And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
20. was taken ] Scarcely a strong enough word “was seized” or “overpowered.”
the false prophet ] So called in Rev 16:13: see Rev 13:11 sqq.
miracles ] Should be “the signs” those described in Rev 13:13 sqq.
were cast alive &c.] In Dan 7:11 the Beast is slain and his body burnt. Perhaps the one indicates the fate of the empire, the other of its personal ruler.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the beast was taken – That is, was taken alive, to be thrown into the lake of fire. The hosts were slain Rev 19:21, but the leaders were made prisoners of war. The general idea is, that these armies were overcome, and that the Messiah was victorious; but there is a propriety in the representation here that the leaders – the authors of the war should be taken captive, and reserved for severer punishment than death on the battlefield would be – for they had stirred up their hosts, and summoned these armies to make rebellion against the Messiah. The beast here, as all along, refers to the papal power; and the idea is that of its complete and utter overthrow, as if the leader of an army were taken captive and tormented in burning flames, and all his followers were cut down on the field of battle.
And with him the false prophet – As they had been practically associated together, there was a propriety that they should share the same fate. In regard to the false prophet, and the nature of this alliance, see the notes on Rev 16:13.
That wrought miracles before him – That is, the false prophet had been united with the beast in deceiving the nations of the earth. See the notes on Rev 16:14.
With which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast – notes on Rev 13:16-18. By these arts they had been deceived – that is, they had been led into the alliance, and had been sustained in their opposition to the truth. The whole representation is that of an alliance to prevent the spread of the true religion, as if the papacy and Mohammedanism were combined, and the one was sustained by the pretended miracles of the other. There would be a practical array against the reign of the Son of God, as if these great powers should act in concert, and as if the special claims which each set up in behalf of its own divine origin became a claim which went to support the whole combined organization.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire – The beast and the false prophet. That is, the overthrow will be as signal, and the destruction as complete, as if the leaders of the combined hosts should be taken alive, and thrown into a pit or lake that burns with an intense heat. There is no necessity for supposing that this is to be literally inflicted – for the whole scene is symbolical – meaning that the destruction of these powers would be as complete as if they were thrown into such a burning lake. Compare the notes on Rev 14:10-11.
Burning with brimstone – Sulphur – the usual expression to denote intense heat, and especially as referring to the punishment of the wicked. See the notes on Rev 14:10.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. And the beast was taken, and-the false prophet] See Clarke on Re 17:8, c.
That worshipped his image.] The beast has been represented as the Latin empire the image of the beast, the popes of Rome; and the false prophet, the papal clergy.
Were cast alive into a lake of fire] Were discomfited when alive-in the zenith of their power, and destroyed with an utter destruction.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The issue of this great battle will be the total ruin of all enemies of the church, their bodies being made meat for the fowls of the heaven, their souls cast into the bottomless pit of hell. The secular part of antichrist is here meant by
the beast; the ecclesiastical antichrist, by
the false prophet, that had cheated credulous princes and credulous people, with his pretended miracles, into an idolatry, that was but the image of the old idolatry of the heathens, in worshipping demons, and the images of such as were in great estimation amongst them while they were alive.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone; both these, the laic and secular popish party, and all their church party, that should be left to this day, shall all now be destroyed. In a matter of fact, not likely to appear in the world yet of two hundred years or more, and thus darkly foretold, who can be positive and particular? But this seemeth the sense of it, upon the former hypotheses: That the beast with the seven heads and ten horns, mentioned Rev 13:1, and the beast with two horns, also there mentioned, Rev 13:11, are antichrist, beginning with those Roman emperors that favoured the idolatry introduced by the bishops of Rome, and ending in ending in the universal bishop, or popes of Rome, and their clergy, who quickly wormed out the emperors power, and for one thousand two hundred and sixty years reigned, setting up idolatry and superstition, and corrupting the doctrine of faith, and for the six hundred years of time, persecuting the true church of Christ more notoriously. After which God will begin to reckon with him, gradually pouring out five vials upon him. I am very inclinable to think, that we in this age are yet under the pouring out of the second of these vials, seeing little yet effected towards the ruin of the papacy, more than the exposing of their idolatries and cheats to several princes and states, and to the generality of thinking people; nor hath the providence of God proceeded far in that as yet. The three other vials are yet to be poured out upon the papacy, besides that upon Euphrates, and then this last upon all the enemies of the church together: and who shall live when God shall do these things?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. and with him the false prophetAreads, “and those with him.” B reads, “and he who waswith him, the false prophet.”
miraclesGreek,“the miracles” (literally, “signs”)recorded already (Re 13:14) aswrought by the second beast before (literally, ‘in sight of’)the first beast. Hence it follows the second beast isidentical with the false prophet. Many expositors representthe first beast to be the secular, the second beast to be theecclesiastical power of Rome; and account for the change of title forthe latter from the “other beast” to the “falseprophet,” is because by the judgment on the harlot, theecclesiastical power will then retain nothing of its former charactersave the power to deceive. I think it not unlikely that the falseprophet will be the successor of the spiritual pretensions of thepapacy; while the beast in its last form as the fully revealedAntichrist will be the secular representative and embodiment of thefourth world kingdom, Rome, in its last form of intensifiedopposition to God. Compare with this prophecy, Eze 38:1-39;Dan 2:34; Dan 2:35;Dan 2:44; Dan 11:44;Dan 11:45; Dan 12:1;Joe 3:9-17; Zec 12:1-14.Daniel (Da 7:8) makes no mentionof the second beast, or false prophet, but mentions that “thelittle horn” has “the eyes of a man,” that is, cunningand intellectual culture; this is not a feature of the first beast inthe thirteenth chapter, but is expressed by the Apocalyptic “falseprophet,” the embodiment of man’s unsanctified knowledge, andthe subtlety of the old serpent. The first beast is a politicalpower; the second is a spiritual powerthe power of ideas. But bothare beasts, the worldly Antichristian wisdom serving theworldly Antichristian power. The dragon is both lion and serpent. Asthe first law in God’s moral government is that “judgment shouldbegin at the house of God,” and be executed on the harlot, thefaithless Church, by the world power with which she had committedspiritual adultery, so it is a second law that the world power, afterhaving served as God’s instrument of punishment, is itself punished.As the harlot is judged by the beast and the ten kings, so these aredestroyed by the Lord Himself coming in person. So Zep1:1-18 compared with Zep2:1-15. And Jeremiah, after denouncing Jerusalem’s judgment byBabylon, ends with denouncing Babylon’s own doom. Between thejudgment on the harlot and the Lord’s destruction of the beast, willintervene that season in which earthly-mindedness will reach itsculmination, and Antichristianity triumph for its short three and ahalf days during which the two witnesses lie dead. Then shall theChurch be ripe for her glorification, the Antichristian world fordestruction. The world at the highest development of its material andspiritual power is but a decorated carcass round which the eaglesgather. It is characteristic that Antichrist and his kings, in theirblindness, imagine that they can wage war against the King of heavenwith earthly hosts; herein is shown the extreme folly of Babylonianconfusion. The Lord’s mere appearance, without any actual encounter,shows Antichrist his nothingness; compare the effect of Jesus’appearance even in His humiliation, Joh18:6 [AUBERLEN].
had receivedrather asGreek, “received,” once for all.
them; thatworshippedliterally, “them worshipping” not an actonce for all done, as the “received” implies, butthose in the habit of “worshipping.”
These both were cast . . .into a lakeGreek, “. . . the lake of fire,”Gehenna. Satan is subsequently cast into it, at the close of theoutbreak which succeeds the millennium (Re20:10). Then Death and Hell, as well those not found at thegeneral judgment “written in the book of life”; thisconstitutes “the second death.”
alivea living death;not mere annihilation. “Their worm dieth not, their fire is notquenched.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the beast was taken,…. At the first onset, as soon as ever the battle begun, and carried away captive, as it was threatened he should, Re 13:10 and this by Christ, who will destroy him with the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming, 2Th 2:8.
And with him the false prophet; that is, the second beast in
Re 13:11 as appears by the characters by which he is here described, or antichrist in his ecclesiastic capacity; that is, the pope with his clergy: and indeed, when the antichristian princes and states are taken and destroyed, which are the support of the Papacy, that must in consequence sink, be crushed and ruined; the Alexandrian copy reads, “and they that are with him, the false prophet Jezebel”; the false prophetess and her children, who will now be killed with death, Re 2:20
that wrought miracles before him: the beast, or the civil antichristian powers, even signs and lying wonders, which were approved of, and applauded by him, by which, believing them, he was confirmed in antichristian principles:
with which he deceived them that had the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image; the several subjects of the antichristian states; see Re 13:14 but none of God’s elect, who cannot be seduced by such means, Mt 24:24.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone; which is the second death, Re 21:8. The severe punishment of antichrist, considered in both his capacities, civil and ecclesiastic, is expressed by being “cast into a lake of fire”, not material fire, but the wrath of God, which will be poured out like fire, and will be intolerable; and by this lake “burning with brimstone”, which, giving a nauseous stench, aggravates the punishment. Says R. Joden t, when a man smells the smell of brimstone, why does his breath draw back at it (or catch)? because he knows he shall be judged with it in the world to come. The allusion seems to be to the place where Sodom and Gomorrah stood, which is become a sulphurous lake, and is an emblem of the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 1:7 and these two are said to be “cast alive” into it, which shows that they will not only suffer a corporeal death at this battle, and in the issue of it, but will be destroyed, body and soul, in hell: the phrase denotes the awfulness, inevitableness, and severity of their punishment; there seems to be some reference to the earth’s swallowing up Korah and his company alive, Nu 16:33 see Da 7:11.
t Bereshit Rabba, sect. 51. fol. 45. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Was taken (). First aorist (prophetic) passive indicative of the Doric (Attic ). Cf. 2Th 2:8.
The false prophet ( ). Possibly the second beast of Rev 13:11-17; Rev 16:13; Rev 20:10. Charles takes him to be “the priesthood of the Imperial cult, which practised all kinds of magic and imposture to beguile men to worship the Beast.”
That wrought the signs in his sight ( ). As in 13:14.
Wherewith ( ). “In which” signs.
He deceived (). First aorist active indicative of . He was only able to deceive “them that had received” ( , articular second aorist active participle of , “those receiving”) “the mark of the beast” (Rev 13:16; Rev 14:9; Rev 16:2; Rev 20:4) “and them that worshipped his image” ( ) as in 13:15.
They twain ( ). “The two.”
Were cast (). First aorist passive Indicative of . They fall together as they fought together. “The day that sees the end of a false statecraft will see also that of a false priestcraft” (Swete).
Alive (). Present active participle of , predicative nominative, “living.”
Into the lake of fire ( ). Genitive describes this (lake, cf. Lu 5:1) as it does in Mt 5:22. See also Rev 20:10; Rev 21:8. It is a different figure from the “abyss” in Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1. This is the final abode of Satan, the beast, the false prophet, and wicked men.
That burneth with brimstone ( ). Note the genitive here in place of the accusative , perhaps because of the intervening genitive (neuter, not feminine). The agreement is regular in 21:8. For (with brimstone) see Rev 14:10; Rev 20:10; Rev 21:8. The fact of hell is clearly taught here, but the imagery is not to be taken literally any more than that of heaven in chapters Rev 19:4; Rev 19:5; Rev 19:21; Rev 19:22 is to be so understood. Both fall short of the reality.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Was taken [] . See on Act 3:7.
Mark. See on ch. Rev 13:16.
Lake [] . See on Luk 5:1.
Brimstone. See on ch. Rev 14:10.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
TWO DOOMS (2, 3) of Beast and False Prophet
1) “And the beast was taken,” (kai epiasthe to therion) “And the beast was seized,” suddenly, shockingly, taken. He is the “Little Horn,” Dan 7:24-26; “Desolator,” Dan 9:27; the “Abomination of Desolation,” Mat 24:15; “The Man of Sin,” 2Th 2:4-8; the “Antichrist,” Joh 5:43.
2) “And with him the false prophets,” (kai met’autou ho pseudoprophetees) “And with him (in association with him) the false prophet,” was suddenly, shockingly seized by King Jesus and His White Horse Army, Rev 19:11-16; Rev 13:11-17; 1Jn 2:18.
3) “That wrought miracles before him,” (ho poiesas ta semeia enopion autou) “That one (false prophet) that had performed signs (miracles) in his presence; Rev 16:14.
4) “With which he deceived them,” (en tois eplanesen tous) “By which means he deceived (or deluded) them,” hood-winked them; Rev 13:13-14; Rev 16:14; 2Co 11:13-15; Mat 7:22-23.
5) “That had received the mark of the beast,” (labontas to charagma tou theriou) “Who had taken the mark of the beast; Rev 13:16-17; Rev 14:9; 2Th 2:10-12. Denying Christ leads to defying him, Psa 2:1-3.
6) “And them that worshipped his image,” (kai tous proskunountas te eikoni autou) “And those continually worshipping his image, his icon-statue,” Rev 13:12; Rev 13:15. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh at this hour, Psa 2:4; Pro 1:24-28.
7) “These both were cast alive,” (zontes eblethesan hoi duo) “These were both (the beast and the false prophet) cast (down) alive; with conscious memories of torment like the rich man in hell, Luk 16:19-31.
8) “Into a lake burning with fire and brimstone,” (eis ten limnen tou puros tes kaiomenes en theio) “Into the lake of fire burning with brimstone,” Daniel saw this hour, Dan 7:11; Rev 14:10; Rev 21:8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20. Capture of the adverse leaders. The beast and the false prophet The latter the two-horned lamb, and so clearly an ecclesiastical deceiver. In the false prophet the entire pseudo-spiritual body (the image of xiii included) as the corrupt spokesmen of a corrupt Church are individualized as a single person.
Lake brimstone Note on Rev 20:14-15.
Alive Not slain, like the remnant of next verse. As both these personages are allegorical, we may be at a loss, at first, what can be meant by their being cast into Gehenna. But the thought appears to be, that hell is the final receptacle of all that is essentially evil, whether persons, systems, or principles, whether personal or abstract; just as the bottomless pit, (Rev 20:9,) is its source. It is not said (Rev 20:10)
that these two were tormented as the dragon is.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who wrought the signs in his sight, by which he had deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those that worshipped his image. They two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.’
The deceivers are taken and destroyed. No mention is made of a battle (unless it is between two earthly armies) for there is no battle. If anything it is a rout. They are simply taken and can offer no resistance. For their false signs see Rev 16:13-14. But those false signs will be of no use to them now. As we have seen earlier the beast and the false prophet are especially satanically inspired. Indeed the beast came out of the abyss.
They are not ordinary men, for ordinary men are but their tools. In so far as they are ‘men’ at all, for they represent ideas and systems, it is because they have taken possession of human beings. Those human beings will die as do the others, but the evil spirits that possess them face torment day and night for ever and ever (Rev 20:10). What its actual form will take we cannot know, for the ‘fire’ is a spiritual fire for spiritual beings and incomprehensible to human beings. (Fire in Revelation rarely actually means literal fire, but rather spiritual forces of one kind or another). The contrast between their fate and the fate of human beings is stressed. Their beings could not die nor could the birds eat them. In contrast the humans did die and the birds ate them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Ver. 20. And the beast was taken ] Taken suddenly, or as he was fleeing, and so thinking to escape. a Dio maketh mention of a notable thief that did much mischief in Italy (afterwards the pope’s seat) in the days of Severus. This emperor used all the means he could to catch him, but could not do it, Quippe qui visus non videbutur, non inveniebatur inventus, deprehensus non capiebatur, saith the historian. But this subtle beast meeteth with his match and more; for he is caught and cast into the lake, &c. Christ is a conqueror so soon as ever he comes into the field, Venit, vidit, vicit. He came, he saw, he couquered. When the enemies are tumultuating, he comes upon them as out of an engine, and hurls them headlong into hell.
And with him the false prophet ] This is the same with the beast; only the pope is called the beast in respect of his civil power, and the false prophet in respect of his spiritual. See Trapp on “ Rev 13:12 “ I remember, saith Aretius here, that many learned men in the year 1546 interpreted these words of the war that then was, and were confident that the emperor was the beast here mentioned, that should be overcome, and taken in battle by the Protestants; and together with him some false prophet of his (perhaps the pope), but it proved much otherwise, and the event showed that this application of the text was false.
” Fallitur augurio spes bona saepe suo. “
These both were cast alive ] Death shall not end their misery, but they shall suffer most exquisite torments. Potentes potenter torquebuntur.
a
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 19:20 . This marks the culmination of many previous oracles: the messiah meets and defeats (Rev 16:13 f.) the beast ( i.e. , Nero-antichrist, Rev 11:7 , Rev 13:1 f.) and the false prophet ( i.e. , the Imperial priesthood = second beast of Rev 13:11 f.) and their allies ( the kings of the earth, cf. Rev 11:9 ; Rev 11:18 , Rev 14:8 , Rev 16:14 , Rev 17:12 f.), according to a more specific form of the tradition reflected in Rev 14:14-20 . Possibly the ghastly repast of Rev 19:21 is a dramatic foil to that of Rev 19:9 . At any rate there is a slight confusion in the sketch, due to the presence of heterogeneous conceptions; whilst one tradition made messiah at his coming vanquish all the surviving inhabitants of the earth, who were ex hypothesi opponents of God’s people ( cf. Rev 2:26-27 , Rev 11:9 f., Rev 12:9 , Rev 14:14 f., Rev 16:13-16 , Rev 19:17 f.), the prophet at the same time used the special conception of a Nero-antichrist whose allies were mainly Eastern chiefs (Rev 9:14 f., Rev 16:12 , Rev 17:12 f.), and also shared the O.T. belief in a weird independent outburst from the skirts of the earth (Rev 20:8 ). Hence the rout of nations here is only apparently final. See on Rev 20:3 . The lake of fire, a place of torment which burns throughout most of the apocalypses (Sibyll. ii. 196 200, 252 253, 286, etc.; Apoc. Pet. 8), was lit first in Enoch, (sec. cent.) where it is the punishment reserved for Azazel on the day of judgment (Rev 9:6 ) and for the fallen angels (Rev 21:7-10 ) with their paramours. The prophet prefers this to the alternative conception of a river of fire [Slav. En. 10.]. The whole passage reflects traditions such as those preserved ( cf. Gfrrer ii., 232 f.), e.g. , in Targ. Jerus. on Gen 49:11 and Sohar on Lev. Exodus (miracula, uariaque et horrenda bella fient mari terraque circa Jerusalem, cum messias reuelabitur), where the beasts of the field feed for one year, and the birds for seven, upon the carcases of Israel’s foes. The supreme penalty inflicted on the opponents of Zoroastrianism is that their corpses are given over to the corpse-eating bird s, i.e. , ravens (Vend. 3:20, 9:49). cf. I ntrod. 4 b .
The messiah who forms “the central figure of this bloodthirsty scene,” written like the preceding out of the presbyter’s “savage hatred of Rome” (Selwyn, 83) has a semi-political rather than a transcendental role to play. The normal Christian consciousness ( cf. Rev 22:12 ) viewed the return of Jesus as ushering in the final requital of mankind; but in these special oracles ( cf. Rev 17:14 ) where a semi-historical figure is pitted against Christ on earth, the latter is brought down to meet the adversary on his own ground a development of eschatology which is a resumption of primitive messianic categories in Judaism. The messiah here is consequently a grim, silent, implacable conqueror. There is no tenderness in the Apocalypse save for the pious core of the elect people, nothing of that disquiet of heart with which the sensitiveness of later ages viewed the innumerable dead. Here mankind are navely disposed of in huge masses; their antagonism to the messiah and his people is assumed to have exposed them to ruthless and inexorable doom. Nor do the scenic categories of the tradition leave any room for such a feeling as dictated Plutarch’s noble description ( De Sera Uind. 555 E. F.) of the eternal pangs of conscience. Upon the other hand, there is no gloating over the torments of the wicked.
Now that the destructive work of messiah is over, the ground seems clear for his constructive work ( cf. Ps. Sol. 17:26 f.). But the idiosyncracies of John’s outlook involve a departure from the normal tradition of Judaism and early Christianity at this point. Satan, who survives, as he had preceded, the Roman empire, still remains to be dealt with. The third vision of doom, therefore (Rev 20:1-10 ) outlines his final defeat, in two panels: ( a ) one exhibiting a period of enforced restraint, during which (for 2, 3 and 4 7 are synchronous) messiah and the martyrs enjoy a halcyon time of temporal and temporary bliss, ( b ) the other sketching (Rev 19:7-10 ) a desperate but unavailing recrudescence of the devil’s power. The oracle is brief and uncoloured. It rounds off the preceding predictions and at the same time paves the way for the magnificent final of 21 22, on which the writer puts forth all his powers. But it is more than usually enigmatic and allusive. “Dans ces derniers chapitres les tableaux qui passent sous nos yeux n’ont plus la fracheur vivante de ceux qui ont prcd. L’imagination ayant affaire des conceptions absolument idales et sans aucune analogie avec les ralits concrtes de la nature, est naturellement moins sre d’elle-mme, et ne parvient plus aussi facilement satisfaire celle du lecteur” (Reuss). Ingenious attempts have been made ( e.g. , by Vischer, Spitta, and Wellhausen) to disentangle a Jewish source from the passage, but real problem is raised and solved on the soil of the variant traditions which John moulded at this point for his own Christian purposes. In the creation-myth the binding of the chaos-dragon or his allies took place at the beginning of the world’s history (cf. Prayer of Manass. 2 4). As the dragon came to be moralised into the power of spiritual evil, this temporary restraint ( cf. on Rev 19:2 ) was transferred to the beginning of the end, by a modification of the primitive view which probably goes back to Iranian theology ( cf. Stave, 175 f., Baljon, Vlter, 120 f., Briggs, etc.). The conception of messiah’s reign as preliminary and limited on earth was not unknown to Judaism ( Encycl. Relig. and Ethics , i. 203 f.) or even to primitive Christianity ( cf. 1Co 15:21-28 , where Paul develops it differently). But the identification of it with the sabbath of the celestial week (which was originally non-messianic, cf. Slav. En. xxxii. 33.) and the association of it with the martyrs are peculiar to John’s outlook. A further idiosyncracy is the connection between the Gog and Magog attack and the final manuvre of Satan. The psychological clue to these conceptions probably lies in the prophet’s desire to provide a special compensation for the martyrs, prior to the general bliss of the saints. This may have determined his adoption or adaptation of the chiliastic tradition, which also conserved the archaic hope of an earthly reign for the saints without interfering with the more spiritual and transcendent outlook of Rev 20:11 f. His procedure further enabled him to preserve the primitive idea of messiah’s reign [4] as distinct from that of God, by dividing the final act of the drama into two scenes (4 f., 11 f.). With the realistic episode of 1 3, angels pass off the stage (except the angel of Rev 21:9 f. and the angelus interpres of xxii. 6 10), in accordance with the Jewish feeling that they were inferior to the glorified saints to whom alone ( cf. Heb 2:4 ) the next world belonged. There is no evidence to support the conjecture (Cheyne, Bible Problems , 233) that in Rev 19:1 represents “an already corrupt text of an older Hebrew Apocalypse, in which mal’k was written instead of mik’l ” ( cf. above on Rev 12:7 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
taken = arrested. In Act 12:4 and 2Co 11:32, “apprehend”. See the use of the verb in Joh 7:30; Joh 10:39.
false prophet. See Rev 16:13 with Rev 20:10.
Wrought = did. Greek. poieo. Same as “make”, Rev 19:19.
miracles = the signs. App-176.
deceived. App-128.
worshipped. App-137.
cast, &c. Compare Dan 7:11.
a = the.
brimstone. Greek. theion. See Rev 9:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 19:20. [213] ) The beast was taken: but the angel , laid hold of the dragon, ch. Rev 20:2. The beast and the false prophet even then shall be reduced to extremities; the dragon shall have strength, but shall be restrained.-, alive) This destruction is much more dreadful than the death itself of the body. Comp. respecting the Son of Perdition, 2Th 2:8; also Dan 7:11; Dan 7:26, and Isa 11:4, where , LXX., , the Chaldee paraphrast has , the impious Roman.- , the lake of fire) The word gehennah [hell] does not occur in the Apocalypse.
[213] 17. , Come hither) The victory cannot but follow. Beforehand the flesh of the enemy is already given to be torn in pieces by birds.-V. g.
19. , with) The enemies will undoubtedly attempt to attack the saints on the earth. But Christ the Lord, with His heavenly band, will engage with them.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Beast
The Beast, Summary: This “Beast” is the “little horn” of Dan 7:24-26 and “desolator” of Dan 9:27 the “abomination of desolation” of Mat 24:15 the “man of sin” of 2Th 2:4-8 earth’s last and most awful tyrant, Satan’s fell instrument of wrath and hatred against God and the Jewish saints. He is, perhaps, identical with the rider on the white horse of Rev 6:2 who begins by the peaceful conquest of three of the ten kingdoms into which the former Roman empire will then be divided, but who soon establishes the ecclesiastical and governmental tyranny described in Daniel 7, 9, 11; Revelation 13. To him Satan gives the power which he offered to Christ.; Mat 4:8; Mat 4:9; Rev 13:4. See “The great tribulation,” Psa 2:5.
(See Scofield “Rev 7:14”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the beast: Rev 19:19, Rev 13:1-8, Rev 13:18, Rev 17:3-8, Rev 17:12, Dan 2:40-45, Dan 7:7, Dan 7:12-14, Dan 7:19-21, Dan 7:23
the false: Rev 13:11-17, Rev 16:13, Rev 16:14, Rev 20:10, Rev 22:15, Dan 7:8-11, Dan 7:24-26, Dan 8:24, Dan 8:26, 2Th 2:8-11
These: Rev 20:10, Rev 20:14, Dan 7:11, Dan 11:45
burning: Rev 14:10, Rev 21:8, Gen 19:24, Deu 29:23, Job 18:15, Psa 11:6, Isa 30:33, Isa 34:9, Eze 38:22
Reciprocal: Exo 7:11 – wise men Lev 19:28 – print Num 31:8 – Balaam Deu 13:5 – prophet Deu 18:20 – in the name Jos 8:23 – General Jos 13:22 – Balaam Jdg 9:56 – God rendered 1Ki 13:18 – But 1Ki 18:19 – the prophets of Baal 1Ki 18:40 – slew them there 1Ki 22:6 – Go up 1Ki 22:25 – Behold 2Ki 10:11 – his priests 2Ch 18:5 – Go up 2Ch 18:11 – all the prophets Neh 6:14 – on the prophetess Psa 18:37 – General Psa 48:4 – General Pro 19:9 – and Isa 1:31 – and they Isa 9:15 – the prophet Isa 14:15 – thou Isa 26:11 – fire Isa 30:22 – defile Isa 50:11 – ye shall Isa 51:13 – where is Jer 14:15 – Sword and famine shall not Jer 23:14 – walk Jer 23:32 – to err Jer 27:15 – ye Jer 29:8 – Let Jer 50:36 – upon the liars Eze 13:4 – like Eze 13:9 – mine Eze 24:5 – the choice Dan 3:7 – all the people Dan 8:23 – and understanding Joe 3:11 – Assemble Mic 5:12 – General Hab 2:18 – a teacher Zep 3:4 – light Zec 12:6 – they Zec 13:2 – cause Mal 2:12 – the master and the scholar Mat 7:15 – false Mat 13:39 – enemy Mat 13:42 – cast Mat 15:14 – And if Mat 18:7 – but Mat 24:11 – General Mat 24:24 – and shall Luk 8:31 – the deep Luk 16:24 – for Act 13:6 – a false Rom 8:39 – depth 2Co 2:17 – which 2Co 11:13 – false Gal 1:7 – pervert Eph 4:14 – by the Eph 6:11 – the wiles Phi 3:19 – end 2Th 2:2 – by spirit 2Th 2:9 – is 1Ti 4:1 – seducing Jam 3:6 – a world Rev 9:17 – brimstone Rev 11:7 – the beast Rev 11:18 – the nations Rev 12:9 – deceiveth Rev 13:2 – gave Rev 13:13 – he doeth Rev 13:14 – deceiveth Rev 13:15 – cause Rev 13:16 – a mark Rev 20:5 – the rest Rev 20:15 – was cast Rev 22:18 – God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 19:20. The lake of fire for the present is the destruction of Babylon, but in the day of judgment it will be the lake of fire that is unquenchable. The false prophet and miracles are explained at various passages preceding this.
Rev 19:21. The remnant means the straggling individuals who were left as “die-hards” after the beast of Babylon as a unit had been given a death blow by the Reformation.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verses 20-21.
The apocalypse of these last verses of chapter nineteen follows the same pattern in visions of the defeat of the hosts opposing Christ. The second Psalm decreed that thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, and the apocalypse declared that they were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. One of these passages cannot be considered more or less literal than the other–both were figurative expressions which signified the utter end of the persecuting authorities of heathenism against Christianity. The phrase cast alive into a lake of fire was equivalent to burned alive, and it symbolized complete destruction.
The signal triumph of the cause of truth represented by the burning alive of the beast and the false prophet did not symbolize the destruction of the Roman Empire, but of the persecutions waged by the emperors, which the beasts represented. The lake of fire was not literal any more than the beast was literal. Neither was subject to literal application–both were figurative. The beast symbolized the persecuting power of the Roman emperor; and casting him into a lake of fire signified the complete defeat of the heathen powers he represented in the war against the church; and it was accomplished by the sword that proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus Christ, the Rider of the white horse. The sword was not a literal steel blade; it was the Word of God, the weapon by which the church won the victories over heathenism and idolatry; and which is even yet the only righteous weapon in the warfare of the truth against error.
The last passage of this chapter verse twenty-one, was the brief vision of the defeat of the remnant which had been slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse. This remnant symbolized the enemies of Christ other than the persecuting beasts. It represented all forms of error and evil and doctrines of antichrist that stood in the way of the church. They were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse; and the text identified the sword by the modifying phrase: which sword proceeded out of his mouth –the Word of God. By his word all forms of heathenism were exposed and the enemies of his cause, in the battle imagery, were slain, or defeated. They were figuratively slain, by a figurative sword: which sword proceeded out of his mouth–that is, by the teaching of the truth and the spread of the gospel.
To complete the visional and metaphorical picture, chapter nineteen ends with verse twenty-one in the final statement: And all the fowls were filled with their flesh. As the birds devour the carrion, the truth consumes every form of error inimical to the cause of Jesus Christ.
The Lord foretold that this result would follow the destruction of Jerusalem in Mat 24:31 : “And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” The equivalent declaration of the apocalypse is in Rev 11:15 : “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Another parallel to this Revelation passage is the reference of Paul in Eph 5:5 to the inheritance in “the kingdom of Christ and of God.” The kingdom is everlasting; the inheritance is eternal; and therefore the reign is forever and ever.
These parallels between the Lord’s account of these events in advance of their occurrences, and the visions of John in anticipation of the same series of events, have formulated accumulative evidence throughout the book, that the apocalypses of Revelation were but the extension of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew–the Lord’s own forecast of the events preceding and subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 19:20. The description given in this verse can leave no doubt that we have here the two enemies of chap. 13, the beast and the lamb-like beast with the two horns.The lake of fire is again mentioned in chaps. Rev 20:10; Rev 20:14, and Rev 21:8.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 19:20-21. And The issue was such as might be expected: Christ and his saints obtained a full and entire victory; a victory as complete as when the generals and all the chief officers of an enemys army are made prisoners of war, and the rest are cut to pieces in the field of battle. For the beast The idolatrous persecuting power represented thereby; and the false prophet, that wrought miracles before him That, by pretended miracles and false doctrine, had supported the apostacy; that is, the antichristian tyranny, and the corrupt clergy, were taken, were made prisoners, and condemned to suffer the most exemplary punishment by the hands of justice. These both were cast alive Without undergoing bodily death; into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone And that, it seems, before the devil himself, chap. Rev 20:10. Here is the last of the beast and of the false prophet. After several repeated strokes of divine vengeance, they are represented as delivered to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. They are plunged at once into the extremest degree of torment, without being reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day. Surely none but the beast and false prophet of Rome, the persecutors and deceivers of that antichristian kingdom, could have hardened themselves thus against the God they pretended to adore; or refused to have repented under such dreadful and repeated visitations. And the remnant Those of inferior rank and power, who had aided and abetted the apostacy, and concurred in opposing the truth and religion of Christ; were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which proceeded out of his mouth That is, with the word of Christ, like the common soldiers of a conquered army, who fall in the field of battle, and are left there unburied, a prey to the fowls of the air, which feed on them, and are filled with their flesh Their substance being seized for other persons, and other uses. A most magnificent description this of the final overthrow of the beast and false prophet, and all their adherents. It has, in particular, one exquisite beauty, that, after exhibiting the two opposite armies, and all the apparatus for a battle, (Rev 19:11-19,) then follows immediately (Rev 19:20) the account of the victory, without one word of an engagement or fighting. Here is the most exact propriety; for what struggle can there be between Omnipotence and the power of all the creation united against it? Every description must have fallen short of this admirable silence. The intelligent reader will easily observe, that the description is not only incomparably sublime, but strongly figurative; and that, speaking in plain language, its design is to show, in the most expressive manner, the complete downfall of Popery, with all its delusive and destructive abominations, and the triumphs of the pure and genuine religion of Jesus; the true word of God will in the end prevail over every species of superstition and idolatry: all the powers of antichrist shall be completely subdued: and the religion of Rome, as well as Rome itself, be totally destroyed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:20 And the beast {21} was taken, and with him {22} the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
(21) Namely, that beast with seven heads; Rev 13:1; Rev 17:3 .
(22) That is, that beast with two heads; Rev 13:11; Rev 16:14 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord Jesus Christ will then cast the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire alive (cf. Num 16:30; Psa 55:15; 2Th 2:8). The description of the false prophet vindicates his punishment. They will still be there 1,000 years later (Rev 20:10). Thus consignment to the lake of fire does not mean annihilation. The wicked who have died throughout history are not yet in the lake of fire (cf. Mat 5:22; Mat 10:28; Mat 25:41; Mar 9:43; Jas 3:6). They are in Hades (or "the grave;" cf. Mat 16:18; Luk 16:23; Act 2:27), the temporary abode of dead unbelievers before their resurrection. The Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, was a foreview of this lake (cf. 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 23:10; Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:6; Mat 5:22; Mar 9:43). Neither is the lake of fire "the abyss," which is a temporary place of confinement for angels (Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1). At the end of the Millennium, Christ will cast all unbelievers into the lake of fire (Rev 20:14-15). God originally prepared the lake of fire for Satan and his angels (Mat 25:41).
"Because no one has yet experienced the lake of fire, it is difficult to portray in human language the awful nature of that punishment. The figure of a burning lake is God’s chosen imagery for visualizing eternity separated from Him. One should remember that figures of speech are always less than the reality, not more!" [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 398.]
Brimstone is a sulphurous material that, united with fire, represents indescribable torment (cf. Gen 19:24-25; Eze 38:22).
"The fact that in the gospels hell is pictured not only as a place of fire but also as a place of darkness (Mat 8:12; Mat 22:13; Mat 25:30) suggests that both descriptions use metaphorical language drawn from contemporary Judaism to describe final and irremedial [sic] judgment." [Note: Ladd, p. 258.]