And I saw an angel descending from the heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand.
The beast and the false prophet have met their judgment, but the spirit who drove them is still at large. Revelation 20 opens with an angel coming down from heaven, and it answers one question: what will God do with the source of the world's evil?
The chapter break is not a change of subject. The vision now turns to the power behind those leaders.
We have seen Satan's two chief ministers — the leaders of the armies on earth that opposed the Lamb and His saints — thrown alive into the lake of fire in disgrace, with their armies destroyed after them. So we ask: what about the unseen spiritual being who goaded his agents and their followers and lured them on to destruction? Does he escape? No! Summary judgment overtakes him as it did them. Christ deals with them on earth; God judges the devil from on high.
The angel carries two things, and each has its own job in what follows.
This angel, in the prophetic vision, has the key of the abyss and a great chain hanging on his hand (verse 1). He takes hold of "the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan," the well-known enemy of God and man. Then comes the use of the key and the chain: the key to shut him up, the chain to bind him fast. These are figures, of course, but they are familiar to the simplest mind. However little a person may know about other things, no one need misunderstand what they mean.
That the picture is symbolic does not make it vague.
No doubt the key of the bottomless pit, and the great chain in the angel's hand, and the binding of Satan, and the setting of a seal upon him, are all figures. But what are they figures of? Does being figurative make them meaningless, or their sense vague? They teach one plain thing: God will hold Satan down by force, in his own abyss, for a thousand years.
Where does the angel put Satan, and is it his final punishment?
The "great chain" needed to bind him is in the angel's hand. This is symbolic language again, for no literal chain could bind a spirit being. The "bottomless pit" is not the lake of fire. It is the dungeon that holds him while the millennial age runs its course.
The key also says something about who rules that region.
The figures of the key and chain show that God is supreme even over the satanic region of the abyss. So, working through an angel, He locks Satan up (the key) and binds him fast (the chain) in the abyss for a thousand years. His liberty is cut short and his sphere of operation narrowed.
The One who appeared in glory at the end of the previous chapter does not do this Himself.
Note that the One who sat on the horse does not bind Satan; an angel comes down from heaven instead. This is not Christ's own direct judgment on Satan. It is the divine power, providence and intervention of God that sets Satan aside and stops him from deceiving the Gentiles any further, until he is let loose.
How this angel is described matters, and so does what happens when the thousand years end.
Compare Revelation 20:1, and I think you will see the complete difference in this angel. He comes down from heaven — he has not "fallen." He comes to bind the devil in the prison of the bottomless pit. A thousand years later, after a brief interval of terrible activity, the devil meets his judgment in the lake of fire.
With Satan bound, a new age begins.
Now we have the binding of Satan. Victory is complete! The hidden source of all the evil is bound in the abyss for a thousand years. The blessed Lord takes the kingdom. "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." (Rev. 11:15.) This is the millennium — Christ openly, visibly governing, and Satan bound. These are the two grand features of that blessed period.
Yet removing the tempter does not change the human heart.
While the Lord is there, evil will be held down; no leader will rise to head up man's evil. But the moment Satan is allowed out of his place and uses his power again, we have plain proof that man's heart has not changed.
- Source. Christ judged the beast and false prophet on earth; God judges from heaven the unseen being who drove them. No one escapes.
- Seized. The key shuts him in and the chain binds him fast. Both are figures of one definite thing: restraint by force.
- Shut. The abyss is a dungeon, not the lake of fire. God holds the key to Satan's own region, which proves He is supreme over it.
- Sent. An angel does the work, not the Rider on the white horse — God acting by providence, not by Christ's own hand.
- Shown. Restraint is not conversion. A thousand years without the tempter still ends by exposing the unchanged human heart.
And he laid hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent who is [the] devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Revelation 20 opens with the arrest of the enemy who has troubled the world since Eden, and one angel does it with a key and a chain. The verse piles four names on him and fixes his term, which raises the questions readers still ask: what do the names mean, is the chain real, and has this binding already happened?
Each title in the verse points to a different part of his work, and together they cover his whole record.
He is called the Dragon, because of his terrible power. He is called Satan, because he is man's enemy. He is called Devil, because he is the great accuser. He is called old Serpent, because he had been the seducer from the beginning. His power is very great. So he is called the prince of this world, and Scripture says he goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The names also settle a question: is this a force, or a person?
He is called here the dragon, but also the old serpent. He was the source of all the evil and sorrow at the beginning of man's life on earth (Genesis 3). Every name that Scripture gives him elsewhere is brought together here, so that no one could mistake that he is a real person.
The chain, the key and the seal are pictures. Commentators grant that, then press the next question.
People say that this is figurative language, and we grant at once that it is. No doubt the key of the bottomless pit, the great chain in the angel's hand, the binding of Satan and the seal set on him are all figures. But what are they figures of? Are they words without meaning, just because they are figures? Or must their meaning stay uncertain and vague? They teach us this much: Satan will be restrained by force, in his own abyss, for a thousand years.
Two details need care: the chain, and the place he is sent.
The "great chain" necessary to bind him is in the angel's hand — symbolic language again, for no literal chain could bind a spirit being. The "bottomless pit" is not the lake of fire. It is the dungeon that holds him while the thousand-year age runs its course.
Some read this binding as already in force. The New Testament letters settle it.
It is certain from God's word that Satan is not yet shut up. On the contrary, he goes about now seeking to deceive and to destroy souls... I am not going to discuss whether the thousand years are to be taken literally or symbolically. But beyond a doubt the period has a beginning and an end, and it cannot have begun yet, because Satan is not bound. The New Testament letters assume that Satan still carries on his schemes. He hinders the work of God. He has to be resisted. He goes about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So there must be a vast change when the time comes for his restraint.
Why bind him at this moment? The answer is a matter of rights.
Until now God has left him at large; and such is the power he has gained by his lies over the hearts of men that he is called the prince and the god of this world. But now that the true Prince is come, and God claims His rights as the Creator and Governor of mankind, Satan must be bound. If the true wife is to be acknowledged, the harlot must be judged; if the true Prince is to be acknowledged, the usurper must be put aside.
The key and the chain show who really controls the abyss. This binding is also one stage in a longer story.
The figures of the key and chain surely show that God is supreme even over the satanic region of the abyss... Until the fall (Genesis 3) Satan's place was on high. When sin entered the world, the heavens and earth became the wider field of his work. After his expulsion from the heavenly places, the earth and the abyss are in a way given over to him. Now he is shut up in the abyss, held there during the thousand-year reign. Then for a short time he is once more allowed to work his will on the earth... at last he is cast into the lake of fire for ever and ever.
- Named — dragon for his power, Satan for his enmity to man, Devil for his accusing, old serpent for his seducing from the start. The verse gathers every title Scripture gives him, so no reader can mistake who he is.
- Seized — the key and chain are figures, but figures of something definite. One angel restrains him by force, in his own abyss, for a thousand years.
- Shut — the bottomless pit is a dungeon, not the lake of fire. This is his prison, not yet his final sentence.
- Still loose — the New Testament letters assume an enemy at large today. So this binding is still future, and the thousand years have not begun.
- Set aside — when the true Prince takes His rights, the usurper must go. His ground shrinks from heaven, to earth, to the pit, and at last to the lake of fire.
and cast him into the abyss, and shut [it] and sealed [it] over him, that he should not any more deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be loosed for a little time.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And I saw thrones; and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them; and the souls of those beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus, and on account of the word of God; and those who had not done homage to the beast nor to his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and hand; and they lived and reigned with the Christ a thousand years
Revelation 20 opens with Satan bound, and John's eye then moves up to a row of thrones with people seated on them. Who sits there, what does it mean that judgment was given to them, and how do the beheaded souls come to life?
An earlier vision, given to the prophet Daniel, left something unfinished. John's sight of the thrones fills it in.
Next John sees thrones. "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed." Daniel also saw thrones tied to the judgment of the beast, but his vision says nothing about who sat on them. Here we have the full revelation, and it states several times that Christ and His saints will reign for a thousand years. The new age begins: the personal reign of Christ, when all things are put under His feet and all His redeemed people share in it. Six times this chapter speaks of the thousand years. Because this coming age lasts a thousand years, it has been called by the Latin word "millennium."
The text never names the ones on the thrones. Commentators say the pronoun points to a group already familiar from earlier chapters, and that a narrow reading leaves a huge company of the redeemed with no place in the reign.
The "they" clearly refers to a well-known class. More than once we have already seen the redeemed in Heaven, pictured by the twenty-four elders, taking part in the scenes of chapters 4 to 19. They are all the Old Testament and New Testament believers, raised or changed when the Lord comes into the air (1 Thess. 4:15-17). This is a far larger group than the martyrs, so there is nowhere to place them in the reign except inside the two plural pronouns they and them. It would be very strange for the martyrs to reign while those same saints in Heaven, "made kings and priests to God," were left out.
Judgment changes form at this point in the book. The thrones show what it becomes.
The thrones can now be filled for judgment. Before, judgment came in the way of war; now it is the seat of right... But now there are people sitting on the thrones. Among them are two classes who might have seemed to have no place there — the witnesses killed for their testimony, and those who would neither worship the beast nor acknowledge him. All reigned with Christ a thousand years.
John also sees souls. They form two groups, and their place in the reign answers a cry raised earlier in the book.
Then come the souls of those beheaded because of the witness of Jesus and the word of God. These are the martyrs of Rev. 6:9-11, seen long before under the altar... They had cried to the Sovereign ruler to avenge their blood on their enemies. He told them to wait a little, until others, their fellow-servants and their brothers, were killed as they were. So here we have them all. Another company of faithful men is added: those who suffered when the Beast made his worst and final claims... We can see why these two groups of saints are singled out. They suffered after the rapture to heaven. They did not live for the power and glory of the kingdom. But if they died for Christ, God makes sure they do not lose the first resurrection but share in it.
The term is broader than the English suggests.
In Rev. 20:4, those "beheaded" for the witness of Jesus may be killed in other ways, because the Greek word pelekizo means "to cut with an axe," and has no particular reference to the head.
A single verb decides what happens to the two later groups.
These were not yet raised from the dead. They were still in the condition of separate spirits. And there was a third class — people who had not worshipped the beast, nor accepted his claims in any form or degree... "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." That is, they were reunited to their bodies. That is what coming to life means here.
Not everyone has taken this resurrection literally.
It is remarkable that some have thought the "first resurrection" is only a resurrection of principles. But we read of "souls" that death had separated from their bodies, and then we read of them living again and reigning with Christ a thousand years. There can be no doubt left in the mind that they are persons.
- Thrones filled. Daniel saw thrones set in place but no one seated. John sees them filled, and the thousand-year reign of Christ with His redeemed begins.
- Judgment given. War gives way to settled rule, and those seated on the thrones receive the authority to judge.
- Three companies. The saints already in heaven, the martyrs of Revelation 6, and those who refused the beast's mark all share the same reign.
- Nothing lost. Those killed after the earlier saints were taken up seemed to have missed the kingdom. God raises them so they lose nothing.
- Really raised. Coming to life means souls reunited with their bodies. Commentators call this a resurrection of persons, not of principles.
the rest of the dead did not live till the thousand years had been completed. This [is] the first resurrection.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Blessed and holy he who has part in the first resurrection over these the second death has no power; but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The vision pauses to bless everyone who shares in the first resurrection. Three things follow: no second death, priesthood, and a thousand-year reign with Christ — but who is included, and does this raise real bodies?
The two words are not repetition. One describes the state such people are in, the other describes what they are like.
Everyone who has part in the first resurrection is pronounced "blessed and holy." It is a matter of individual blessedness. The first term describes his happy condition; the second his character. Happiness and holiness are inseparably linked, and must never be separated.
Some read this chapter as a picture of ideas or influences coming back to life rather than people. The verse itself answers that.
Here we have the display of the first resurrection — the main subject. Blessed and holy are they! They shall be priests of God and of Christ; that is their highest place, as seen in this book. And they shall reign with Him a thousand years, for He is a priest on His throne. It would be hard to make priests of principles, though, by a figure, we might say principles reign.
The company is far wider than the martyrs just described in the vision.
The "first resurrection" is a literal resurrection of all the dead in Christ from the foundation of the world. One group, which might seem not to belong to it, is named on its own, because it alone needs this. The first resurrection is "first" only in contrast with the resurrection of the wicked. It has different stages indeed, but only one character.
The stages are spread across time.
The first resurrection does not mean that all who have part in it are raised at the same moment. Christ's resurrection was the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:23). Then follows the resurrection of Old Testament saints, and of those who have fallen asleep during the present period, at the time of the rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Finally, at the appearing of Christ, comes the resurrection of the saints who have died or suffered martyrdom during the period between the rapture and the appearing.
The second death is the exact opposite of the first resurrection. What one group escapes, the other must face.
"Over such the second death has no power." Notice again the force of the Lord's words in the gospel: "they cannot die anymore." Those left to be raised after the thousand years are over must die another and most dreadful death — the second death. By it all those who had no part in the first resurrection are to die. Theirs will be the second death. It means the end of all hope of blessing, while everything else in heaven and earth is blessed. They remain forever under the wrath of God. They are cast into the lake of fire. As for those who have part in the first resurrection, "they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years." And afterwards they will reign in life by Him forever and ever.
Priesthood here has two sides. It means nearness to God, and it carries a royal dignity.
Both the holy and the royal character of priesthood will then be in fullest exercise, without ceasing and without hindrance. As His priests we shall have continual access into God's presence. And with Christ we shall display, in its blessed fullness, the royal excellence of Him whom our souls delight to honour.
That title is not held back until the resurrection. It belongs to believers now.
No doubt their title will be fully owned there. They are to be priests of God and of Christ in the resurrection (Revelation 20:6). But do we not have the very same title now from God? (Revelation 1:6). Why then not believe it?
The thousand years are a reward, and a reward must belong to a person.
The reign of a thousand years is a reward. People sometimes say that it is principles that shall reign, that it is a question of a resurrection of principles. But it is written "they shall reign" (Revelation 5:10; 20:6); and I cannot confuse principles with persons. If we suffer, we shall reign. We are not principles.
- Blessed — the first word describes their happy condition. The second, "holy," describes their character. The two are never separated.
- Persons — those raised are people, not principles or influences. You cannot make principles priests, and principles do not suffer.
- Safe — the second death, the lake of fire, has no claim over them. They cannot die anymore. Those raised later must face it.
- Priests — nearness to God and royal dignity come into full exercise then. But the title belongs to every believer now.
- Reigning — the thousand years reward those who suffered. Afterwards the same people reign in life forever.