Satan’s 1000 year imprisonment
20
📚And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the Abyss 📖 and a great chain in his hand. 2 📚And he seized the dragon 📖, that old serpent, who is the Devil, that is, Satan 📖, and bound him 📖 for a thousand years 📖, 3 📚and threw him into the Abyss and locked him up and put a seal 📖 on him, so that he could no longer deceive the nations until 📖 the thousand years were finished. And after that he must be let loose for a little while 📖.20:1-3 Before this event Christ has dealt with the prostitute, the beast and the false prophet. But before the earth is prepared for His glorious reign one more person must be removed. That is what we have here.⚜
The 1000 year reign of Christ and His people
4 📚And I saw thrones 📖 and those who were sitting on them. Authority to mete out judgment 📖 was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded 📖 for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast 📖 or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands. And they lived again 📖 and reigned with Christ 📖 a thousand years 📖. 5 📚But the rest of the dead 📖 did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
20:5 According to this there are two resurrections.⚜
6 📚Blessed and holy is he who will have a part in the first resurrection. On such people the second death 📖 has no power, but they will be priests 📖 of God and of Christ and will reign with him 📖 a thousand years.
20:6 Blessed and holy surely applies to all true believers in Christ throughout this age – Matt 5:3; Gen 12:1-3; Num 6:22-27; John 17:17; Rom 1:7; Eph 1:4; 2:21; Col 1:2; 3:12; Heb 10:10, 14; 1 Pet 2:9.⚜
Satan’s release, its result
7 📚And when the thousand years have ended, Satan will be let loose 📖 from his prison, 8 📚and will go out to deceive 📖 the nations that are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog 📖, to gather them together for battle. The number of them is like the sand of the sea. 9 📚And they proceeded across earth’s wide expanse 📖 and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city 📖. Then fire came down from God out of heaven 📖 and consumed them. 10 📚And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they 📖 will be tormented day and night forever and ever 📖.
The judgment at the great white throne
11 📚And I saw a great white throne and him who was sitting on it 📖. From his face earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them 📖. 12 📚And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life 📖. And the dead 📖 were judged 📖 by the things written in the books 📖, according to their works. 13 📚And the sea 📖 gave up the dead who were in it, and death 📖 and Hades 📖 gave up the dead who were in them, and each one of them was judged according to his deeds. 14 📚And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death 📖.
20:14 Death will no longer separate souls from bodies but will be merged into the final separation of the wicked from God. Hades will no longer be a place where the wicked are kept until judgment. All the wicked will be judged and Hades merged into hell.⚜
15 📚And whoever was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
20:11-15 The final judgment of people and the end of the heavens and earth as they are now. God’s throne is now a throne of grace – Heb 4:16. Those who reject God’s grace will face His just judgment on all their sins. Does this judgment take place when the 1000 years are over, or before? The wording here does not make this clear. It may be that what is revealed here are the principles of the judgment and not the time of it. All we can say is that from the context it seems likely that it happens after the 1000 years reign of Christ. But this does not necessarily rule out a similar judgment before the 1000 years.⚜
20:15 Those not written in the book of life will not have spiritual life (John 1:12-13; Eph 2:5), and they will practice the sins listed in Rev 21:8. And they will receive exactly what they will deserve. Let us remember again the one way to escape this just judgment and punishment – John 5:24; Rom 8:1.⚜