [4223] and can give no occasion, as even in Hengstenb., for an Apocalyptic reckoning. For there is no reason for ascribing to John the play-work by which the Talmudists and the Church Fathers, combining such passages as Isa 63:4 , Zec 14:7 , Gen 1 , with Psa 90:4 , have inferred that the Messianic reign will last a thousand years, [4224] or that the world will stand for six millenniums, and in the seventh millennium the eternal sabbath will follow. [4225] [See Note XCI., p. 474.]
[4223] Cf. Psa 90:4 .
[4224] Cf. De Wette.
[4225] Barnab., Epistl . c. 15.
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
LXXXIX. Rev 20:8 .
Gebhardt: “Christianity has a period before it, and, indeed, a long one, of unimpeded, powerful, and blissful extension and authority in this present world; but this period must one day come to an end; the earth, in its present sin-ruined form, or rather state, cannot become the eternal or absolute state or manifestation of the Christian ideal world. Evil, though so long and so extensively kept in abeyance, will once more arouse itself for the struggle with the kingdom of God. After the course of a thousand years, the personal principle of all ungodliness will be loosed from his prison, and, according to the purpose of God, will again become active on earth; the Devil has still a footing there; evil yet exists, and must show its activity in opposition to God and his kingdom. Christianity has spread and triumphed even to the end of the earth; but there are yet heathens who are not subject to it, but who, enslaved and led by the Devil, seek to destroy it.”
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XC. Rev 20:1-10
Luthardt’s very words, in the passage here alluded to by Dsterdieck, are important: “Not a carnal dominion (cf. Augsburg Conf. , xvii.), but a spiritual heavenly dominion of peace, and state of blessedness on earth, whereof, since it does not belong to the present order of things, we neither have nor can frame any idea, but should be content in that we shall always be with Christ, and this his Church shall be glorified before the world.”
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XCI. Rev 20:1-10
A condensed summary of the modern historical relations of this doctrine is found in Cremer and Zckler’s Dogmatik (in Zckler’s Handbuch , vol. ii. p. 762 sq.): “Neither Roman nor Greek Catholicism acknowledges a thousand-years’ reign as still impending. In the grosser Judaizing sense in which the Anabaptists (Denk, Hetzer, Mnzer, etc., recurring to the sensuous, voluptuous ideas of a Cerinthus, etc.) comprehended the chiliastic idea, it is rejected by the fundamental confession of the Reformation (see Augsburg Confession , art. xvii.; also the Helvetic Confession , ii. 11). The orthodoxy of the seventeenth century, as well as, in modern times, Hengstenberg (who makes the spiritually interpreted millennium coincide with the period 800 1806), Althaus, H. O. Kohler, Thomasius, Diedrich, Philippi, Kahnis, the “Missourians,” consider each and every form of chiliasm incompatible with Scripture and Church doctrine. To them, all such doctrines are to be condemned: the chiliasmus crassus of the Anabaptists, as well as the moderate and refined types of doctrine of the two last centuries, viz., the chiliasmus subtilissimus of a Spener (“the hope of better times”), Vitringa, A. Hahn, Rothe, Lhe, Vilmar, v. Hofmann, Flrcke, Schoeberlein, Volck, Auberlen, Beck, Franck, Dorner, etc. [post-millennarians]; and the chiliasmus subtilior of a Petersen, Bengel, Crusius, Oetinger [pre-millennarians].”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
(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 which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. (9) And they went up on 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 that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
The loosing of Satan, and the deceiving of Gog and Magog, and the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, opens a new face of things. It cannot mean either the Pope, or false Prophet, for they all and their followers, will a long time before this, have been lost in remembrance from the earth. It is our mercy, however, that the whole is of short duration. A little season, it is said in Rev 20:3 . And then follows the everlasting overthrow, and perdition of the devil.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XIX
THE LOOSING OF SATAN FOR A LITTLE SEASON
AND HIS FINAL DESTRUCTION
Rev 20:7-10
The text we are to study is as follows:
And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war: the number of whom is as the sands of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night forever.
1. What is the loosing of Satan? We have seen the part in the binding of Satan borne by the saints, which suggests something of the meaning of the loosing of Satan. We are not denying the overruling divine power in the binding or loosing, but God works through agencies. If the churches and the ministers by their evangelical preaching be the agencies to restrict and shut up Satan, it is certain that carelessness, deterioration in piety, abating of revival power, will tend to loose him again. Toward the end of the thousand years the Christians may become slack in their exercise of power, may take things for granted, the workers and the evangelists grow cold, which gives Satan his long sought opportunity to renew the war.
2. After the thousand years of supremacy, the earth full of knowledge of the Lord, how does Satan find material on which to work?
ANSWER. This question would not need to be answered if everybody understood just what the millennium is. It is not a period of absolute sinlessness, there is no cessation of the power of inherited depravity in the millennium period; all people are not converted, but the Christian spirit is dominant, they are on the throne. Moreover, generation is not regeneration, nor is piety hereditary. If every adult in the world were converted at one time, their children would not thereby be regenerated, and so in twenty years, half the population of the world would not be converted. Yet again, while the saints had the power and influence, evil would not dare to lift its head, yet it might hold itself in readiness for revolt. It is the outside rows of corn, next to the woods, that are squirrel-eaten. Our lesson tells that it is in four distant corners of the world that Satan begins his work after he is loosed. The advantage of the millennium consists largely in freedom from external solicitation to evil, temptation from Satan. In the last chapter I called your attention to what he had done from the outside to seduce unto evil, that is removed. The unrenewed nature of the unconverted is there, every child born during the millennium is born in sin. A man being a Christian does not make his children children of grace, but the environment will increase the probabilities of conversion. Suppose, for instance, every civil officer in Fort Worth a Christian, and every officer’s duties performed with a view to the glory of God, and there were no saloons, no gambling houses, no houses of ill-fame, it certainly would be a much more favor-able condition in which to lead souls to Christ than it is now.
3. What the historical meaning of Gog and Magog?
ANSWER. We find in Gen 10 that Magog was a descendant of Japhet, and from Ezekiel that Gog of the land of Magog settled in Central Asia, and his people lived around the Caspian Sea. They became known to history as Scythians, Tartars, or Parthians, the most turbulent of all the nations. In Ezekiel 38-39 it is predicted at length that, after the conversion of the Jews described in Ezekiel 31-37, Gog, from the land of Magog, will lead a countless host against Jerusalem, the Christian camp. Two whole chapters are devoted to it, and that he shall be overthrown by the power of God. It is this Ezekiel prophecy which furnishes the symbolism of our lesson.
In their inaccessible territory, the people of the land of Magog would be the last to come under the influence of the millennial power, and they would be tlie first to revolt against that power. Europe and America would most feel the millennial power; certain interior Oriental nations, most remote from travel, traffic, and from the power of civilization and the centers of Christian influence, if we adhere to the strict terms here, will furnish Satan with the material for his last revolt. There has always been hanging over Europe and its civilization a yellow peril. Tamerlane once came very near destroying European civilization. He captured the Sultan of Turkey, who sought to withstand him, and asked him: “What would you have done with me if you had captured me?” The Sultan said: “I would have put you in a cage and exhibited you alive.” “Then that is what I will do with you,” said Tamerlane. But as Ezekiel and Revelation prophetically refer to the same event, using symbolic language, it may well be that both use the terms “Gog and Magog” to image the character of the last human opponents to the kingdom of God without intent to fix geographical boundaries. The real Babylon of ancient history was on the Euphrates) but the mystic Babylon was on the Tiber. So historically “Gog and Magog” were in Central Asia, but the mystical Gog and Magog may come from some other locality.
4. What takes place among the dead at the loosening of Satan?
ANSWER. As when the Christian was supreme, and all persecutions were avenged, the righteous dead were, in a figure, said to be made alive, and to live and reign with Christ during that thousand years, and as this revival is called a resurrection, so when Satan returns to power the rest of the dead, that is, the wicked dead, in the same figurative sense, shall live and reign with Satan until his final overthrow, and this is the second spiritual resurrection of the lesson, and this will follow immediately after the close of the thousand years; the rest of the dead shall not live until the thousand years are over.
5. What, probably, the last device of Satan for the conquest of the world?
ANSWER. He has tried heathen persecution by a counterfeit church; he has tried to destroy national Israel ever since to them were given the covenants and promises, but God has preserved them throughout history, and he has now converted them and merged them into a spiritual Israel. Satan has tried to palm off on the people, the Jewish people, false Christs in the place of the true Christ who was born at Bethlehem. Our Saviour, in his great prophecy recorded in Matthew 24-25, tells about these false Christs. Now, there remains only one more possible impostor. He will admit that Jesus was the historical Messiah and that he ascended into heaven, but he will find a person, incarnate himself in that person, and claim that this person is the long-expected Messiah, who ascended unto heaven and promised to return, and for whose final advent the whole world is looking. He will accredit this impostor with many lying signs and wonders, and in the name of the returning Messiah he will make his last effort to destroy the people of the Messiah. Our Lord himself foretold that many false Christs would appear to divert attention from his first coming in the flesh, but it is Paul who clearly foretold this last impostor claiming to be the returning Messiah in his last advent. Read what Paul says:
Now, we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled either by spirit or by word, or by epistle as from us [purporting to come from us] as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man beguile you in any wise; for it will not be except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things? And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work; only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the Jawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to naught by the manifestation of his coming [this man of sin will be alive and on the field when Jesus comes], even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all powers of signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit and unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, 2 THESSALONIAUS Rev 2:1-12 .
It is impossible to locate that man of sin in any period that does not touch the last coming of Christ; nobody else in history fills that picture. There may have been many antichrists, but this man of sin is the last; he will be on the field with false miracles and delusions when our Lord himself returns and destroys him. You are to understand that in the millennial atmosphere no other impostor could have a following; he could not go among those Oriental nations and try to revive Confucianism or Mohamme-danism, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. He could not put on them any imposition that does not seem to be what they are looking for. He comes in the church “and sitteth in the temple of God,” which is the church; he claims to be God, and seeks to be worshiped as God himself. That is an incarnation of the devil, claiming to be God, not only God the incarnate, as Christ was at his first advent, but God in glory in his second advent. It is only among professing Christians, professing, but not possessing, that he can do this work. The whole world at this time professes Christianity; the whole world is waiting and praying and expecting the return of the Lord, and it is upon that expectation that he relies for the acceptance of his imposture. The readiness of the Oriental mind to accept such imposture is immortalized in Tom Moore’s Veiled Prophet of the Korassan and illustrated in the various Mahdis which appear as the one defeated by Kitchener at Kartourn when he went to avenge the death of Gordon.
Satan’s defeat is final; his impostor is slain even while he is working his false miracles, every kind of lying sign and wonder; suddenly a great cry is heard: “Behold the bridegroom! Go ye out to meet him,” and the real returning Lord appears on the scene, and that impostor shrivels up like a piece of parchment exposed to a seven times heated furnace.
One more humiliation awaits Satan, however, which will be considered in the next chapter. I will close this chapter with the promised discussion on the historical antichrists.
In Joh 2:22 , he says: “Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? that is the antichrist, even he that denieth the father and the Son.” In Rev 4:2-3 he adds: “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh, and now it is in the world already.” Those two passages from John show you the general meaning of the word “antichrist.” An “antilocaloptionist” is one who opposes local option, and in this book we have found that seven great world empires have had the antichrist spirit. Moses accepted the reproach of Christ, but Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Pharaoh, withstood him. Egypt was the first world power to oppose teaching concerning the coming Messiah, who was to bruise the serpent’s head. Following Egypt came Assyria, through whose kings the ten tribes were led into bondage and much harm done to Judah. The next was Babylon, whose king destroyed Jerusalem and led her people into captivity. Next to Babylon came Persia, and it was while Xerxes the Great, the husband of Esther, was ruling, that an effort was made under the leadership of Haman to entirely destroy the Jewish people, but it was defeated by the providence of God and the instrumentality of Mordecai and Esther herself. After the Persians came the Greek power. And while Alexander himself was very kind in his dealings with the Jews, after his death came the division of his empire into four separate states. Two of these separate governments, the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids in Antioch, continually fought over the Holy Land lying between them, and one of them particularly, Antiochus Epiphanes, sought to blot out the religion of the Jews. Then came the Pagan Roman Empire, the Caesars were its antichrist heads, and some of the Caesars throughout Christian history are particularly called antichrists : Nero was one of them. He is the man who, after he had burned Rome, charged the arson upon the Christians, and had a long avenue fitted up on each side with stakes, and to each stake a Christian was tied and inflammable material poured over him and then set on fire. And Nero, in his chariot, drove down that path of fire, lighted by burning Christians. Hence all the early fathers referred to Nero as the antichrist. But Domitian, a younger brother of Titus, the son of Vespasian, was a worse persecutor than Nero; that is, his persecution was more widely spread, and a later emperor, Decius, led the conflict which drove the church into the wilderness. His persecution was the worst of all.
Now, it was the custom among the Christians where the antichrist spirit embodied itself in a person to refer to him as the antichrist. So when the Roman power passed away, and out of the disintegrated elements of that heathen empire was constructed what is called the Holy Roman Empire, that Holy Roman Empire had a head which in this book is called the earth beast) which looked like a lamb, but had the mouth of a dragon, and we have identified him as the papacy, and so the papacy, like the Caesars, becomes an antichrist worse than all others. As some Caesars were worse than others, so some popes were worse than others, but the papacy as a succession of popes became the embodiment of antichrist to Christian people, whom they persecuted. Ask the dying Waldenses, or Albigenses, or ask Huss while he was burning, or Jerome of Prague, who is the antichrist, and they say: “The Pope of Rome is the antichrist.” Daniel foretells three antichrists: (1) The “little horn” (Dan 8:9 ), which all interpreters of note recognize as Antiochus Epiphanes. (2) The Pagan Roman Empire (Dan 7:7 ), passing into the Holy Roman Empire. (3) The “little horn” which is the papacy (Dan 7:8 ; Dan 7:19-27 ).
But our lesson in this chapter gives the last antichrist, Paul’s man of sin, the most stupendous impostor that Satan ever sought to palm off on the gullible nations. He is a person; Satan takes possession of him just as demons took possession of people in the days of Christ; Satan speaks through him; Satan gives him the power to work lying signs and wonders. In effect he says: “O thou Christian world, looking for your Messiah to return, I am the Messiah returning.” Now, in Dan 8 , in describing the conflict between the Grecian and Persian power, he sees a ram with two horns (that is Medo-Persia), and he sees a goat with one horn come up (that is the Grecian Empire, Alexander the Great), that one horn breaking off and the four horns coming up, the division of his power into four governments. And he says there came up a little horn on that goat, and a great part of the book of Daniel is devoted to the discussion of that little horn on the goat. That was Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the vilest men that ever lived. He enacted it as a decree that no offering should be presented to the God of the Jews. He himself had a hog, which the Jews despise, brought in and sacrificed on the brazen altar. He demanded that all the Old Testament Scriptures be surrendered and burnt publicly; he put anybody to death that circumcised a child; he established heathen altars in the very center of Jerusalem. If you ask the Jew who was the antichrist, he will say: “Antiochus Epiphanes.” And if you want to read the most thrilling account of him that I know anything about, read the book of Maccabees on Antiochus Epiphanes. You will find an account in Josephus, but it is more thrilling in the book of Maccabees.
Dan 7 , after describing the four world empires, Rome, the last which divided into the ten kingdoms, and was reconstructed into an empire with one religion but ten political heads, from the reconstruction came a “little horn,” the papacy, which absorbed three of the other horns, and it spoke great swelling words of blasphemy, and made war against the saints. We have identified in this discussion that antichrist, with the papacy, that is the little horn that overthrew three of the kingdoms into which the Roman Empire was divided, papal states, of which he was the political head, as well as the ecclesiastical head, and held the power over them until the days of Victor Emmanuel; we have seen him as the antichrist. I give you this general discussion of antichrists in order that you may see that the term expresses either the principle of opposition to the Messiah, or its embodiment in a person or succession of persons, as the Caesars or the popes.
“Who is the liar,” says John the “boss liar” “but he that denieth that God was manifest in the flesh?” he is the antichrist, and he says there are many antichrists. I repeat, then, that antichrist may represent a principle, and it may be embodied in a person as it was embodied in Antiochus Epiphanes and in Nero and in Domitian and Decius, in the papacy, and last and most important is this man of sin. I want to say to the reader that I was thirty years in disposing of Paul’s man of sin. All the Protestant commentaries say that the pope is the man of sin but I have already shown you that the Romanist counterfeit church passes away before the coming of Christ, and that the beast the politico-religious government, the union of church and state passes away, and that the false prophet passes away. But Paul’s man of sin is the most blasphemous of all the incarnations of evil that ever took place on the earth. And the part that bothered me is that he is living and holding the fort following the millennium. He is coming, with lying wonders and signs, and with unabashed front sits in the temple (that is, in the churches), claiming to be God, up to the very time that the cry is heard: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh.” You cannot put him anywhere else but after the millennium period, nor can you conceive of any other kind of impostor, filled by Satan, that would fit into the period. I once said that the devil had very few original ideas, but he has many suits of clothes for each side. He is a past master on reproducing an idea in a different costume and fooling you with a change of clothes. Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad tells of an American traveler in Europe going into an inn and calling for a special brand of very rare wine, of which only a few thousand bottles are made each crop. When they brought the wine, the traveler protested that is was not the kind ordered, as evident from the label and taste. The head waiter looked at it and said, “I see, it has the wrong label.” And he reached into a drawer and got another label which he put on it and then handed it to him as the right kind. It was merely a change of label. There had been no change in the wine. So the devil is a past master in labels and costumes, but scant in original ideas. The idea is the same, the principle the same, whether Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Pagan Rome, or papal Rome; whether the Pharaohs, the Seleucids, or the popes are the leaders.
Now, so far as the wars coming from the devil are concerned, we are done with them in this book. We have his man of sin on the scene, in the arena, telling his lies, working his miracles, who is to be stricken down by the second coming of Christ.
The questions on this chapter are embodied in the text itself, as it was prepared in the form of a catechism.
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Ver. 7. Satan shall be loosed ] i.e. Suffered to rise up in open rage against the open professors of the truth, and to make havoc of them, as he did of the Waldenses, Hussites, Huguenots, professors in Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, England, &c. He hath laid about him lately to purpose; besides those seas of Christian blood shed by the Turk, since the thousand years expired.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7 10 .] Loosing of Satan at the end of the millennium: gathering together and destruction of the nations: final condemnation of Satan .
And when the thousand years are completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison (see Rev 20:3 . The prophetic future is here used: but in Rev 20:9 the historic form with aorists is resumed) and shall go forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth (there will be nations on earth besides the saints reigning with Christ, who during the binding of Satan have been quiet and willing subjects of the Kingdom, but who on his being let loose are again subjected to his temptations, which stir them into rebellion against God), Gog and Magog (compare Ezekiel 38, 39 throughout. This which is here prophesied is the great final fulfilment of those chapters. And the names Gog and Magog, taken from there, had been used in the rabbinical books to signify the nations which should in the latter days come up to Jerusalem against the Messiah. So the Jerus. Targum on Num 11:27 , in Wetst., “In fine extremitatis dierum Gog et Magog et exercitus eorum adscendent Hierosolyma et per manus regis Messi ipsi cadent et vii. annos dierum ardebunt filii Israel ex armis eorum:” and Avoda sara, 1: “quando videbunt bellum Gog et Magog, dicet ad eos Messias: ad quid huc venistis? Respondebunt, Adversus Dominum et adversus Christum ejus.” This name Magog occurs Gen 10:2 , as that of a son of Japhet, in company with brethren whose names mostly belong to northern and north-eastern nations: Gomer (Kimmerians), Madai (Medians), Meshech (Muscovites), &c. With these however are joined in Eze 38:5 , Persians, Ethiopians, Libyans. Josephus renders the word (Antt. i. 6. 3), , ( . ) , and so Jerome: Suidas, “Persians ( , ).” It seems to be a general name for the northern nations, and Gog, if at least we may follow the analogy of Eze 38:2 , is their prince), to gather them together to the (well-known) war: of whom the number ( of them ) is as the sand of the sea. And they went up (the historical aor. is here resumed) upon the breadth of the earth (i. e. entirely overspread it; see ref.) and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city (by these two is probably meant one and the same thing, the being epexegetical; or at all events the camp must be conceived as surrounding and defending the city. The is Jerusalem (reff.): not the new Jerusalem, but the earthly city of that name, which is destined yet to play so glorious a part in the latter days). And there came down fire out of heaven (so in reff. Ezek.), and devoured them: and the devil that deceiveth them (the pres. part. merely designates : the devil their deceiver) was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also are the beast and the false prophet (ch. Rev 19:20 ). And they shall be tormented by day and by night to the ages of the ages .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
As Baligant, lord of the pagans, issues from the East to challenge Charlemagne and be crushed, Satan emerges from his prison for a short period (3) after the millennium, musters an enormous army of pagans to besiege the holy capital, but is decisively routed and flung into the lake of fire to share the tortures of his former agents. The tenses shift from future (Rev 20:7-8 ; Rev 20:10 b ) to aorist (Rev 20:9-10 a ) the latter ( cf. Rev 11:11 ) being possibly due to the influence of Semitic idiom.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 20:7-10
7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Rev 20:7 “Satan will be released from his prison” Ezekiel 36-39 is the background to this context. In Ezekiel God’s people rest securely in an eschatological setting (Judah or Jerusalem or the Promised Land), but are still attacked by evil nations (Gog and Magog). In rabbinical Judaism these two enemies came to be used to describe all of the enemies of the Messiah and the people of God. Originally, Gog was a man from the land of Magog, but in this chapter, the terms have been personified into twin enemies. John always reworks his OT allusions to fit his first century readers.
Rev 20:8 “and will come out to deceive” It is amazing that mankind can be led into rebellion after a 1,000 reign of Christ! Were these nations “unbelievers” or “initially believers?” Is Christ’s presence and reign not able to effect permanent change in human society?
“Gog and Magog” This is an allusion to the continuing rebellion of the unbelieving nations. After Israel is restored to the promised land (cf. Ezekiel 37), based on God’s actions (cf. Ezekiel 36), she will still have problems with the nations who will again invade her (“Gog in the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” Eze 38:2). These stand for leaders’ names or regional names of invading armies; Eze 38:5-6; Eze 38:13 make it an international army. Chapters 38-39 of Ezekiel have an end-time setting (cf. Eze 38:8; Eze 38:10; Eze 38:14; Eze 38:16; Eze 38:18; Eze 39:11). These chapters have been the source of much of John’s OT end-time allusions. Things will get worse (birth pains of the new age) before they get better (new Jerusalem).
Notice how John has taken OT texts but reworked them in light of first century Greco-Roman culture. Gog, Magog, and Babylon are not enemies from Mesopotamia or Turkey, but Rome.
“the nations which are in the four corners of the earth” This is obviously a universal deception and rebellion (cf. Rev 7:1). The number “four” had symbolic significance representing the whole world.
“like the sands of the seashore” This phrase was originally used of the seed of Abraham (cf. Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12 and Heb 11:12). This may be another example of evil mimicking the terms which describe God’s people. However, because of the first phrase of Rev 20:9, this seems to be just another definition to denote a very large army.
Rev 20:9 Does this verse refer to a literal battle on the plains of Megiddo as an end-time army moves toward the Palestinian city of Jerusalem? There are many allusions to this scenario in the OT (cf. Psalms 2; Ezekiel 38-39; Dan 9:24-27; Zechariah 13-14). However, Jerusalem is many miles from Megiddo.
In Revelation “the city” is usually (1) human society organized and functioning apart from God, personified as Babylon and (2) historically referring to Rome in John’s day (cf. Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 17:18; Rev 18:2; Rev 18:10; Rev 18:16; Rev 18:18-19; Rev 18:21). However, the city of Jerusalem is possibly referred to in Rev 11:8 and here.
The NT authors in general, and John in particular, have taken OT imagery and universalized it to relate to all mankind. The issue in Revelation is not Jews versus Gentiles, but believer versus unbeliever. This then is the same end-time battle as Rev 6:15-16; Rev 11:18; Rev 16:12; Rev 16:14; Rev 16:16; Rev 19:19 (parallelism).
“and fire came down from heaven and devoured them” This is an allusion to Eze 38:22; Eze 39:6. The victory is God’s!
Rev 20:10 “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone” This is where the beast and the false prophet were cast in Rev 19:20. This is where Death and Hades will be cast in Rev 20:14 and where all who have not trusted Christ will be cast in Rev 20:15. It is synonymous with Gehenna (hell) and represents eternal separation from fellowship with God and His Christ (cf. Mar 9:43; Mar 9:48).
“and they will be tortured day and night forever and ever” This is very similar to Rev 14:10-11; Rev 19:5. The concept of a permanent separation is alluded to in Mat 25:46 where the same term (ainios), used for heaven, is used for hell.
Most of God’s judgments had redemptive purposes; that is true of the OT and the NT. Hell has no known redemptive purpose. It fulfills God’s promise to restore justice and righteousness. Hell is the isolation of evil from God’s good creation. As horrible as hell is for mankind, it is worse for God. By allowing His highest creation, mankind, to have a choice (one aspect of the image of God in man), God knew that a significant percentage would choose self and sin. Hell is an open, bleeding sore in the heart of God that will never be healed. Hell is a tragic mystery of the paradox of the eternal love and the justice of God!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
expired. See “fulfilled”, Rev 20:3.
out of. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7-10.] Loosing of Satan at the end of the millennium: gathering together and destruction of the nations: final condemnation of Satan.
And when the thousand years are completed, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison (see Rev 20:3. The prophetic future is here used: but in Rev 20:9 the historic form with aorists is resumed) and shall go forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth (there will be nations on earth besides the saints reigning with Christ, who during the binding of Satan have been quiet and willing subjects of the Kingdom, but who on his being let loose are again subjected to his temptations, which stir them into rebellion against God), Gog and Magog (compare Ezekiel 38, 39 throughout. This which is here prophesied is the great final fulfilment of those chapters. And the names Gog and Magog, taken from there, had been used in the rabbinical books to signify the nations which should in the latter days come up to Jerusalem against the Messiah. So the Jerus. Targum on Num 11:27, in Wetst., In fine extremitatis dierum Gog et Magog et exercitus eorum adscendent Hierosolyma et per manus regis Messi ipsi cadent et vii. annos dierum ardebunt filii Israel ex armis eorum: and Avoda sara, 1: quando videbunt bellum Gog et Magog, dicet ad eos Messias: ad quid huc venistis? Respondebunt, Adversus Dominum et adversus Christum ejus. This name Magog occurs Gen 10:2, as that of a son of Japhet, in company with brethren whose names mostly belong to northern and north-eastern nations: Gomer (Kimmerians), Madai (Medians), Meshech (Muscovites), &c. With these however are joined in Eze 38:5, Persians, Ethiopians, Libyans. Josephus renders the word (Antt. i. 6. 3), , (. ) , and so Jerome: Suidas, Persians (, ). It seems to be a general name for the northern nations, and Gog, if at least we may follow the analogy of Eze 38:2, is their prince), to gather them together to the (well-known) war: of whom the number (of them) is as the sand of the sea. And they went up (the historical aor. is here resumed) upon the breadth of the earth (i. e. entirely overspread it; see ref.) and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city (by these two is probably meant one and the same thing, the being epexegetical; or at all events the camp must be conceived as surrounding and defending the city. The is Jerusalem (reff.): not the new Jerusalem, but the earthly city of that name, which is destined yet to play so glorious a part in the latter days). And there came down fire out of heaven (so in reff. Ezek.), and devoured them: and the devil that deceiveth them (the pres. part. merely designates: the devil their deceiver) was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also are the beast and the false prophet (ch. Rev 19:20). And they shall be tormented by day and by night to the ages of the ages.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 20:7. , those) Those thousand years only, during which Satan was bound; for now again Satan is treated of. The article so refers to the noun (thousand years) applied to two preceding subjects [the two distinct periods of a thousand years each], that it has reference to the former subject. Thus altogether , that beast, ch. Rev 13:15, does not refer to Rev 20:11, but to Rev 20:1. Thus 2Sa 23:19; 2Sa 23:23, refers not to the nearest, but to the more distant, ternary, Rev 20:8, etc.- , thousand years) The threefold expression of the former millennium (to which the threefold mention of the second millennium harmoniously answers) plainly makes a threefold opposition to the Non-chronus (which occupies the time between 1111 1/9 and 999 9/9 or 1000 years), to the short space [Rev 17:10] (888 8/9 years), and to the time 1, 2, (777 7/9 years); for these three periods, which the dragon rendered particularly disastrous, are immediately followed by a thousand joyful years, while the dragon is bound, and these years are three times expressed [in Rev 20:2-3; Rev 20:7].- ) An abbreviated expression: that is, shall be loosed from his chain, and sent forth from his prison.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rev 20:7-10
3. SATAN OVERTHROWN AND CONDEMNED
Rev 20:7-10
7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,–The view here advocated is that the binding of Satan means the return to the people the right to read and obey the Bible without human dictation; his loosing, then, would be his regaining in some way the power to prevent or hinder such voluntary obedience.
8 and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.–Though we do not know how or exactly what means he will use, yet it is not improbable that increasing infidelity, superstition, and idolatry will be main contributing factors. Whatever is involved in his loosing, it is safe to say that wickedness will prevail as never before. In this “little time” will occur the events recorded in Rev 19:17-21 and Rev 20:7-10; it will be Satan’s last struggle against the church in which not only he but his chief aides–beast and false prophet–will be overcome and banished to the lake of fire. (Rev 19:20; Rev 20:10.) This victory will not be gained by a carnal sword, but by the word that proceeds from the Lord’s mouth. (Rev 19:15.) These enemies will be slain and the war against the church ended by the brightness of the Lord’s coming and the breath of his mouth (2Th 2:8) as suddenly as the 185,000 in the Assyrian army were slain by an angel of the Lord. (2Ki 19:35.) In the time preceding the thousand years Satan deceived the nations largely through false religious doctrines and practice, virtually suppressing the Bible by demanding the acceptance of papal interpretations. That similar means will be used to deceive after the thousand years is certainly probable. The existence of nations to be deceived after the millennium is proof that the nature of mankind then will be the same as now, and harmonizes with the question, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luk 18:8.) “In the four corners” means that the nations will be scattered over the whole earth as now. This is further indicated by the fact that the number shall be “as the sand of the sea.”
According to the doctrines of the premillennial coming of Christ, nations to be deceived by Satan after being loosed presents insolvable problems. The theory calls for the banishment of the beast and false prophet and the death of all the wicked (Rev 19:19-21) at Christ’s coming; the wicked dead to remain unraised (Rev 20:5); the righteous dead to be raised and with the righteous living all to receive spiritual, incorruptible, and immortal bodies. (1Co 15:44; 1Co 15:54.) The theory requires all these resurrections to be of the body. The following difficulties are apparent for which no solution can be offered other thanpure guesses: Will children be born during the thousand years? If so, will they inherit incorruptible and immortal bodies from their parents? If so, how can beings with such bodies be deceived by Satan? If they can be deceived with such bodies, how can they be safe during the millennium when many of his devices are recorded in the Bible? Can they receive corruptible and mortal bodies from parents with incorruptible bodies, without a fundamental law–seed bearing after its kind–being violated? Will their birth of parents put them in the kingdom? If not, how will they get in? If by obedience to the gospel, that is no improvement on the church. It is hard to see how Satan when loosed can deceive people with incorruptible and immortal bodies.
The wicked dead for whom the theory provides no resurrection till Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years are already deceived, having lived and died in his service. So they cannot be the nations he will deceive. It is a significant fact that the advocates of a literal reign of Christ on earth have no solution but guesses for these problems. Nothing is satisfactory but to make the millennial reign figurative, and the coming of Christ and the bodily resurrection of the dead at the judgment.
On Gog and Magog see notes on Rev 16:14-16. The reference here in verse 8 and in Rev 19:17-18 are both made in allusion to Eze 39:11-18 and show that this paragraph is parallel with Rev 19:17-18; hence, it follows that Rev 19:17-21 and Rev 20:7-10 contain a complete story of the defeat of the enemies of the church that will occur after the millennium. Read the passages in connection, omitting 20:1-6, and this fact will appear evident.
9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:–The figure here is that of contending armies. Satan’s forces are represented as coming from all directions to besiege the beloved city. The imagery is borrowed from Israel’s encampments, systematically planned for defense and convenience. Divested of all figures, the thought is that wicked powers will make a general attack on the church, under the influence of Satan. To make the final struggle a carnal battle against literal Jerusalem is to miss the symbolic teaching of the passage. Spiritual Jerusalem–the true church–will be scattered over the earth just as are forces of evil, and the conflict will rage everywhere.
and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them.–Fire has been a common instrument when God visited capital punishment on incorrigible sinners. Note the destruction of Sodom (Gen 19:24); Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:1-3); Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num 16:35). Christ will come “in flaming fire” and the earth shall be burned tip in the day of the Lord’s wrath. No emblem could more appropriately indicate the sudden and complete overthrow of Satan and his servants than to say fire came down from heaven and devoured them. The defeat of the same enemies referred to in Rev 19:21 is said to be accomplished by the sword “which came forth out of his mouth.” The wicked at the judgment are to depart “into eternal fire.” Symbols must be construed in harmony with plain truths literally stated.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; –Jesus said the fire was prepared for “the devil and his angels.” (Mat 25:41.) In vision John had seen the beast and false prophet cast in this lake; now he sees the devil cast in with them. This is another proof that this paragraph is a completion of the story in Rev 19:19-21.
and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.–This means endless duration, and agrees with the plain statements of Jesus in Mat 25:46 and Mar 9:48-49. Whether the “fire” is to be construed literally or figuratively is immaterial; the lesson taught is intense and endless punishment. No more expressive emblem could have been used.
Commentary on Rev 20:7-10 by Foy E. Wallace
6. The loosing of Satan. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison”-Rev 20:7.
After the catastrophic fall of Judaism, and the victory of the saints over the imperial persecutors, there was a renewed struggle of the church with heathenism, a spiritual conflict symbolized by Satan being loosed out of his prison.
With Judaism removed from the path of the church, and the cessation of persecution by the imperial rulers, the way was open for the expansion of Christianity, as foretold by Jesus in Mat 24:31, and envisioned by John in Rev 11:15.
But it was not without opposition–the remaining enemy was heathenism. Satans theatre of activity in this struggle was not persecution, but spiritual and doctrinal: And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth-Rev 20:8.
That declaration was in opposition to the angel–messengers of the gospel–of Mat 24:31, gathering his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
This part of the vision was descriptive of the battle with heathenism, hence the reference to Gog and Magog (a combination of one name), the mythical ruler of heathendom, and which title was so used in similar symbolic reference, by the prophet in Eze 38:1-23, prophesying the threat of heathenism to Israel from Gog and Magog. As the beast was symbolic of the Roman empire, personified in the persecuting emperors, so was the Gog and Magog personification symbolic of the spiritual forces of heathenism launched against the church in the battle of Rev 20:8, in which the heathen forces of Gog and Magog were represented to be in number as the sand of the sea, which symbolized the proportions of the conflict and its challenge to the church; and Rev 20:9 stated that they compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The reference to the beloved city here could not mean Jerusalem–the apostate harlot Jerusalem was no longer beloved, and was no more. This beloved city was the church, the New Jerusalem, which was compassed about with heathenism, in the midst of its idolatries, surrounded by all of its antagonism to the church.
As the beast was symbolic of the Roman empire, personified in the persecuting emperors, so was the Gog and Magog personification symbolic of the spiritual forces of heathenism launched against the church in the battle of Rev 20:8, in which the heathen forces of Gog and Magog were represented to be in number as the sand of the sea, which symbolized the proportions ofthe conflict and its challenge to the church; and Rev 20:9 stated that they compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The reference to the beloved city here could not mean Jerusalem–the apostate harlot Jerusalem was no longer beloved, and was no more. This beloved city was the church, the New Jerusalem, which was compassed about with heathenism, in the midst of its idolatries, surrounded by all of its antagonism to the church.
The first chapter of Romans, and the Corinthian, Ephesian, and Colossian epistles confirm this great danger to the church. It was concerning this threat of heathen influence that Paul specifically exhorted the Corinthian church in 2Co 6:14-18. The description of verse nine that the legions of the heathen ruler went upon the breath of the earth in the forays of his satanic forces against the church emphasizes the extent of the opposition to Christianity, and of its threat to the church. But as in the finale of the imperial persecutions, the church prevailed against heathenism, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
This was the symbol of the consuming power of the word of God in exposing the error and evil of heathen idolatry. The apostle declared in 2Co 4:2-4 that the light of the gospel of Christ dispelled the darkness of the god of this world. Neither the imperial beast nor the heathen Magog could withstand the power of God. It was in reference to these same things that Paul said in Rom 16:20 : And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The defeat of the emperor-worship was described in verse ten with metaphors of torment and endless punishment. The three great enemies of the church had been vanquished. The devil who had employed the forces of heathenism to deceive the people and destroy the church, together with the beast and false prophet of chapter 19:20, was cast into the region of oblivion and eternal torment. The meaning of the vision, simply stated, is that the combined effort of the imperial persecutors and of the heathen powers to stop the advance of the church resulted in colossal failure.
There is no rule of exegesis or of interpretation that could warrant a literal application of the wide sweep of this symbolic language. It was the figurative description of the end and doom of the rulers who oppressed the church of Christ; and it signified that they should nevermore exist to humiliate the Lords church, the Lambs Bride.
Commentary on Rev 20:7-10 by Walter Scott
SATANS LAST ACTION AND FINAL DOOM.
Rev 20:7-10. – Our chapter is apportioned into four distinct yet closely related sections. In the first we have the dragon bound for a thousand years and cast into the abyss, which is then sealed over him (Rev 20:1-3). In the second we have the three classes specifically brought before us who reign with Christ during the millennial era, and their blessedness (Rev 20:4-6). In the third we witness the last and universal gathering of the wicked on earth under the banner of Satan,and the final and everlasting doom of the devil in the lake of fire (Rev 20:7-10). In the fourth no denomination of time is used as in the previous sections. Here we have got to the end of time, to the close of human history, and the ushering in of the eternal state by the judgment of the dead at the great white throne (Rev 20:11-15).
The third section is really a continuation of the first, which had been interrupted by the calm and tranquillizing sight of the various classes of heavenly saints who reign with Christ.
Rev 20:7. – Now the history of Satan is resumed, (A similar interpretation in connection with the dragon is noted in Rev 12:1-17.We have the war in Heaven (Rev 12:7-9). Its successful issue results in the expulsion of Satan and his angels, who are cast down to the earth. This is followed by joy and rejoicing in Heaven (Rev 12:10-12). Then the history of Satan is resumed which had been interrupted by the heavenly rejoicing (Rev 12:13-17); verse 13 connecting itselfwith verse 9.) connecting itself with verse 3.
Rev 20:8. – On the completion of the thousand years imprisonment Satan, not now spoken of as the dragon, is loosed from his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which (are) on the four corners of the earth,Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, whose number is as the sand of the sea. During the reign all Israel is saved (Jer 31:31-34; Rom 11:26), and their seed and seeds seed forever (Isa 59:20-21). But not so the Gentiles. The populations of the earth will be greatly thinned by judgments, large numbers be saved, but many will only render feigned obedience to the authority of the reigning Monarch of the earth. Not the obedience of faith, but a compelled submission under the iron rod (Psa 2:9), an obedience extorted by fear (see Psa 18:44;Psa 66:3; Psa 81:15; in the margin of each of those texts we reach feigned obedience). Another consideration, which in itself fully accounts for the countless multitudes gathered by Satan from all parts of the earth, is that death even amongst the unsaved will not be the rule, rather the exception (for the principle see Isa 65:20); besides, the peoplingof the earth shall go on as ever, but Scripture does not, so far as we know, intimate that those born during the thousand years are converted, except those amongst Israel (Isa 59:21). The restraint upon Satan being removed, the nations, not merely individuals, but communities and peoples who had basked under the light and blessing of Messiahs personal reign, yield themselves up to Satan. Alas! what is man? He has been tried and tested under every possible condition, in every possible way, under goodness, government, law, grace, and now under glory. The former gathering of the powers was under human leaders (Rev 19:19). This one is on a vaster scale, and under the direct control and guidance of Satan himself.Both end in utter rout and ruin.
THE LAST HUMAN CONFEDERACY.
. – The gathering of the nations is universal in character from the four corners of the globe, and so numerous are they that the only comparison is to the sand of the seashore. This vast assemblage is metaphorically spoken of as Gog and Magog. (Gog, or Russia (Eze 38:1-23; Eze 39:1-29). Who is Gog? The reference is to the vast and growing power of Russia, the outcome of the warlike Sclavonic tribes of ancient origin, descended from Japheth, eldest son of Noah (Gen 10:2). The capital cities of European and Asiatic Russia are named in the first verses of the two chapters. Meshech (Moscow), formerly the seat of government of European-Russia, now second city of the empire, and Tubal (Tobolsk) chief city of Siberia, are not only thus early designated, but Russia itself is distinctly named, and that, too, fourteen and a half centuries before she was known in history as Russia. The words in the beginning of our chapters, The chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, should read, Prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal (R. V.). Thus Russia – and were it still doubted, the naming of her chief cities surely establishes the fact – is clearly pointed out in the Scriptures of truth, a certain proof of the futurity of this remarkable prophecy. Russia was only known by name in history in the ninth christian century. It is derived from Ruric, a Norman pirate who really founded the empire. Her geographical position is also indicated in the prophecy: And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts. Gog is a symbolic term for the head of all the Russias. Magog, also symbolic, is his land. The Prophet of visions tells us of Persia, Ethiopia, and many other nations coming down under the leadership of Gog like a cloud to cover the land. The apparently defenseless state of Judea, its numerous and thriving villages, having neither walls, bars, nor gates, seem to offer an easy prey to the nations, while the worlds wealth, centralized in the Jew, will awaken the cupidity of the powers (Eze 38:10-13). To plunder and destroy are the objects of this mighty confederation (see Isa 33:1-24, which also refers to Gogs attack). Alas! little do they dream that Jehovah hath girded Zion with strength, and that the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers not sleeps. The Lord Jesus Christ is there, Israels glory and defense, and His and their enemies only reach the Judean mountains to find a grave, and their wealth to swell the treasures already gathered in Immanuels land (Eze 39:1-29). The chosen leader of this expedition against restored Israel is Gog, the last Czar of Russia, whose name is withheld.) These terms really refer to the last Czar of Russia and his land (Eze 38:1-23; Eze 39:1-29). Now the last attack upon Judea is after the destruction of the western powers (Rev 19:1-21) and the eastern enemies of Israel (Zec 14:1-21; Psa 83:1-18). Gog (Russia) comes down upon the land to plunder and destroy, not knowing that the Lord has come and made salvation the sure bulwarks of His ancient earthly people (Isa 26:1-2). Hence the last attempt to destroy Israel at the commencement of the millennium is repeated on even a more gigantic scale at the close. The object is the same in both attacks, only the former comes from the north, the geographical location of Gog; whereas the latter is from all parts of the earth. One can thus readily understand why the terms Gog and Magog are used, so as to connect the two attempts to overthrow and destroy Israel, the one pre-millennial the other post-millennial. It will be observed that no kings or great men are named, as in the gathering under the Beast (Rev 19:1-21), but nations simply as such.
Rev 20:9. – And they went up on the breadth of the earth,and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. They crowd and cover the earth in its entirety. They come from north, south, east, and west. They gather under one leader, swayed by one deadly impulse of hatred, and to one center. The nations have experienced for one thousand years the beneficent rule of Christ. Satan has been for one thousand years restrained, his liberty curtailed, and yet the mad attempt is entered upon to crush the camp of the saints, and to destroy the beloved city, Jerusalem. The nations converge upon Jerusalem. Christ does not intervene. It is a matter for God to take up. The camp of the saints on earth, and the beloved city, a beautiful designation of Jerusalem in the future (Isa 60:1-22), are surrounded by the multitudinous hosts of earth. No mention is made of how Christ and His people, heavenly or earthly, regard this last mad attempt of Satan and his deceived followers. All is silent in the camp and city. The apostate nations march into the jaws of death. Their judgment is sudden, swift, overwhelming, and final. God deals with the hosts of evil, Fire came down out of Heaven and devoured them, the Authorised Version adding from God. The words should be deleted on the authority of the critics, yet the sense is the same, for the judgment is from God.
SATAN CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE.
Rev 20:10. – What of the proud boast of the perfectibility of human nature in light of the closing scene in the drama of history! For the first time in the history of the race (from Gen 3:1-24 to Rev 20:1-15) we have an earth without a sinner upon its surface. Satan has now to be dealt with. He is allowed to see the end of all his heartless machinations. He is foiled and defeated. His doom was fixed seven thousand years before its execution (Gen 3:15). His head is bruised by the womans seed. There yet remains the one final act of everlasting judgment. And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where (are) both the Beast and the False Prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages.
The dragon was first cast out of Heaven, then shut up in the abyss, now cast into the lake of fire. As the dragon he is shut up, as Satan he is loosed, and as the devil he is cast into the lake of fire. (For the signification of these titles see remarks on Rev 12:8.) In this last war the dragon is not named. Satan, signifying adversary, is the open and declared enemy and adversary of God, of Christ, of the saints, of Israel, and in that character he stands out apart from human agents as the leader of the hosts who gather against the camp and city. But as the devil, the deceiver and tempter of men, he is cast into everlasting torment.
It is observable, too, that in the narrative the Seer changes his standpoint. In Rev 20:7 he looks on to the end of the thousand years, whereas in Rev 20:9 he adopts the historical tense. In the former he is the prophet; in the latter he is the historian. Need we add that the whole vision is yet future. We refer to the different points of view as John beheld them and narrates them.
Rev 20:10 – Cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. A lake supposes solid land on either side. Fire and brimstone are figures of inexpressible torment (see Rev 14:10; Isa 30:33).
Rev 20:10 – The Beast and the False Prophet are already there. They were consigned to their most awful doom at the commencement of the millennial reign, and they are found in it at its close. What a pertinent and striking illustration of the Lords words in Mar 9:49, Every one shall be salted with fire. Salt is preservative. Here are two men who have been salted with fire, not consumed, but preserved in torment by torment, and that for a thousand years. We do not contend for actual literal flames, for the devil is a spirit (see also Luk 16:23-24). Fire consumes natural objects. But we do most strongly insist upon that which the figures are meant to teach, outer darkness, wailing and gnashing of teeth, a never dying worm and quenchless fire, fire and brimstone, etc. The truth is that in the lake of fire mental agony and corporeal suffering are united and endured in degree proportioned to the guilt of those who have sinned. The punishment is in exact measure to the sin, but all is everlasting or eternal.
Rev 20:10 – They shall be tormented day and night for the ages of ages. The plural pronoun they refers to the devil, the Beast, and the False Prophet. Day and night shows that the torment is without intermission, unceasing. For the ages of ages signifies here and in Rev 14:11 eternity in its full and proper meaning – never-ending existence.
Commentary on Rev 20:7-10 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 20:7. This is a repetition of Rev 20:3. See Rev 20:3.
Rev 20:8. The nations here are the same as in Rev 20:3 as to the meaning of the word. But the identical groups of men who had been deceived by Satan before the Reformation would not be available to him in the same manner, for they still have the Bible in their own languages, and will always know better than to surrender their rights as nations with their kings again. But having found by experience the great advantage of working through the various headquarters, so as to effect a broad-scale opposition to the truth, he determined to direct his efforts along that line. Of course his objective is the destruction of the Bible or the faith of the people in it. That is why this great and long conflict is called Armageddon in chapter 16:16, for one of the terms in Thayer’s definition of the word is “destruction.” Satan’s strategy in this war was to use any means he could command that would destory men’s faith in the Book. Gog and Magog were ancient peoples and countries that were numerous, savage and at enmity with civilization. The words are used symbolically here to indicate the kind of forces and means that Satan would use in his war against the Bible. In the note referred to at the beginning of this chapter, it is shown that a phase of Satan’s public attacks upon the Bible is in the form of evolution, seeing that it is taught in the public schools, also be chartered and endorsed by states and educational headquarters. The same objective is now being attempted in the form of communism. In proportion as a man believes in this doctrine he will not believe in the Bible and Satan knows it. That is why he is pressing its tenets upon the people through every channel possible. It accounts for the number of communists among the school teachers of our free school system. Also for the presence of communists and their sympathizers in the three branches of our government; the legislative, executive and judicial. I am sometimes asked if I believe the present conflict with Russia and her satellites was predicted. My answer is yes as the whole picture is considered. Communism is just the present objective in the war, the conflict being either for or against it. In that sense it was predicted for it is a continuation of the battle (war) of Armageddon, which was begun after Satan was loosed and is destined to continue until Christ comes. As in most other wars, there are spies and sympathizers who pretend to be on the right side, but whose heart is in favor of theenemy. Such traitors either deny being communists or even refuse to say whether they are or not. We know that when a man refuses to answer questions on ‘this subject when propounded by a proper person, that person is a communist at heart and should be regarded as one of Satan’s soldiers in the war of Armageddon.
Rev 20:9. The pronoun they stands for the hostile forces of Satan symbolically mustered from the regions of Gog and Magog. This is the army of Satan that is described in the preceding paragraph. They will fight under his directions with the object of destroying men’s faith in the Bible. The apostate church of Rome taught that the religious conduct of men should be regulated according to the pope and his college of cardinals. The teaching of Christ is that men’s lives should be regulated by the Bible (1Pe 4:11; 1Jn 1:7), that the sole institution for making that Book known is the church (Eph 3:10 Eph 3:21; 1Ti 3:15). Hence the army of Satan was to compass the camp of the saints. This means the church when considered as a group of individuals, and the beloved city means the church if spiritual Jerusalem is used as a symbol. So here is where the issue is joined in this great battle of Armageddon. The church of Christ is on one side, and everything else is on the other in all controversies that involve moral and religious interests, and where belief in or opposition to the Bible is at stake. The first two thirds of this brief verse covers the entire period of the war of Armageddon, beginning when Satan was loosed and extending to the coming of Christ. The last sentence of the verse marks the end of the war. Not that it tells of the date (no passage does), but it names the event that will bring the conflict to a close, namely, the consuming fire out of heaven. We are told in 2Th 2:8 that the pope will be destroyed at the coming of Christ. It is very fitting that the war of Armageddon should be destroyed at the same time, since the pope and Satan have been allies arrayed against the forces of Christ for centuries. And with this verse the prophetic symbols of the book of Revelation bring us to the judgment day for the final showing. At various places in our study we have been brought to that event, then taken back to some earlier period and started all over again. But the rest of the chapter will describe the events on the day of judgment and not go back.
Rev 20:10. Devil that deceived them refers to the vast hordes who comprised the army of Satan. This verse says nothing about the fate of the deceived ones; that will be shown later. This is the lake of fire and brimstone that is mentioned in Rev 21:8. Tormented day and night is figurative as to the parts of the time for there will be no recurrence of day and night literally. The expression is used to give emphasis to the literal part of the sentence, namely, for ever and ever. In other words there will be no “breathing spell” or even brief intermission for the sake of relief; it will be continuous and endless.
Commentary on Rev 20:7-10 by Burton Coffman
Rev 20:7
And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Shall be loosed … We agree with those commentators who believe that the divine goal of redemption will be fully achieved, but that very near the end, faith shall practically vanish from the earth. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luk 18:8). Just as the old Israel fell away from God and officially and finally rejected even the Messiah himself, their apostasy will be fulfilled in the great antitype of the church, the new Israel, which will apparently do exactly the same thing. “When the final judgment is at hand, the powers of evil will again assemble and gather force.”[42] The loosing of Satan will occur at the time when more and more people have chosen wickedness and the true faith shall virtually have disappeared. With the relative number of the righteous greatly diminished, Satan’s powers over people will be vastly multiplied; and it appears from this that very near the end of time Satan will find himself with almost a free hand to work his will. If this should be the case, the situation would almost certainly issue in the destruction of humanity. It could be that, in this final outburst of evil, God will permit the human race to find out through terminal experience just what serving the devil really means. See the somewhat lengthy discussion of this in “The Mystery of Redemption,” pp. 121-143, “When the final judgment is nigh, the power of evil will gather force again.”[43]
[42] Frank L. Cox, op. cit., p. 116.
[43] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 1089.
Rev 20:8
and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
And shall come forth to deceive the nations … At the time indicated here, Satan will do exactly what he did in the pre-Christian world, that is, organize all mankind into one vast, sprawling, interlocking network of evil. This shows that Satan’s power to deceive was not altered by his imprisonment and limitation. Wherever and whenever people are willing to work the works of wickedness, Satan will promote and organize their activities. It was the word of God which broke his powerful stranglehold upon the ancient world; and when people turn away from the word of God, their old nemesis will again seize the whole world. Something resembling that terrible eventuality seems to be indicated here.
Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war … These names and symbols of all the enemies of God’s people, as their usage in Ezekiel surely indicates, do not represent any particular earthly states, but all the forces of wickedness. See Ezekiel 35-40. “Gog and Magog, in Jewish thought, carne to stand for everything that is against God.”[44]
Together to the war … This final “war” against God is exactly the parallel of the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 16:16), another example of the parallelism in this prophecy, both being descriptions of the end, rather, times immediately prior to the final judgment. Earle pointed out that certain millennialists distinguish between these accounts, apply one before, the other after, the millennium; but they are parallel accounts of but one event. As Wilcock noted, “The invitation to the birds (Rev 19:17) is also thought to be before the millennium; but in Eze 39:17 ff, from whence the imagery is taken, their invitation was to “pick the bones’ of Gog.”[45] Again, this indicates parallelism in these recapitulations.
Satan will remain “completely bound,” as far as the righteous are concerned, even to the very end;’ but, with the near disappearance of righteousness from the earth as the end approaches, there will nevertheless be, as far as the whole world is concerned, an effective “loosing of Satan.” This is indicated in the next verse.
The number of whom is as the sand of the sea … At the time here indicated, the righteous of earth are an insignificant number; but the hosts of evil will be innumerable. But when Satan is loosed, the same thing will happen that always happens when Satan has a free hand. When the demons were permitted to enter the swine, remember what happened? A similar thing shall happen with humanity when Satan has a free hand. “Then shall come the end” (Mat 24:14).
After the gospel work among the nations has been done, after the last soul that it can save has been saved, then the final moment has arrived for the settlement with all the monstrous anti-Christian opposition to God.[46]
[44] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 194.
[45] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 191.
[46] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 592.
Rev 20:9
And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them.
And they went up over the breadth of the earth … All of the world will be swallowed up by the empire of evil; and their vicious hatred of the truth and of Christ will not rest as long as any souls, no matter how few, are true believers in Christ and his holy religion. Therefore, they will move to destroy utterly even the remnant of believers left. That is the picture when the judgment falls.
And encompassed the camp of the saints about … This has no reference whatever to some locale where Christians will be encamped, as in an army, and barricaded against evil. No! It just means that the devil will finally take it in hand to destroy, utterly and finally, the last vestiges of truth and righteousness upon the earth. Fire from heaven will be God’s answer to that decision on the part of Satan. Ladd, and many others, envision the literal Jerusalem as the earthly scene of this event;[47] but there is no basis in the bible for such a notion.
And the beloved city … This symbolizes the true church of God, certainly not literal Jerusalem which crucified Christ and both earned and received the outpouring of the wrath of God upon her as a consequence. This racial thing about literal Jews that gets into millennial calculations is as unchristian and unreasonable as any nonsense ever advocated. Long ago, God thundered the edict from heaven that there is “NO DISTINCTION” between Jew and Gentile (Rom 3:22; Rom 10:12), and the Christian is gullible indeed who allows himself to accept any theory of “distinction” regarding Jews, Gentiles, or any other races of mankind. It is just as Scriptural to suppose that God has separate plans for the Albanians, the Laps, the North American Indians, or the Japanese, as it is to imagine that racial Jews shall enter in any special manner into God’s plans for the future.
And fire came down from heaven and devoured them … Not much of a “war” was it? God spake, and it was done. God settled the full account with evil in a single fiery blast.
ENDNOTE:
[47] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 270.
Rev 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
And the devil … was cast into the lake of fire … This is the hell of which Jesus so often spoke, and concerning which he revealed it is prepared, not for man, but for Satan and his angels (Mat 25:41). Alas, men also shall suffer therein, but God never intended that it should be so. Christ spread wide his bleeding hands upon the Cross in order to prevent any man from ever suffering the punishment of the damned; but people who choose to ignore this must assume the full responsibility for the consequence of their failure.
Revelation has already clearly recounted how the beast and the false prophet were destroyed in the same lake of fire, but we are not at liberty to suppose these are three separate events. “The fact that John saw the beast destroyed before he saw Satan bound has nothing to do with the order in which these things actually happen.”[48] It is clear enough that the final judgment is the occasion when all of these things will occur. Read Mat 25:31-46, which is the best possible commentary on what the apostle wrote here.
Shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever … Here is the doctrine of endless punishment, a teaching visible throughout the New Testament. “Whether the fire is construed literally or figuratively is immaterial: the lesson taught is intense and endless punishment; and no more impressive emblem could have been used.”[49] This clause positively identifies this scene as the final judgment, an event already depicted six times previously in this prophecy. See chapter introduction for a list of these.
Beginning back at Rev 12:1, we witnessed in the vision the appearance of the dragon (Satan), the sea-beast (perverted government), and the land-beast (perverted religion); and then there came successive judgments in which these three were destroyed in reverse order, thus bringing to an end the period of the Christian age. All evil will ultimately fall before the will of God.
All that remains now is, “to show forth the surpassing glory of the saints in their eternal home, and thus to bring the book to a conclusion. This, therefore, is the theme of the remaining two chapters.”[50]
[48] Michael Wilcock, op. cit., p. 190.
[49] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 293.
[50] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 474.
Commentary on Rev 20:7-10 by Manly Luscombe
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prisonAdmittedly, this is a difficult verse to understand. It will help if we understand that the limitation of Satan is the preaching of the gospel. Satan is limited because the gospel is having an influence on the lives of men. Satan will be released (not bound or restricted) at some point. It would appear that there will come a time when the gospel is no longer reaching man. Perhaps man is hardened. Again, I quote Woodruff. The only logical meaning to this is that all people who will ever become obedient to the gospel will have done so. (1, 371). Here is the scary truth: There will come a time when men will not hear the gospel and be inclined to obey it. The gospel will not spread. As fewer and fewer people are willing to study and obey the gospel, more and more will be living lives of rebellion and sin. Think about the words of Jesus, As it was in the days of Noah (Mat 24:37)
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. Where the gospel does NOT go, Satan will be given greater room to roam. He will go to the four corners of the earth. The four directions (North, South, East, West) are used to describe the complete and total spread of Satans influence. This verse describes a time when Satan will have far reaching power and influence because the gospel has been stopped. The world will become more wicked and rebellious. This will be a world that totally rejects God and His church. Many theories have come out of the woodwork to find two modern nations that represent Gog and Magog. These terms represent those who oppose God. (Eze 38:1-23; Eze 39:1-29). The numbers of people who have rebelled against God and rejected the gospel are like the sand of the sea. They are beyond number.
9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Sin will literally take over the world. The entire world will be plunged into wickedness. The faithful Christians will be surrounded as if under siege. When you think that you are all alone, that no one else is faithful to God – Do not give up. This is no time to surrender. Victory is just around the corner. God will win the battle. Fire from heaven will devour the wicked world.
10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. This is the final defeat. Satan has lost his great harlot, Babylon. He has lost his persecuting governments. He has lost his false religions. He saw the world become so wicked that he was thinking he was winning. Out of the jaws of victory, God gives Satan his final and ultimate defeat. Satan is thrown into the same lake of fire and brimstone as his generals. They are now in torment. The torment is continual, without rest, day and night, forever and ever.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Before the Great White Throne
Rev 20:7-15
Gog and Magog take us back to Gen 10:2; see also Eze 38:1-23; Eze 39:1-29. It would seem that this great confederacy of the northern nations against the beloved city, Jerusalem, will be led by Satan, and overwhelmed once and for all by the direct judgment of God.
The final judgment is depicted in Rev 20:11-15. Gods people will not appear at that bar. All the human family will be arraigned, save those whose names are in the book of life, Joh 5:24. See Exo 32:32; Dan 12:1; Php 4:3; and Rev 21:27. Death and Hades will surrender their contents. What a marvelous audience! The throne is great, because of the destinies to be decided; and white, because of the immaculate purity of the Judge, who will be none other than our Lord. See Joh 5:22; Act 17:31. The books will surely include conscience; Rom 2:15-16; Gods Word, Joh 12:48; and the tablets of memory, Luk 16:25.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
CHAPTERS 20:7-22:5
After the Thousand Years and the New Jerusalem
1. Satans last revolt (Rev 20:7-10)
2. The great white throne (Rev 20:11-15)
3. The eternal state (Rev 21:1-8)
4. The vision of the holy city (Rev 21:9-27)
5. The glories of the redeemed (Rev 22:1-5)
Rev 20:7-10.
Satan who was put into the abyss a thousand years before, is now loosed out of his prison. God permits him to come forth once more. Who would have ever thought of such a thing! The archenemy who had done his vile and wicked work among the human race, for a thousand years put at least into the place of perfect restraint, and now loosed once more to continue, for a brief season, his work! And he finds nations ready for his deception, not a few, but a number as the sand of the sea. God permits Satan to come out of his prison, so that the absolute corruption of man might be demonstrated. Man has been tried and tested under every possible condition. He has failed in every age. He failed under the law and he failed even more in the grace-dispensation; and now, under the most glorious conditions, during the millennium, when the Lord Himself is known in all the earth and reigns in righteousness, when want and nearly all the sorrows of a ruined creation are banished, when there is peace on earth, man also fails and does not fully respond to a gracious Lord.
But here is a difficulty which many have. Many a sincere post-Millennialist, who has studied the pre-millennial coming of our Lord, has asked this question, If the whole world is converted during the millennium, how is it then that Satan finds nations ready to side with him after the thousand-year reign of Christ and then leads them on to destructions? The difficulty is far from being as great as it is generally made. In fact it is easily explained. As far as Israel is concerned, the all Israel living, when He comes, the trusting remnant of Israel, they will constitute the blessed nation in possession of all her promised blessings. They are not mentioned as siding with Satan. No more backsliding for that nation. Isa 59:20-21 vouches for this.
And the Gentile nations in the beginning of the millennium will also be converted. However, the human conditions of the earth will continue. The nations are not in a glorified state. Marriage will continue. Children will be born during the millennium. Indeed the earth will be populated as never before. Billions of human beings can be sustained upon our planet and they will come into existence by natural generation during the golden age of glory. Wars will be unknown. No longer will the flower of manhood be cruelly murdered by human passion in that legalized horrible thing called war. Earthquakes will no longer sweep thousands upon thousands into an untimely grave, nor can famines and pestilences claim their millions. Nor will there be the great infant mortality. Physical death will no longer be the universal rule, but rather an exception (see Isa 65:20).
Now every child born during the millennium of the converted nations comes into the world the same as the children in the present age, it is still true, conceived and born in sin. And it is equally true, they must be born again.
As many children of pious, godly parents in this age are gospel-hardened and live on in sin, though they hear the gospel and see its power, so in the millennium, an enormous multitude will see the glory, live under the best and most glorious conditions the earth has seen since before the fall of man, and yet they will be glory-hardened and only submit to the righteousness of that age and yield obedience through fear, for disobedience to the governing laws of the kingdom on earth, will mean sudden and certain judgment. It is not the obedience produced by a believing, trusting heart, but only a feigned obedience. Three prophetic Psalms which speak of these millennial conditions make this clear, if we consider the marginal reading. As soon as they hear of Me, they shall obey Me, the strangers shall yield feigned obedience unto Me (Psa 18:44). Say unto God, How terrible art Thou in Thy works! Through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies yield feigned obedience unto Thee (Psa 66:3). The haters of the Lord yield feigned obedience unto Him, but their time might have endured forever (Psa 81:15). Study these Psalms in their millennial bearing. Thus many nations submit while sin is in their heart and in their blindness they long and hope for the day when they may cast off the restraint. And that day comes when Satan is loosed out of the prison to deceive these nations again.
It was the final attempt of the dethroned usurper to regain his lost dominion. For thousands of years, in the all-wise purposes of God, he was permitted to be the prince of the power of the air and the god of this age. We have followed his history in this book and seen how he was cast out of heaven upon the earth where he caused the great tribulation. Then we beheld him stripped of all his power. The kingdoms of the world became the kingdom of Christ and the old serpent was cast unto the abyss where he remained a thousand years. Loosed for a little season he tried once more to become earths master. And fire out of heaven devoured the nations who had revolted.
The devil receives his final doom. He is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. He goes to a fixed place, a locality where unspeakable and eternal torment is his portion. This place is prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat 25:41). And all the wicked will share that place. And he finds others there. The first beings who were cast into this final abode were the beast (the emperor of the Roman empire, the little horn of Dan 7:1-28), and the false prophet (the personal Antichrist, the second beast of chapter 13). They were put there a thousand years before, and as they are there as persons it shows they were not annihilated. And they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever–for the ages of ages–never ending–for all eternity. What a solemn truth this is! Yet men meddle with it and deny future, conscious and eternal punishment. Besides these three persons, the nations who were judged and condemned in the beginning of the millennium, when the Son of Man sat upon the throne of His glory (Mat 25:31), are also in the Lake of Fire.
Rev 20:11-15.
And now we reach the last great judgment scene of Gods holy Word. Much confusion prevails among Christians about this judgment. There is no such thing in the Word of God as a universal judgment, nor is there a universal resurrection. Every human being that has died will be raised at some time. Our Lord spoke (Joh 5:28) of two resurrections, a resurrection unto life and a resurrection unto judgment. The Revelation speaks of the first resurrection. This is the first resurrection (Rev 20:5). And previously the apostle wrote of a resurrection from among the dead (Php 3:11). The first resurrection was finished in the beginning of the millennium. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. The rest of the dead come now into view and they are of necessity the wicked dead, who died in their sins, and whose is the resurrection unto judgment.
Some, like Pastor Russell, who echoes the evil teachings of others, have invented a third resurrection, a resurrection of the unsaved for a second chance. In the light of this final Bible book there is no room whatever for such a resurrection, which would give the lost another opportunity. Nor does the rest of the Bible mention such a third resurrection. And this great judgment is not a universal judgment. It is taught that the entire human race, the living and the dead, will appear before this great throne. But this is incorrect, for it saith, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. No living people are there at all. Again the judgment-scene in Mat 25:31, etc., is spoken of as being the universal judgment and identical with the judgment here in Revelation. But this is another error. In the judgment of Mat 25:1-46 the dead are not there, but living nations are judged in the beginning of the millennium. And these nations are judged on account of the treatment of the Jewish preachers of the gospel of the kingdom heralded by them during the last seven years of the age. They did not accept the last offer of mercy and that is why they treated the messengers as they did.
Furthermore, the throne which the Son of Man occupies in Mat 25:1-46 is upon the earth; the throne in Rev 20:11 comes into view after earth and heaven fled away. The Church and the saints of God are not concerned at all in the judgment of Mat 25:1-46, nor in the great white throne judgment. They are at that time in His own presence glorified. Every Christian should have these things clearly defined and know that for him, as in Christ, there is no more judgment or condemnation (Joh 5:24; Rom 8:1). The judgment seat of Christ before which believers have to appear (2Co 5:10) does not concern their eternal salvation, but their works and rewards.
Who is the occupant of this great white throne? Not God the Father, but God the Son. The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment unto the Son (Joh 5:22). The earth and heaven fled from His face. Sin-stained and defiled as they were they flee away from the face of the Holy One. The great conflagration of 2Pe 3:7-12 takes place. (See Annotations on 2Pe 3:1-18.) Fire of judgment swept the earth before the millennium, the day of the Lord, began; but the all consuming fire comes after the millennium. out of that great conflagration there arises a new heaven and a new earth (Rev 21:1).
But what about the millions of saved Israelites and Gentiles who are on the millennial earth? Where are they during this great conflagration? What becomes of them? That they share the eternal blessings and glories in the eternal state is certain. But their abode between the burning of the earth and the calling into existence of the new heaven and the new earth is unrevealed. Speculation on it would be wrong. We should accept the silences of Scripture as much in faith as we accept the promises of God.
And John sees the dead standing before the throne. Books were opened and another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The books are symbolical; conscience and memory will speak loudly. Twice we read that they are judged according to their works. And in the book of life none of their names were written, or they would not have been in that company. All this would seem to show that, though a millennium has passed since the first resurrection, yet no righteous dead can stand among this throng. The suggestion of the book of life has seemed to many to imply that there are such; but it is not said that there are, and the words whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire may be simply a solemn declaration (now affirmed by the result) that grace is mans only possible escape from the judgment (Numerical Bible).
The second resurrection takes place. The sea gives up the dead and death and Hades give up the dead. Hades gives up the soul, and death, used here for the grave, gives up the bodies. Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. Both had come into existence because man had sinned, and, therefore, they are cast into the place where all belongs which is contrary to the holiness and righteousness of God. And then that solemn word! And whosoever was not found written in the Book of life was cast into the lake of fire. It corresponds to that other solemn statement in Joh 3:36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. To be written in the book of life means to have life in Christ. Not our works, not our character, not our religiousness, not our tears, our prayers or our service can put our names in the book of life. Grace alone can do it, and grace does it, as we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Reader! is your name written there?
The saints of God are in eternal glory; the wicked dead, the lost, are in an eternal lake of fire and suffer conscious, eternal punishment. And how man, blind, presumptuous man, yea, even such who know God, rise up against this solemn truth, the eternal punishment of the wicked. They accuse God of injustice, as if the judge of all the earth would not do right. That the suffering of the lost differs is obvious. It is eternal, because the evil condition remains unchanged. There is no repentance, no faith, no new birth in hell. As there are different rewards for the faithful service of the saints, so are there different degrees of punishment for the unsaved (Luk 12:47-48). This is the second death, not blotting out of existence, but endless in a separation from God.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Chapter 50
Christ turns satan loose for a ‘little season’
‘And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison’
Rev 20:7-10
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by his death upon the cross, defeated satan and bound him with a great chain. The purpose of this binding was ‘that he should deceive the nations no more.’ As the result of Satans binding, the glorious gospel of Christ has been carried into the four corners of the earth. Our Lord has been gathering his elect out of the four corners of the earth for two thousand years. Yet, he told us that when the time appointed (symbolized by the thousand years) was fulfilled, satan must be loosed for a little season.
The Holy Spirit teaches us four things about this ‘little season:’
1. At the end of this present gospel age, just before the coming of Christ, satan will once again be turned loose upon the nations of the world (Rev 20:7)
2. He will be allowed to deceive the nations of the world with false religion once more (Rev 20:8)
Gog and Magog represent all the nations of the world set in opposition to Christ, his church, and the gospel of his grace. The terms ‘Gog and Magog’ are borrowed from Ezekiel 38. But John never imagined anyone making them to mean Russia, China, or any other literal nation! He tells us plainly that Gog and Magog represent the nations of the world under the influence of satanic deception. Read Rev 20:8!
3. Under the satanic delusion of false religion all the nations of the world will rise up in opposition to Christ, his gospel, and his church (Rev 20:9)
Here again we are warned about the great battle of Armageddon. This is the same battle described in Rev 16:12-16; Rev 19:19-21. It is the final assault of satan against the Lord Jesus Christ. The meaning of the vision is clear: Toward the close of this gospel age, before Christ comes in glory, satan will deceive the world with a false gospel, a false Christ, a false god, a false spirit, and a false faith; and the world, in the name of Christ, will turn in violent persecution against Christs kingdom.
4. Satans last assault, like all that have preceded it, shall be foiled in the end (Rev 20:10)
The purpose of God will not be frustrated. The truth of God shall not be overturned. The saints of God shall not be deceived. The church of God shall not be harmed. The Christ of God shall thoroughly defeat his enemies. The punishment of the beast and the false prophet has already been described (Rev 19:20). Here John assures us that satan, the beast, and the false prophet will all be cast into the lake of fire. In that horrible place of damnation they will be unceasingly tormented forever. This battle will end in swift and decisive victory for us when Christ comes in power and great glory (2Th 2:8). Here are five facts that cannot be denied and need to be understood by all who seek to serve God in this generation.
We are living in an apostate religious world
The New Testament teaches us plainly that before Christ comes, as this dispensation is drawn to a rapid conclusion, there will be a general, universal, wholesale departure from the faith of the gospel. It is true, this departure from the gospel began during the days of the apostles. Satan has been around from the beginning. Antichrists were abundant even in the apostolic age (1Jn 4:1-3). Yet, never before in history have almost all professedly ‘Christian churches’ of the world so openly denied the gospel of Christ and so unanimously accepted, promoted, and preached the lies of satan. Never before has the philosophy of the world and the religion of the world been so completely united. I am not referring to the apostasy of Rome. Romanism has always been apostate. Papacy was antichrist from the beginning. But in our day, the children of Rome are rapidly returning to their harlot mother, not in name, but in doctrine. The major tenets virtually of all organized ‘Christian’ religions are purely Roman doctrines. These are things held in common, throughout the world by Presbyterians, Mormons, Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Campbellites, Pentecostalists, Russellites, Liberals, Conservatives, Fundamentalists, Catholics, Non-Catholics, Protestants, and Non-Protestants. They are even held in common by Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. The universally embraced heresies of this apostate age are free-willism, salvation, works justification, separatism (The teaching that evil is in things, not in us!), and rewards or loss of rewards in heaven based on works.
No one can know for certain, but it may be that we are now living in the day of Satans little season. Professing Christianity is in a state of almost total apostasy. There is a remnant according to the election of grace. There are a few individuals and churches scattered throughout the world who believe and preach the truth of God. However, by comparison, they are a very small remnant. The nations of the world have been deceived with the satanic lie of free-will, works religion. This is precisely what God told us would happen in these last days. These are perilous times for the souls of men (1Ti 4:1-5; 2Ti 3:1-15; 2Ti 4:1-4; 2Th 2:1-8). Our Lord said, ‘I am come in my Fathers name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive’ (Joh 5:43). It has come to pass. False prophets come in their own name, and men and women flock to hear them, while rejecting with anger the gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ.
The apostate religion of this world is the result of Gods judicial reprobation
Rolfe Barnard once said, ‘This is a reprobate age, an age that cannot be explained apart from the judgment of God.’ Here is one of the most solemn things set forth in all the Word of God. When God gives men the light of the gospel and they refuse to walk in it, they are in danger of being reprobate, cast off, and deceived by satan. And this is the work of God! (Read Hos 4:17 and Mat 23:37-38).
Reprobation is the work of god, fixing it so that those who will not receive the truth cannot receive it (Pro 1:23-33)
It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who turns satan loose upon the nations for a little season (Rev 20:3; Rev 20:7). It is God the Holy Spirit who ceases to restrain the powers of darkness (2Th 2:7-8). It is God the Father who sends men a strong delusion, that they might be damned (2Th 2:9-12).
I cannot imagine anything more solemn. The Scriptures tell us that God almighty sovereignly employs satan and his hellish religion to secure the damnation of those who hear, but will not receive the love of the truth! God will not trifle with those who trifle with his Son and the gospel of his grace.
There are three marks by which the messengers of satan, by whom the nations of the world are deceived, may be identified
1. Their enchanting miracles (2Th 2:9; Rev 16:13-14)
2. Their evident motives (2Pe 2:3)
3. Their enticing message
Some of these false prophets have all three marks, some have two, some have only one. But every false prophet can be identified by these three marks. He may, or may not, pretend to have apostolic gifts. He may, or may not, be an evidently covetous man. But every false prophet in the world has the same message. He will always mix something, somewhere, with the work of Christ (2Co 11:1-3; 2Co 11:13-15). Every false prophet and every false religion, every satanic delusion, makes salvation, acceptance with God, and eternal life, to one degree or another, dependent upon man. Somewhere or another, by one means or another, at one point or another, all false religion makes salvation conditional upon something done by the sinner. Any man who preaches conditional grace is a deceiver of men, an instrument of satan for the damning of mens souls. Salvation is conditioned upon the work of Christ alone! Christ alone is our Savior (1Co 1:30). And salvation in Christ is by the free grace of God alone (Eph 2:8-9).
Gods saints in these dark days have great cause for thanksgiving (2Th 2:13-14)
If you are one of Gods elect, a trophy of his almighty grace, snatched out of this apostate religious world, you have something for which to be thankful. What shouts of praise and thanksgiving must have erupted in the hearts of the Thessalonian believers when they read these verses! Rejoice and give thanks to God for his unspeakable grace and abundant mercy. He has chosen us as the objects of his love. He has redeemed us by the blood of his dear Son (2Co 5:21). He has caused us to hear the gospel (Rom 10:17; Amo 8:11-12). He has called us by the power of his Spirit (Psa 65:4). He has given us faith in Christ and saved us from eternal ruin by his omnipotent grace (Eph 2:1-5; Eph 2:8-9). And he has kept and shall keep us from the apostasy of this age (1Jn 2:19-28).
These days of darkness place us in a position of great responsibility
We must hold fast that form of sound words which we have received (2Ti 1:13) and earnestly contend for the faith (Jud 1:3). We must in these dark days, as never before, make known to eternity bound men and women the gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ (2Ti 4:1-5). There is no hope for any apart from the knowledge of Christ in the gospel.
There is no cause for despair (Rev 20:10)
Satan shall fall. The truth of God shall prevail. The church of God is safe. Gods elect cannot be deceived by Satans lie (Mat 24:22-24; Mar 13:20-22). The day of victory is at hand. When God our Savior is finished with our adversary, the devil, he will cast him into the lake of fire, where he can do no more harm.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Rev 20:2
Reciprocal: Gen 3:15 – thou 1Ki 22:22 – a lying spirit Job 2:6 – save Job 38:11 – but Ecc 3:17 – for Mat 8:32 – Go Mat 12:29 – General Mat 13:39 – enemy Mar 4:15 – Satan Mar 5:13 – gave Mar 13:5 – Take Luk 8:32 – he suffered Luk 12:58 – into Joh 8:44 – He was Joh 14:30 – the Joh 15:19 – because Rom 8:39 – depth 2Co 11:15 – his Eph 6:11 – the wiles 1Pe 3:19 – in 1Jo 5:19 – in wickedness Rev 20:3 – and after
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 20:7. This is a repetition of verse 3. See Rev 20:3.
Rev 20:8. The nations here are the same as in verse 3 as to the meaning of the word. But the identical groups of men who had been deceived by Satan before the Reformation would not be available to him in the same manner, for they still have the Bible in their own languages, and will always know better than to surrender their rights as nations with their kings again. But having found by experience the great advantage of working through the various headquarters, so as to effect a broad-scale opposition to the truth, he determined to direct his efforts along that line. Of course his objective is the destruction of the Bible or the faith of the people in it. That is why this great and long conflict is called Armageddon in chapter 16:16, for one of the terms in Thayer’s definition of the word is “destruction.” Satan’s strategy in this war was to use any means he could command that would destory men’s faith in the Book. Gog and Magog were ancient peoples and countries that were numerous, savage and at enmity with civilization. The words are used symbolically here to indicate the kind of forces and means that Satan would use in his war against the Bible. In the note referred to at the beginning of this chapter, it is shown that a phase of Satan’s public attacks upon the Bible is in the form of evolution, seeing that it is taught in the public schools, also be chartered and endorsed by states and educational headquarters. The same objective is now being attempted in the form of communism. In proportion as a man believes in this doctrine he will not believe in the Bible and Satan knows it. That is why he is pressing its tenets upon the people through every channel possible. It accounts for the number of communists among the school teachers of our free school system. Also for the presence of communists and their sympathizers in the three branches of our government; the legislative, executive and judicial. I am sometimes asked if I believe the present conflict with Russia and her satellites was predicted. My answer is yes as the whole picture is considered. Communism is just the present objective in the war, the conflict being either for or against it. In that sense it was predicted for it is a continuation of the battle (war) of Armageddon, which was begun after Satan was loosed and is destined to continue until Christ comes. As in most other wars, there are spies and sympathizers who pretend to be on the right side, but whose heart is in favor of the enemy. Such traitors either deny being communists or even refuse to say whether they are or not. We know that when a man refuses to answer questions on ‘this subject when propounded by a proper person, that person is a communist at heart and should be regarded as one of Satan’s soldiers in the war of Armageddon.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verses 7-8.
6. The loosing of Satan. “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison”–Rev 20:7.
After the catastrophic fall of Judaism, and the victory of the saints over the imperial persecutors, there was a renewed struggle of the church with heathenism, a spiritual conflict symbolized by Satan being loosed out of his prison.
With Judaism removed from the path of the church, and the cessation of persecution by the imperial rulers, the way was open for the expansion of Christianity, as foretold by Jesus in Mat 24:31, and envisioned by John in Rev 11:15.
But it was not without opposition–the remaining enemy was heathenism. Satan’s theatre of activity in this struggle was not persecution, but spiritual and doctrinal: And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth–Rev 20:8.
That declaration was in opposition to the angel–messengers of the gospel–of Mat 24:31, gathering his elect “from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
This part of the vision was descriptive of the battle with heathenism, hence the reference to Gog and Magog (a combination of one name), the mythical ruler of heathendom, and which title was so used in similar symbolic reference, by the prophet in Rev. 38:l-23, prophesying the threat of heathenism to Israel from Gog and Magog. As the beast was symbolic of the Roman empire, personified in the persecuting emperors, so was the Gog and Magog personification symbolic of the spiritual forces of heathenism launched against the church in the “battle” of verse eight, in which the heathen forces of Gog and Magog were represented to be in number as the sand of the sea, which symbolized the proportions of the conflict and its challenge to the church; and verse nine stated that they compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The reference to the “beloved city” here could not mean Jerusalem–the apostate harlot Jerusalem was no longer “beloved,” and was no more. This beloved city was the church, the New Jerusalem, which was compassed about with heathenism, in the midst of its idolatries, surrounded by all of its antagonism to the church.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 20:7. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. The meaning of the first clause of this verse cannot be properly discussed until, in some closing remarks on the chapter, we resume consideration of the whole question of what we are to understand by the thousand years. Meanwhile, therefore, it is enough to mark the fact that Satan is represented as loosed out of the prison to which he had been consigned in Rev 20:3, in order that he may practise that work of deception on the nations which had been alluded to in Rev 20:2.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. A prophetical prediction, that when the long time of the church’s liberty and peace shall be expired, which is here expressed and set forth under the notion of a thousand years; God will then take off his restraint from the devil, and he shall influence the wicked world once more to make opposition against his church: When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. Behold here Satan’s restless malice against mankind, and particularly against the church of Christ.
Observe next, That Satan is first said to deceive the nations, and then to gather them together to the battle against the saints: the same saints, either in their persons or in their successors, who did formerly reign, will now suffer But by whom? Gog and Magog; where is probably an allusion to these two names mentioned often in the Old Testament, who were the last enemies of the Jewish church before Christ’s first coming.
In like manner the last enemies of the Christian church are here set forth by that name, who shall be utterly destroyed a little before Christ’s second coming to judgment. Satan with all his united power, and combined force, will attempt the whole body of the Christian church before his last and fatal overthrow.
Observe lastly, That after the destruction of these agents and instruments of Satan’s fury, his own full and final destruction is declared; which may be called his second imprisonment in that lake of fire and brimstone, which is both easeless and endless, there to keep company with the beast and false prophet to all eternity.
Behold here the dceiver and the deceived plagued together; the devil that deceived, and the beast and false prophet that were deceived by him, and were his instruments to deceive others, are cast together into the lake of fire, to be tormented for ever. Satan was indeed condemned to this before, and reserved thereunto, but the actual and final execution thereof is suspended until the end come.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
When the word of God is no longer respected by his people, Satan will be loosed to deceive people again.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 20:7-10. The following verses of this chapter to Rev 20:11 inform us that the happy days of the church, prophesied of in the foregoing vision, will at length have their period, though they are to continue for a long time, and are not to expire till after one thousand years: yet then there shall be one attempt more against the purity of religion, and against the peace and prosperity of the church. Satan will be released for a little season, but in that little season he shall deceive many, and so far seduce them as to prevail upon them to join with him in his apostacy. This new attempt against truth and righteousness shall end in the utter ruin of the enemies of Christ and his religion; they shall be totally defeated, and their obstinate wickedness punished with everlasting destruction. This state of the church and world, so different from the preceding, deserves to be considered as a new period, which will therefore be the fifth in order. Lowman. And when the thousand years are expired, &c. At the expiration of the thousand years the restraint shall be taken off from wickedness; Satan shall be loosed out of his prison And make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in the paradisiacal state, so he shall have the artifice to deceive the nations in this millennium kingdom, to show that no state or condition on earth is exempted or secured from sinning.
The nations whom he shall deceive are described as living in the remotest parts of the world; in the four quarters , in the four angles, or corners, of the earth; and they are distinguished by the name of Gog and Magog, and are said to be as numerous as the sands of the sea. Gog and Magog seem to have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event, but it appears more probable that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take place before, but the other will not take place till after, the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are said expressly (Eze 38:6; Eze 38:15; Eze 39:2) to come from the north quarters and the north parts; but in St. John they came from the four quarters, or corners, of the earth. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, bend their forces against the Jews resettled in their own land; but in St. John they march up against the saints and church of God in general. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian Church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they shall be, we cannot pretend to say with any degree of certainty: but whoever they shall be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city The new Jerusalem, with the saints encamped around it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they shall not succeed in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven: and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished together with the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in before him, and shall be tormented for ever and ever.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 20:7-10. The Release of Satan and the Final Conflict.
Rev 20:8. Gog and Magog: the names are taken from Ezekiel 38 f., where Gog is the name of a prince and Magog the name of his country. The reference is to an attack by hostile nations, but we have no means of further identification.
Rev 20:9. the beloved city: Jerusalem.
Rev 20:10. the final overthrow of Satan is here described.beast and false prophet: Rev 13:11*, Rev 16:13*.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 7
And when the thousand years are expired. The period of the thousand years designated in the Revelation 20:1-3, is the origin of the idea of the millennium,–an idea which, under various modifications has prevailed very extensively in the Christian church. The word millennium means simply a period of one thousand years, as the word century expresses a period of one hundred. Some have supposed that the language here used teaches the resurrection from the dead of individual martyrs of former times, and their reign upon the earth with Christ, who will then return in person to this world again; and that the time when this period shall commence, is to be pretty accurately determined by means of calculations based on the various predictions of this book. Others, on the other hand, going to the opposite extreme, suppose that only some indefinite period of ordinary prosperity is intended,–such, for example, as that which occurred in the time of Constantine, when persecutions ceased, and the civil power of the Roman empire was, for a time, the friend and protector of Christianity; and between these two extremes, there is scarcely any conceivable hypothesis which has not been framed and defended. On sober reflection, however, two points would seem to be clear, in reference to this prediction; first, that it is intended to convey to us the idea that a period of great and long-continued prosperity awaits the cause of Christ, before the great final consummation,–a period during which this world shall be the abode of piety, peace, and happiness; and, secondly, that the language in which the prediction is clothed is such as purposely to withhold from us a knowledge of the time in which God designs that it shall be fulfilled, and of the circumstances which will attend and characterize the fulfilment.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
20:7 {14} And when the {15} thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
(14) The second history, of the latter victory of Christ, as was said in Rev 20:1 . In which are summarily described the work, overthrow, and eternal punishment of Satan.
(15) Of which I spoke. See Geneva “Rev 20:2” Then there will be given to him liberty to rage against the Church, and to molest the saints for the sins of men: to whom the faithful shall have associated themselves more then was fitting, tasting with them of their impurity of doctrine and life.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. The final judgment of Satan 20:7-10
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
At the end of the Millennium God will release Satan from the abyss (cf. 1Pe 3:19). Two reasons are implied in the text: to demonstrate the incorrigibility of Satan, and to demonstrate the depravity of humanity. [Note: See David J. MacLeod, "The Fifth ’Last Thing’: The Release of Satan and Man’s Final Rebellion (Revelation 20:7-10)," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:626 (April-June 2000):204-5.] God may use an angelic agent for this purpose (cf. Rev 20:1-3).