Revelation 20, "Gather All the Nations to Him"

Advent is a season to draw close to the Lord in anticipation of His return to earth. It is a season to rejoice in our Good Shepherd who will gather all His followers to Himself. When He returns, will we be ready? Revelation 20 gives us an opportunity to consider that question. What I hope we can see is that our nearness to Jesus determines our wisdom, security, and reward in the eternal kingdom.

This passage reveals so much about human nature. Imagine a world in which you and everyone else around you were enabled in every way to do the right thing. And there was no incentive to do wrong. Everyone has what they need. There is no shortage and no poverty. There is swift justice done right. There is worldwide peace and prosperity. Satan himself has been bound in an abyss and cannot deceive people. So, the only one to guide us is Jesus and the saints who have learned from Him.

Revelation 20 is the closing scene of the world as we know it and clears the stage for the final act of God’s plan to recreate the world. It begins where chapter 19 left off. Jesus has returned to earth, and He has judged the beast (the antichrist) and the false prophet and thrown them into the lake of fire (hell). So, there is no corrupt government or empire. There is no false religion. The power of the world to tempt us away from God’s will will be gone.

Added to that, the next act of God in Revelation 20 is to delegate an angel to bind and seal satan in the Abyss for 1,000 years.

Revelation 20:2–3 (ESV)

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

I have a much longer explanation of the background available for those interested, but suffice to say for now that as John writes Revelation, his theological framework as a first century Jew includes the idea of a 1,000 year period at the end of time, a millennium in which Messiah will rule with justice from the restored throne of David in Jerusalem and usher in the eternal kingdom with a new heaven and new earth.

There are different views on whether or not this is a literal 1,000 years following the physical return of Christ to earth, or symbolic of a long period of time in which Satan is bound through the salvation of sinners by the gospel ministry of the church under the authority of the ascended Christ. A third view called “post-millennialism” is popular during times of great gospel awakenings and says that the gospel will grow over 1,000 years and conquer the whole earth before Jesus returns to judge the world. I believe you can hold any of these three views and be a Christian, a true follower of Jesus that holds to the authority of the Bible as God’s inspired word. So, we should not argue over this or reject a brother or sister who holds a different view.

Having said that, I believe the first view is the most compelling and best interprets the texts. And I believe it gets to a bigger point.

Consider the forces that tempt us to sin against God and keep us from experiencing His kingdom. John summarizes them in his letter as the world, the flesh, and the devil. These forces wage war against our souls, creating fear, doubt, anxiety, temptations, and cultivate desires that keep us from God. If you had a world no longer governed by the beast and a false prophet, but governed by Jesus in perfect justice that promoted righteousness in the laws of the land, and if Satan was kept locked away and could not tempt or deceive us, the only cause for you to rebel against God then would be your own flesh.

So, in Revelation 20, when Satan is locked away for 1,000 years, and as soon as he is released, he is immediately able to deceive all the nations to gather for battle against Jesus and His saints.

Revelation 20:7 (ESV)

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison

Revelation 20:8 (ESV)

and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.

Revelation 20:9 (ESV)

And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city,

Consider the extent of human depravity. If our sinful nature is not remade, we do not want to be ruled by God and we will even make a mockery of His mercy. After 1,000 years of true justice under the reign of Messiah and the saints as priests co-reigning with Him, no one will have a valid complaint. And yet, they will still find a reason to try to overthrow Him. They will not draw near to Jesus for salvation and peace. They only draw near for war.

In contrast, look at verses 4-6.

Revelation 20:4 (ESV)

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Who are the people who are seated on thrones with authority to judge the nations and reign with Jesus? The context tells us it is the martyrs, those who love not their lives unto death for their testimony to Christ. But it is also anyone who refused to worship the beast. Those who followed Jesus, the Lamb, as their shepherd, who drew near to Him at cost to their own life in this world, they will reign for 1,000 years.

I believe this fulfills the promise Jesus made in chapter 2,

Revelation 2:26–27 (ESV)

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

and

Revelation 3:21 (ESV)

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

So, I believe this is a promise for any believer in Jesus. Think about this for a minute. Are you prepared to sit with Jesus on His throne and judge the nations? Are you ready to rule them with a rod of iron? If I was to hand you the iron rod of justice and give you authority to sit as judge over some nation, what would you need? Wisdom, understanding, knowledge of the law of God, a well developed habit of doing justice, a love of mercy, humility in your walk with God. Where will you get all of this? Nearness to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:30 (ESV)

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,

Draw Near to Jesus for Wisdom

Are you preparing for those thousand years this year? Are you drawing near to Jesus daily? This is the whole plan of God from the beginning. He created you and me to rule over the earth with Him. Our sin ruined all of that. But in Jesus Christ, we can be reconciled to God, and we will be restored to our purpose.

Verse 6 tells us how we will reign with Him.

Revelation 20:6 (ESV)

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

You will rule as a priest. You will cultivate human flourishing through the knowledge of God. This goes all the way back to Exodus 19:6

Exodus 19:6 (ESV)

“‘and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’”

Our calling is to cultivate fruitfulness in our world by making Jesus Christ known. We draw near and we help others draw near. This will be your life for 1,000 years. How are you preparing for those 1,000 years this year?

Next, we see we should

Draw Near to Jesus for Security

After that 1,000 years, what happens? Satan is released for what verse three calls, literally, a “micron” of time. In a quick maneuver, he deceives the nations and gathers Gog and Magog (from the Hebrew prophets, a ruler from the north and the kingdom named after him that try to conquer God’s people but is defeated just before God dwells forever with His people). And in the most anti-climactic events of all human history, when Satan and Gog have surrounded the saints and Jerusalem where Jesus has established His throne,

Revelation 20:9 (ESV)

And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,

Revelation 20:10 (ESV)

and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The battle only takes a moment, and God wins. Grant Osborne says, “This is most likely a reference to the camps of the twelve tribes around the tabernacle during the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 33:7-11; Numbers 2:1-34), and it was in the camps that the Shekinah (the visible manifestation of the glory of God) shone forth (Exodus 14:19-20) and the presence of God was experienced (Deuteronomy 23:14). The image of ‘camp’ could be military (it was used of the Roman ‘camps’) but more likely it is ecclesiological; the saints are the wandering people of God who have found a home and are protected by God even from a vast invading army (cf. Ezekiel 38-39).” He goes on to say, we aren’t meant to take the battle into our own hands, but only to “stay close to the Lord and trust Him.”

As we draw nearer the end of time, the spiritual battle will become more intense. Draw near Jesus for your security. But in the end,

Draw Near to Jesus for Your Reward

After this, the saints will be vindicated and the rebels will be judged. The final judgment will be swift, definitive, and there will be no appeal. The books will have already been written, recording our lives in this world.

Revelation 20:12 (ESV)

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Your own choices determine your fate. For the believer in Jesus, all our sins forgiven and our good works in service to God rewarded. For the unbeliever, judged according to what you have done to invest in your eternal future. But in the end, if your name is not written in the book of life, you will be thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:15 (ESV)

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

In those days, cities and states would keep lists of names of their citizens. It was a point of pride to say, my name is recorded on the roll of some great city. This book of life records the names of those who have been redeemed from this world into God’s kingdom and the new Jerusalem by the blood of Jesus.

Revelation 13:8 (ESV)

and all who dwell on earth will worship [the image of the beast], everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? In the final judgment at the end of time, this is all that will matter.

For believers, the final judgment is not a judgment of punishments. Our sins are forgiven because of Jesus’ death for us on the cross. But our good works are recorded too, and these will reap a reward of blessing and holiness.

Going back to the letters of Jesus to the churches receiving this revelation, we are now beginning to see the rewards He promises to those who remain faithful to Him in a world opposed to God.

Revelation 2:10–11 (ESV)

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

Revelation 3:5 (ESV)

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

All of these are fulfilled in this final scene of the millennium and final judgment.

Imagine what life will be like with no fear of death. For the believer in Jesus, your name has been recorded as a citizen of God’s country, a citizen of the New Jerusalem, you have no fear of the second death, the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14 (ESV)

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

Advent is the season in which we anticipate the return of Jesus drawing near. While that is the end of some things in our world, it is really only the beginning of so much more. In what ways can you use Advent to draw near to Jesus to prepare for everything that comes next. In the end of this world, Jesus will be your wisdom and your security, and in the world to come, He will be your reward.

Advent is also a time to look back to the time Jesus first came to earth from heaven. He is Immanuel, God drawing near us. And in His death for sin, He invites us to draw near to Him for redemption. In His resurrection, He invites us to draw near for our righteousness. In His ascension, He invites us to draw near for our wisdom and sanctification. So, draw near at His table.

Communion