Revelation — Chapter 20

Authorship & Background

Deep Dive

Setting: Chapter 19 ended with Christ riding out of heaven, the beast and the false prophet thrown alive into the lake of fire, and their armies destroyed by the sword of his mouth. One enemy is left: the dragon who stood behind them both (12:9; 13:2). Chapter 20 deals with him, and then with death itself. It is the only passage in the Bible that speaks of a "thousand years," and the phrase comes six times in vv2–7. The Latin word for a thousand years, millennium, has given its name to one of the longest-running debates in Christian teaching.

Faithful Christians read the thousand years in three main ways, and these cut across the four reading approaches from chapter 1:

• Premillennial: Christ returns before the millennium (19:11–21), binds Satan, raises the faithful and reigns on earth for a thousand years, literal or long. Most of the early church fathers before about AD 400 held a form of this, and so do Guzik and JFB. Dispensational premillennialists add a rapture before a seven-year tribulation and a special role for national Israel. Historic premillennialists do not.
• Amillennial: the thousand years is a symbol for the whole church age between Christ's first and second comings. Satan was bound at the cross, believers who die reign with Christ in heaven now, and chapter 20 goes back to the beginning to show the same age from a new angle. Augustine taught this, and so did most of the Reformers and many Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox Christians since.
• Postmillennial: the gospel will spread until most of the world is Christian, a long golden age before Christ returns at its end. This was common among Puritans and nineteenth-century evangelicals. Henry leans this way, expecting a thousand years of flourishing faith after the antichristian powers fall.

All three agree on the main things: Satan is defeated and limited by God, faithful believers reign with Christ, Christ will return, the dead will be raised and judged, and death itself will be destroyed.

The Thousand Years (vv1–6)

• "An angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain" (v1). In 9:1 a fallen star was given this key and let the locusts out. Now an angel holds it to lock the pit. JFB says the key is "now transferred from Satan's hands." Guzik notices the angel is not named, not Michael and not Christ. Satan, for all his power, is overcome by an ordinary angel sent by God.
• "The dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan" (v2). The full list of his names from 12:9 is repeated, as if to leave no doubt who is meant. "Ancient serpent" goes back to Eden (Gen 3:1). "Devil" (diabolos) means slanderer, and "Satan" is Hebrew for accuser.
• "Bound him for a thousand years" (v2). A thousand is ten times ten times ten. In Revelation numbers usually carry meaning, so many take it as a long, complete period. JFB reads it as perfection while allowing "it may denote literally also a thousand years." Readers also differ on the binding: - Premillennialists see a complete removal of Satan from the earth after Christ's return. Guzik says a partial limit does not take the text seriously: he is shut in, locked and sealed. - Amillennialists see Christ's victory at the cross. Jesus spoke of binding "the strong man" (Matt 12:29), saw Satan "fall like lightning" (Luke 10:18), and said "now will the ruler of this world be cast out" (John 12:31). Satan still prowls (1 Pet 5:8) but cannot stop the gospel going to the nations.
• "So that he might not deceive the nations any longer" (v3). The binding has one stated purpose. Deceit is the devil's main work (12:9; John 8:44), and the beast and false prophet were his tools for it (13:14; 19:20). Amillennialists point out that before Christ the nations were largely in the dark (Acts 14:16; 17:30), and now the gospel goes to all of them. Premillennialists answer that the nations still seem very deceived.
• "He must be released for a little while" (v3). "Must" (dei) is the word for what God has planned (1:1; 4:1). Even Satan's release is part of God's purpose.
• "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed" (v4). This echoes Daniel 7:9, 22, where thrones were set and "judgment was given for the saints of the Most High." Jesus promised the Twelve would sit on thrones (Matt 19:28), and Paul says "the saints will judge the world" (1 Cor 6:2). The faithful who conquer share Christ's throne (3:21). Guzik leans toward the saints in general.
• "The souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus" (v4). "Beheaded" (pelekizō) means "cut off with an axe." The axe was the traditional Roman method of execution, and beheading was the usual death for Roman citizens. Guzik takes it more broadly as "executed," but the lexicon gives "to behead," as JFB has it: "smitten with an axe." These are the souls John saw under the altar crying "How long?" (6:9–11). They are joined by "those who had not worshiped the beast or its image," which may be a second group or a fuller description of the same people. Either way, those who lost everything for Christ are the ones who reign.
• "They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years" (v4). "Came to life" is ezēsan, from zaō, "to live." This is the center of the debate. The lexicon gives the word's range from physical life and coming back to life (Rev 1:18; 2:8, of Jesus' resurrection) to spiritual life (John 5:25). - Premillennialists take it as bodily resurrection. JFB argues the first resurrection must be bodily, since the second clearly is. The nineteenth-century scholar Henry Alford famously argued that if one "came to life" in this verse is spiritual and the other in v5 is bodily, language loses all meaning. - Amillennialists take it as the life believers enter at death, when their souls go to reign with Christ in heaven (Phil 1:23). Others see it as new birth (Eph 2:5–6). They note John sees "souls," not bodies.
• "The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended" (v5). Premillennialists see two bodily resurrections a thousand years apart, the just and then the unjust (John 5:29; Acts 24:15). Amillennialists see the spiritual and the bodily, or the life of believers now and the general resurrection at the end.
• "This is the first resurrection" (v5). Guzik quotes the view that it is "not an event but an order of resurrection," with Christ the firstfruits and his people following (1 Cor 15:23). Henry: "with which none but those who serve Christ, and suffer for him, shall be favoured."
• "Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!" (v6). This is the fifth of the book's seven blessings. "Over such the second death has no power." The second death is defined in v14 as the lake of fire. Jesus promised Smyrna, a church facing death, that "the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death" (2:11). The faithful may die once. They will never die twice.
• "They will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him" (v6). This fulfills 1:6 and 5:10. Notice "God and of Christ" side by side, the Son sharing the Father's honor. Israel was called to be "a kingdom of priests" (Exod 19:6), and that calling is now complete.
• Commentators: Guzik and JFB are both premillennial, but they arrive at it by different paths. Guzik expects a literal thousand years on earth after a future tribulation and argues that the early church broadly agreed until Augustine. He describes the amillennial and postmillennial views fairly but rejects them. JFB treats the number as symbolic of perfection, perhaps literal too, and insists the first resurrection is bodily. Henry expects a thousand years of the gospel flourishing after the antichristian powers are destroyed, so his view leans postmillennial. On the binding he writes that "Christ shuts by his power, and seals by his authority." The Tyndale notes keep a middle path, linking the binding to Christ's victory over Satan in the Gospels and noting the comfort for persecuted believers. Guzik's "executed" for pelekizō is wider than the lexicon, which gives "beheaded."

The Defeat of Satan (vv7–10)

• "Satan will be released from his prison" (v7). Why would God let him out? Guzik suggests it proves that the human heart remains rebellious even under perfect rule, without Satan, poverty or injustice to blame. The Tyndale notes make the same point: even people who have known Christ's good rule follow Satan when he is free. Amillennialists see the release as the brief, intense time of deception before Christ returns, the same as the "little while" of the beast (11:7; 13:5; 2 Thess 2:3–12).
• "The nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog" (v8). In Ezekiel 38–39, Gog is a ruler "of the land of Magog," coming from "the uttermost parts of the north" to attack Israel after it is restored, and he is destroyed by God with fire and the birds are called to the feast (Ezek 39:17–20, already used in Rev 19:17). Here the two names become a code for all the world's rebellious nations. JFB calls Magog "a general name for northern nations of Japheth's posterity" (Gen 10:2). Guzik sees Ezekiel's battle as a separate, earlier event and takes John to borrow the names. Many others see Revelation 19:17–21 and 20:7–10 as both drawing on Ezekiel 38–39 to describe one final battle. "Their number is like the sand of the sea" echoes the armies of Joshua 11:4.
• "Surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city" (v9). "Camp" recalls Israel in the wilderness, God's people still on the move. The "beloved city" (Ps 78:68; 87:2) is Jerusalem. JFB and Guzik take it as the literal city, the center of Christ's earthly reign. Amillennialists take it as the people of God, pictured as a city, as in 21:2.
• "Fire came down from heaven and consumed them" (v9). Once more there is no battle (16:16; 19:19–21). The fire recalls Sodom (Gen 19:24), Elijah (2 Kgs 1:10–12), and the end of Gog (Ezek 38:22; 39:6). Henry: "God will fight this last and decisive battle for his people."
• "The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were" (v10). The evil trinity of chapters 12–13 is now together in judgment. The beast and false prophet were there before (19:20), and Guzik argues that their being there still, a thousand years later, rules out the idea that the wicked are simply annihilated. "Tormented day and night forever and ever" is in Greek "to the ages of the ages," the strongest phrase the language has for "forever," the same one used of God's own life (4:9–10). Jesus said this fire was "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt 25:41). Readers differ on how far this applies to human beings. Most Christians through history have held to conscious, endless punishment. A minority, including some evangelicals, hold that the lost are finally destroyed. Both views take Scripture's warnings with full seriousness.
• Commentators: All three see the final defeat of Satan, and none of them sees any real battle. JFB reads the camp as encircling "the beloved city, Jerusalem," and "day and night" as "without intermission." Guzik explains the release as proof that sin lies in the human heart, not only in its surroundings, and separates this Gog and Magog from Ezekiel's. Henry stresses God fighting for his people. The Tyndale notes say Revelation, more than any book, shows that the unrepentant keep rebelling despite the consequences, and that God's justice treats sin as it deserves.

Judgment Before the Great White Throne (vv11–15)

• "A great white throne and him who was seated on it" (v11). "Great" for its authority, "white" for its purity and justice. JFB sets it against the many thrones of v4: this one stands alone. Who sits on it? In Revelation "him who was seated on the throne" is usually God the Father (4:2; 5:1). JFB says "rather, the Son, to whom 'the Father hath committed all judgment'" (John 5:22, 27; Acts 17:31). Henry also names "the Lord Jesus Christ." In 22:1 the throne belongs to "God and of the Lamb," so both are true.
• "From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them" (v11). The old creation cannot stand before him. Psalm 102:25–26 says the heavens "will perish… they will all wear out like a garment," and 2 Peter 3:10 says they will pass away. This prepares for "a new heaven and a new earth" (21:1). There is nowhere left to hide (6:16).
• "The dead, great and small, standing before the throne" (v12). No rank matters here. Kings and slaves stand side by side.
• "Books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life" (v12). This comes from Daniel 7:10, "the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened." The books are records of what people have done (Ps 56:8; Mal 3:16). The book of life is the register of God's people (Exod 32:32; Dan 12:1; Luke 10:20; Phil 4:3), called "the book of life of the Lamb who was slain" (13:8). Henry adds that "another book shall be opened, the book of the Scriptures, the rule of life," which is his own application.
• "The dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done" (v12). The phrase is repeated in v13 for emphasis. Everyone is judged by works (Rom 2:6; 2 Cor 5:10; Matt 16:27). Yet what decides each person's end is whether their name is in the book of life (v15). JFB puts it well: "We are justified by faith, but judged according to (not by) our works." Works are the evidence of a life, and only the Lamb's book gives life. Readers differ on who stands here: - Many futurists (Guzik) believe only the unbelieving dead stand at this throne, since believers have already been raised and are judged for reward at "the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Cor 5:10; 1 Cor 3:12–15). Guzik adds that the works show degrees of punishment (Matt 11:20–24). - Most other readers see one general judgment of all people, believers included (Matt 25:31–46), at which the names in the book of life are openly acknowledged (3:5).
• "The sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead" (v13). In the ancient world those lost at sea, without burial, were thought to be cut off forever. No one is missing from this judgment. "Hades" is the Greek name for the realm of the dead, like the Hebrew Sheol. Jesus holds its keys (1:18). Guzik sets out how it differs from Gehenna, the place of final punishment, named after the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem.
• "Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire" (v14). Death and Hades rode out as the fourth horseman (6:8). Now they are destroyed. "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (1 Cor 15:26), and "Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor 15:54; Isa 25:8). The promise that follows is that "death shall be no more" (21:4).
• "This is the second death, the lake of fire" (v14). The first death separates body and soul. The second is final separation from God. Henry: "This is the second death; it is the final separation of sinners from God." JFB notes that some later manuscripts lack "the lake of fire" here, but the best ones have it.
• "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (v15). The chapter ends with one condition. The question is not how good a life was, but whether a name is written in the book that belongs to the Lamb. The whole book has drawn the line between those whose names are written (3:5; 21:27) and those who are not (13:8; 17:8).
• Commentators: All three see a real, final judgment of all the dead before Christ. JFB and Henry both name the Son as judge. Guzik and JFB stress that judgment is by works but salvation is by grace, recorded in the book of life. Guzik holds that believers are not judged here but at the judgment seat of Christ. Henry adds that each conscience is a book and Scripture is the standard. The Tyndale notes say the works of both the redeemed and the lost are judged, and that those in the book of life are probably the same as those in the first resurrection.

Pointing to Christ

Whatever readers make of the thousand years, every reading of this chapter centers on Christ: Satan bound by his victory, the martyrs reigning with him, the last rebellion consumed in a moment, and Christ himself on the great white throne. The scene of the books is the most sobering in Scripture, because every life is laid open and no one can stand on their record. The only hope it offers is a name written in another book, "the book of life of the Lamb who was slain." The Judge on the throne is the one who died so that, for those who belong to him, the second death "has no power" and death itself is thrown away for good.

Commentary

• Enduring Word (David Guzik): enduringword.com Guzik covers the millennium debate, Satan's binding and release, and the Great White Throne judgment.
• Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871): blueletterbible.org A critical and explanatory commentary on the whole Bible, more concise than Matthew Henry and closer to the Hebrew and Greek, with attention to historical and geographical detail. Public domain.
• Matthew Henry's Exposition (1710): blueletterbible.org A devotional verse-by-verse commentary in the Puritan tradition, still among the most widely read three centuries on. Public domain.

Videos

Articles

• GotQuestions.org: gotquestions.org On the whole book: an overview of the book of Revelation -- who wrote it, when, why, and how it fits the rest of Scripture.

Links open on the publisher's own site. Nothing here is reproduced on this page.

Reflection

• Secure in the First Resurrection (v.6) — Those who belong to Christ have no power held over them by the second death. Are you living in that security, or still carrying a fear that's already been answered?
• A Defeated Enemy (v.10) — Satan's fate is sealed in eternal torment; he is already a defeated foe operating on borrowed time. Are you giving him more fear or weight than he deserves?
• Every Deed Recorded (v.12) — The dead are judged by what is written in the books, according to what they did. Does knowing that nothing is hidden produce both sobriety and gratitude for what Christ has covered?
• Death Itself Dies (v.14) — Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire, the last enemy finally undone. For those in Christ, does knowing death is temporary change how you face loss now?
• The Only Thing That Matters (v.15) — Final judgment turns on one question: is your name written in the book of life? Not your works, not your religion, not your goodness — is your confidence resting there?