Revelation 20

A Thousand Years (More or Less)

Revelation 20 – A Thousand Years (More or Less)

We have this chapter and two more before we reach the end of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. I think that I may dance when we are finished. From chapter 16 until chapter 20 where we are today we have been observing the judgment of God. In chapter 16 we see the seven bowls of God’s wrath being poured out on the people of the earth. In chapter 17-18 we see the destruction of the world system, Babylon, that opposed God and persecuted the people of God. In chapter 19 we saw the Avenger of God’s people called Faithful and True, The Word of God, The King of kings and Lord of lords who has a name that no one can fully comprehend ride in on a white horse followed by the armies of heaven, angels and those redeemed by the Lamb. He snatches up the Beast and the False prophet and throws them alive into hell. Then with the Word of God using the word of God slays all those who were seeking to battle Him and an angel called the birds to eat their corpses. That was the supper of the Great God. The Avenger of God’s people has done His work of vengeance. You would think that after all of that judgment we would have come to the end of judgment. But there is still more to come. We will see the end of God’s judgment, the end is in sight but the beginning is just around the corner. Let’s pray.

Since we will be looking at the entire chapter we will just read a section at a time. Revelation 20:1-3 1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

No great angel was necessary. Other places in the Revelation there were mighty angels that did the work of God but this was just an angel. Showing to me that the dragon, the serpent from the garden, the Devil, Satan is not a worthy adversary to the Avenger of God’s people. There is not even a battle. He is simply grasped by the angel, chained up and locked away, sealed in the bottomless pit. That is the easy part of this passage, but what about the 1000 years? I honestly wish I could just float over that and dismiss it but…When someone asks you how you understand the Revelation of Jesus Christ what they really want to know is; what do you believe about the millennial reign. The 1000 years is mentioned 6 times in this chapter of Revelation. However it is not even hinted at anywhere else in all of Scripture. Those who take the 1000 years literal say; but it’s mentioned 6 times and those who do not take it literal say it’s not mentioned anywhere else. 1000 years is spoken of in three other places in Scripture; Psalm 90:4 along with Peter referencing that verse in 2 Peter 3:8 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night.[1]… 8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [2] Then there is Ecclesiastes 6:6 6 even if he (a man) lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?[3] Clearly these verses containing 1000 years are using the length of time as symbolic. Then there is Psalm 50:10talking about cattle on 1000 hills. 10For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.[4] If we take this literally then the cattle on hill number 1001 and beyond belongs to someone besides God. Clearly in the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and 1 Peter 1000 means symbolically the sum of all or a whole lot. So let me tell you where I am on the Millennial, 1000 years. I believe that there will be a time of Christ reigning on the earth, perhaps 1000 year and perhaps not. But in the end He reigns. The fact that Christ reigns is the important part.

But I don’t want us to miss a principle that we see here. If you were to go back to chapter 12 where the Dragon is introduced you find that he is constantly persecuting the church. In Revelation 13:7 the Beast that had been empowered by the Dragon made war on the saints. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.[5] Beginning at chapter 12 we see the power of the Dragon going after the church who is suffering. But here in chapter 20 we see the power being in the church, the redeemed of God who rode on white horses behind the Avenger of the Saints and we see the Dragon as powerless against the King of kings and Lord of lords. Like I said earlier there was no battle he was simply bound and locked awy by an angel.

We don’t want to miss that but we don’t want to miss this either; whenever time is mentioned in the Revelation, up to this point, it has been a short time. The book started with the statement that “these things will shortly come to pass.” And in the next to the last verse of the book it says “Surely I am coming quickly”. There has been ½ hour and hour, 5 months, 42 months has been the longest time mentioned up to chapter 20 and now we have Christ reigning for 1000 years, a long time. We can see from this that regardless of how we may want to look at things the suffering of this world and our time in it including all the time of the church on earth is short but the reign of Christ is long. How encouraging would that have been for the first century church, the second century, the 21stcentury church that has suffered at the hand of the Dragon, the serpent of old, Satan, the Devil. He is bound in the pit so that he can no longer deceive the nations. But he will be released for a little while. The Greek word used for “a little while” is “micron”, which is a very small portion. There is that limitation of the Dragon again. He has shown his power but all along he has been limited by our most merciful God who is sovereign over all of His creation and the Dragon, well he is a part of that creation.

So, Babylon the world culture that sought to drag man away from worshiping the true God has been destroyed. The Beast and his false Prophet has been thrown into hell and those who followed him into battle have been killed by the Word of God and eaten by the birds. And now the Dragon, the instigator of the war against God and the people of God has been thrown into prison. Let’s move on, Revelation 20:4-6 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for 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. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

At this point I feel I need to do a little “splanin” about millennialism. There are three major views concerning the 1000 year reign of Christ. Historically the church has held the post millennial view meaning that Christ would return to earth after there had been a reign of the church for 1000 years. Another perspective on the millennial reign is called pre-millennialism. In that perspective Christ will return and set up his kingdom on earth for a thousand years or for a long time. In the 20thcentury a brand new teaching came about that had little historical precedence in the church and even less biblical standing called dispensational pre-millennialism meaning that Christ would return and secretly take His church out of the world then there would be a time of tribulation then the 1000 year reign. This is the view of most of the American church today even though there is no historical precedence for it. Then there is the Amillennialism which says that the millennial reign is the time between Christ ascension and His return. Satan is bound and unable to deceive the nations the way he could before because of the Gospel being preached. Those explanations are very loose but it would take a month of sermons to really define each one of the views along with their good and bad points. If you want to know where I stand, I hold a pre-millennial view but not a dispensational pre-millennial view.

That is all you are going to get from me on that. So let’s look at the Scriptures and see what we can know. In verse 4 it is clear that “they” will sit in judgment. But who is the “they”? It is the martyrs, those who had not worshiped the image of the beast, and those who had not received his mark. They lived (were resurrected) and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. That is the first resurrection spoken of in verse 5. Just for the record I believe this includes all believers from the time of Christ’s ascension. This is what was described in the “grain harvest” of Revelation 14:14-16 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. And those who have been resurrected need not fear the second death. We will talk about that in a moment. But the unrepentant, unredeemed of the earth that had died would not be raised up from the dead until the reign of Christ and His saints is finished.

But who will be reigned over? At this point we can only guess. But it is possibly unredeemed who have not died, who were not killed by the Word of God using the word of God that we saw in chapter 19. Perhaps not all of those who worshiped the Beast took part in the attack on the people of God and He did not avenge His people on them. You have to consider also, with the lengthy reign of Christ and His redeemed on the earth, that there would be children born who were not born redeemed. That is my best guess, you are free to make your own at this point.

The Dragon is bound in the sealed abyss bound in chains so he cannot deceive the lost of the world. Christ is reigning with a rod of iron along with His redeemed. But remember the Dragon must be released for a little while. Let’s read Revelation 20:7-10 7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Here we go again with another battle that never takes place. Satan, the Dragon is released from his prison and goes out to deceive the nations, those who are not the redeemed of God. It does not tell us how he deceives them but I doubt that his tactics have changed. “God has been ruling over you with a rod of iron. He doesn’t want you to enjoy everything, or anything. Follow me and I make you like God. You can be as powerful as He is.” That is the old lie from the garden and the one that people are deceived with today. Satan riles up the enemies of God represented by Gog and Magog. This is a direct reference to Ezekiel 38-39 where the enemies of God’s people attack them and are destroyed. Many have tried to designate Gog and Magog as Russia, Germany, Turkey and so forth but I believe it is much better just to say that Gog and Magog are the enemies of God and His people. They are numbered as the sands of the sea but remember so are the people of God. Remember the promise God made to Abraham, that his offspring would be numbered as sands of the sea or the stars of the sky. But it is of no importance how many come against God’s people because they are going to have to do battle with God and you cannot do battle against God; you can try but God wins, every time for all time. Fire fell from heaven and devoured those who followed Satan.

But the question that comes to me is; “Why did the Dragon have to be released for a short time?” The simple answer is; “Because God said so”. And that is true. But is that all there is to it? I think we could easily say that he was released to show that mankind is, in its natural state, looking to be deceived by Satan. By nature we want to hear the lie, we want to believe that we are like God. Mankind is, outside of the grace of God, ruined and ready to rebel against God and Satan, the great deceiver, is more than ready to do his part. But look at his outcome. He is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone along with the Beast and the false prophet. And they are tormented day and night forever and ever.

Babylon the harlot, the world system that was intent on leading God’s creatures, mankind, away from God is destroyed. The Beast and the false prophet who deceived people into worshiping the Beast have been cast into hell and right beside them is the instigator of rebellion, Satan himself. All of these main characters have been judged in their rebellion against God. There is only one judgment left. Let’s read Revelation 20:11-15 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.[6] These last 5 verses is the culmination of all of the judgments of God. If we had the time we would read this side by side with Matthew 25:32-46 which depicts when the Son of Man comes in all of His glory and separate the “sheep” from the “goats”. Go back and read that along with Revelation 20:11-15, it is compelling evidence that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen in the end. In the Revelation Jesus has been revealed as the Lamb slain, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Avenger of His people, and now He is shown as almighty God seated on the throne of judgment. There is nothing that reveals Him more as God than the fact that the earth and heaven fled away from Him. This the removing of the universe making way for a new heaven and a new earth which we will see in the first verse of chapter 21. Even though it is not stated that this is a resurrection we can see that those who were not the redeemed of God are alive and standing before Christ receiving their judgment. In my mind’s eye what I envision is a stack of books, possibly a stack for each person. And in those books are all the acts of that person. The good and the bad, everything is recorded. In my thoughts each book is read concerning the works, and there is no grand scaled to weigh the good and bad. On the other side of the One who sat on the throne is a lone book. It makes no difference what is in the other books if that person’s name is not found in the Book of Life as having been written there before the foundation of the world they are judged guilty of rebellion against God and are cast into the lake of fire along with Satan, the Beast and the false prophet who deceived them. They will not be a part of the new heaven and new earth, they will not see the New Jerusalem come down out of heaven as a bride arrayed for her Groom. They will only experience the torment of hell. This is what John called the second death. According to Hebrews it is appointed once for man to die and after that the judgment. Everyone dies once. But the redeemed of God, those whose names are written in the Book of Life only die once. Those judged by their own works die a second time and are cast into hell. Born once die twice. Born twice die once.

In verse 14 it states clearly that Death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire as well. Have you ever wondered why that is the case? Why would death and the place of the dead be destroyed? There is no more need of them. The wages of sin is death and all sin has now been dealt with. For those who are the redeemed sin was punished on the cross with our Lord Jesus bearing the penalty. The sin of all those whose names are not written in the Book of Life are being paid for and that will last for eternity. No more need for death or a place to store the souls of the dead. All have been resurrected as Jesus said in John 5:28-29 28Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. In 1 Corinthians 15:26 Paul calls death our final enemy and for the saints of God it has been conquered and destroyed; no second death.

So what have we seen from this portion of Scripture? Satan is indeed mighty but he is and always has been limited by God’s grace and mercy. He is no match for the Avenger of God’s people. The Dragon, Satan, tormented God’s people but the Avenger of God’s people makes them more than conquerors. The dragon’s reign on the earth is short in relationship to Christ’s reign. All of the dead in Christ, the martyrs and all who would not worship the Beast will reign with Christ in His kingdom. Christ will reign with a rod of iron while Satan is bound in the abyss. But Satan is released and is able to foment rebellion one last time demonstrating that mankind is corrupted and desires to be deceived by Satan. Finally those who war against Christ, those whose names are not written in the Book of Life are cast into hell along with the Beast, the False Prophet and Satan. Judgment is finished and it is final. Death and the grave are cast into the lake of fire, hell, and the final enemy is destroyed.

For the redeemed of our time this is great news but for the lost it should be taken as a warning. I listened to a scholar this week talking about this chapter of Revelation. I didn’t agree with much he said but there was one thing that stuck with me. He told the story of a Scottish missionary to Kenya back in the late 19thearly 20th century. She was asked how she endured the rigors of missionary work. She simply said “I am never in a hurry because Jesus was never in a hurry. He knew He always had just the right amount of time to get His work done. I know that I have the time to get the work He has given me done.” At first I had to think about that statement because people are dying and going to hell we have to hurry. But then I realized that the time is set so we need not hurry but that is not to say that the task ahead is not urgent. The message of the cross and the judgment of God is an urgent message. We must not be slothful in proclaiming that message and the lost must not delay in receiving it. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 90:4). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [2] The New King James Version. (1982). (2 Pe 3:8). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ec 6:6). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [4] The New King James Version. (1982). (Ps 50:10). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [5] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 13:7). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [6] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 20:1–15). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.