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The entire physical universe ceases to exist. All the unrighteous dead are resurrected and join the already resurrected believers.
Both the saints and the wicked stand before God where He reviews the books which contain their deeds. John then mentions another book, the book of life. This book lists all the saved people of God. The only way for a person to be saved is through the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
Every person whose name is not found in the book of life is sent to the lake of fire. Death itself is also thrown into the lake of fire, meaning that no saved person will ever die again. Mark Wilson, in Hebrews to Revelation: The deliverance promised to the righteous dead is everlasting life The victors in Sardis are promised that their names would not be erased from the book of life Rev. The primary act disqualifying the earth dwellers from inclusion in the book of life is worshiping the beast rather than the Lamb cf.
The consequence of omission from the book of life is being thrown into the lake of fire. An angel has earlier warned those who worship the beast that eternal torment with burning sulfur would be their fate That moment has finally arrived. The dead, who are excluded from the first resurrection, are the multitudes spoken of by Daniel who will awaken to shame and eternal contempt Dan. Upon hearing the voice of the Son of Man, those practicing evil will come out of their graves to be condemned to the resurrection of judgment John 5: The second death is the punishment Jesus warned about: Death and Hades are the last to be thrown into the lake of fire.
So history alone cannot solve this problem for us. Therefore, before we look at the passage in Revelation 20, our methodological approach to interpretation must be considered before we approach the text. Dispensationalists argue for the literal interpretation of all prophetic portions of Scripture, which means that all the covenantal promises made to Israel in the OT are to be literally fulfilled in the millennial age.
They see the formation of modern Israel in as fulfilment of this. So it cannot be outright written off as never being a legitimate method of interpretation, though there are definitely inappropriate uses of spiritualization and allegory when the text itself does not call for it. For example, according to classical dispensationalists, promises like Genesis However, this promise of land in Canaan made to Abraham was reinterpreted by Isaiah to mean a new heavens and earth, not just the land of Canaan Isa Furthermore, in Romans 4: If NT authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reinterpreted the promise of land in terms of new heavens and earth, it raises great difficulty for Premil and would mean that Amil may be no less literal in its hermeneutic than the NT authors.
We must first identify the presuppositions held before we come to the biblical text. Historically, Christian theologians wrestled with the biblical text itself, comparing Scripture with Scripture. Another factor in interpretation is the analogia fidei analogy of faith. So, dispensational and some Historic Premil arguments that these prophecies to Israel will yet be fulfilled vanish in Jesus, who has fulfilled them and makes the necessity of a future physical earthly millennial reign obsolete.
One of the biggest factors influencing how one reads and interprets the millennium in Revelation 20 is how one understands the overall structure of the book. For those who hold to a straightforward chronological reading, it is likely that they will conclude with a more Premillennial interpretation.
The amillennial system of interpretation for the book of Revelation is called progressive parallelism. These series of visions function like different camera angles looking at the same period of time and events, but from various vantage points. Perhaps one of the clearest demonstrations of recapitulation is seen by comparing Also, Revelation 13, 16, and 19 depict the same event, and chapters 16 and 19 are about judgment day when Jesus Christ returns in wrath to judge the nations, raise the dead, and make all things new.
To demonstrate the structure of recapitulation, it can be observed that each of the sections, except the first one, ends with an indication that the end-time has come. The first section is in chapters 1—3 with the glorified Christ in the midst of the seven golden lampstands and the letters to the seven churches. The principles, commendations and warnings in the letters have value for the church all throughout time—which provides a clue for the interpretation of the book as a whole.
The second section is chapters 4—7 and contains the vision of the seven seals and references the End Time in 6: The third section is in chapters 8—11 describing the seven trumpets of judgment, and it ends with the reference to final judgment in The fourth section, chapters 12—14, contains the vision of the woman giving birth while the dragon waits to devour the child and a description of the dragon and two beasts.
The fifth section in chapters 15—16 describe the seven bowls of wrath and ends also with a reference to final judgment in The sixth section, chapters 17—19, describes the fall of Babylon and the beasts and ends with a reference to the End Time in The seventh section in chapters 20—22 tells the doom of the dragon, Satan, and final judgment is depicted in Are there six endings? Or is it more reasonable to see it as multiple accounts from different angles of the same time frame? If true, it poses a big problem for the Premil chronological interpretation and is probably one of the strongest arguments for an Amil interpretation.
Revelation 20 is the only text in the Bible which explicitly mentions this thousand-year reign of Christ. Hoekema argues that 1 Corinthians So where is this millennial gap in a plain reading of these texts? Dispensationalists and some premillennialists assert that the number one thousand in Revelation 20 should be interpreted literally. Also considering the structure of recapitulation discussed earlier, this gives a context for interpreting what is happening in this seventh parallel vision.
The book is full of symbolic numbers and it is likely that this number also should be viewed similarly. The number ten signifies completeness and a thousand is ten to the third power. For a thousand is the cube of ten. We will next take a look at the text itself of Revelation 20 and explore an Amil reading. After that he must be released for a little while. One of the main things we see in this passage is the binding of Satan so that he cannot deceive the nations Some object that in Matthew it is in reference to casting out demons.
However, if we follow on in Matthew, this is evidence of the presence of the Kingdom Matt This binding of Satan does not mean that all satanic operations cease during the millennial age, as many opponents of Amil mistakenly assume. Also, Satan no longer has authority over the realm of the dead— since Jesus now holds the keys cf. Satan still rages against the Kingdom in a limited but sinister fashion, however his ultimate power to deceive the nations is bound by the truth of the gospel. He is like a chained savage animal who can still do great damage to anything in his reach.
We can see this quite plainly in Revelation in each of the cycles of recapitulation where there is obviously the presence of demonic forces and evil in what is the current age. However, in Revelation, the area of Satanic power is closely controlled by God. Demons can only come out of the pit when an angel with a key opens it 9: If we look at the sealing of Christians in Revelation 7: In the same way, the sealing of Satan here prevents him from inflicting spiritual harm on the saints.
Where do these people come from? Many premillennarians have purported various answers, however I do not find them satisfactory. This is the gospel dispensation when Satan is bound, and the gospel will go to the ends of the earth until the thousand years are over Acts Thrones, first resurrection and reigning with Christ This is the first resurrection. So, what was described of the thousand years in verses was on earth, and now verses shifts focus to heaven. This is, rather, a figurative way of saying that they reign over a kingdom.
This reigning goes together with judging, as seen when Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew Also, there is a connection earlier in Revelation 3: They are distinguished from these other people who have also died—there are two classes of deceased. The vision here concerns the souls of Christian martyrs specifically—they are the ones who have overcome and now sit on the thrones. Premil contends that the first resurrection is a resurrection to eternal life while the second resurrection will be a resurrection to damnation.
However, even in a Premil interpretation of this passage, nothing is said of the latter group here. Therefore, even according to Premil, this passage speaks about only risen believers reigning with Christ during the millennium which is a very different kind of earthly millennial reign than what most premillennialists teach. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. So, there is a contrast of a spiritual resurrection and a bodily one. He is distinguishing two resurrections of different kinds , not two subsequent resurrections of the same kind.
It is something that passes away and is replaced by something new of a different kind—fallen creation gives way to redeemed heaven and earth. No Millennium-theory can claim Revelation 20 for itself, and that is the only place in the Bible where is spoken of a thousand years! The whole concept of the Millennium is in conflict with the history of revelation and redemption as it is given to us in the Scriptures from beginning to end. How do we as reformed believers read and understand the divine Revelation in this first part of chapter 20? Some hear in this term a boast: All boasting is vanity.
But "reformed" simply means that we read the whole Bible in context, and in doing so we remain in the reformed tradition. Thus we rather stay in the line of Augustine, John Calvin and reformed theologians of the last century, when we see in the binding of the ancient serpent by the angel for a thousand years a summary, in one single picture, of the whole new dispensation. By using the name ancient serpent the Holy Spirit even wants us to remember what happened in Genesis 3!
The number stands for completeness, the gathering of the church; the execution of the divine plan will be completed. And during this dispensation satan is bound. While we see this happening on earth, our attention is called to what is taking place on a higher level, in heaven. There, during the same period of a thousand years, v 4, those who have been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus reigning with Christ and note the and and those who had not worshipped the beast and did not get its mark on their foreheads. First and we have met this already at an earlier stage in Revelation beheaded refers not only to those who were literally, beheaded as for example the apostle Paul.
No, it points to all who became victims of persecution. Then this is already quite a crowd! One has only to think of the tens of thousands who were killed for the testimony of Jesus in the age of the Reformation. And the millions who were slaughtered for the Lamb all over the world, throughout the centuries. And then, in addition, all those who had not worshipped the beast. That means all true believers who, as chapter 14 has it, remained virgins, untouched by the spirit of this age and the devil-worship of the world.
Of all these millions it is said that they came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Just like we learned from chapter 7, vs 14, Those are coming, keep on coming out of the great tribulation, so we must understand the little word and here. It is the universal church as it has been and is being gathered during the full time of the thousand years. Believers, when they die, be it on the scaffold or in bed, surrounded by enemies or by those dear to them, come to life when they pass away. For them death is not a payment for sin, but it puts an end to sin and is an entrance into eternal life.
For them death is the great healing. They are immediately taken up to Christ, our Head, answer This is the first resurrection, v 5. And indeed, blessed is everyone who shares in the first resurrection. We must repeat here the warning, given in chapter 7, that one should never say, or even think, as though only , believers a special group are "sealed", sealed with the Holy Spirit that is.
Would there be one single individual among the innumerable multitude on whom the LORD has not put the mark of His ownership?
Then the same would have to happen, as in the parable of Matthew The wedding hall was filled with guests, but when the king came to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment, and he said to him, "friend, how did you get in here? We stress this point, because now we read, the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended, vs. What does this mean?
It seems as though some read here, that not all believers will share in the first resurrection. That is only for those who were beheaded, they think. But that is unacceptable. It would mean that what we confess in Lord's Day 16, entrance into eternal life, and, Lord's Day 22, immediately would not be true for most of God's children. They as the rest of the dead would not come to life until the thousand years are ended, that is, with the return of Christ. We have come to the conclusion that in Revelation 20 the distinction between those who came to life, and the rest of the dead is nothing else but the distinction between believers and unbelievers.
All believers come to life With Christ. None of the rest of the dead will; they were dead in sin, and they remain dead when they die. Over the former the second death that is eternal death has no power. The latter will suffer second death. This, we realize, has consequences for the understanding of the last part of this chapter.
We save our remarks on this for later. First we must face those who reject our interpretation of the devil being bound for a thousand years. How in the world can you want us to believe that the devil is bound, right now, and even during the whole new dispensation since Christ's ascension till his return? He is not bound; he is as free as can be. The Bible itself tells us so. Be watchful; your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, resist him! Sure, everyone must heed this warning of Peter. But everyone must also give good attention to what the testimony of the Holy Spirit tells us about this binding of the dragon.
This binding has a purpose, even a single purpose, that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were ended. Here, again, we read this in the light of all the Scriptures, which testify about bindings of the devil. Already in the Old Testament when the devil accused Joshua, and in him God's people. He had to keep his mouth shut. Then, when tempting the Lord Jesus, Matth.
Then comes the reaction of the Lord Himself: I saw satan fall like lightning out of heaven. Just remember chapters 5, 7, 12, 13, 14 and you know that the devil does not win on all fronts; he is a loser. However much this roaring lion is running around, God's children may keep on confessing that our only comfort is that we belong, body and soul, to Jesus Christ who has delivered us from all the power of the devil. Whatever the devil is able to do and let us not under-estimate him!
Every farm has such a dog, chained to a pole. The dog runs around in a circle, and if only you stay outside that circle, it cannot reach you or do you any harm. So it is with the dragon. Chained, for the single purpose that he should deceive the nations no more. The seven churches in Asia, for whom Revelation was written in the first place, faced a combination of the Roman empire, and the false church, Jerusalem. You know how Paul was attacked everywhere by the Jews. The whole world seemed to unite against the young church. It looked as though the devil would succeed in deceiving all the nations, and combine them in a single attack on the church so as to destroy it, once for all and once for good.
The comfort of chapter 20 is, that the devil would never be able to do this again, until the end of the age, the day of antichrist. As we read further on in this chapter, the devil will be loosed and come out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth. Yes, indeed, but since the destruction of the Roman empire, the devil has never again succeeded in uniting the whole world against the church. Since Jesus Christ spoke the majestic words of Matthew 28, unto Me has been given all power Because the devil is chained, he has never been able to deceive all the nations to band together and prevent Jesus Christ from gathering His church.
It is tempting to illustrate this. When Pope and emperor had decided to unite, to smash the reformation to smithereens, the LORD in His providence destroyed their plan. The Moors invaded Spain and threatened the whole of Europe. The emperor needed the help of the protestant princes to throw them back. And thus the Reformation went ahead. But the tide turned in Russia. The second front opened in Normandy, and the church survived Hitter! We would say, Come on, believers! Where is your faith in what the Spirit here in Revelation says to the churches?
The second part of Rev. When the thousand years are ended, satan will be loosed from his prison. Then he will be permitted to deceive the nations from the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog. Before you read any farther, please note that, just like in chapter 13 and all over this last book, the devil and his beast are allowed, it is given to them, satan will be.
He doesn't have the power to release himself from prison. The same angel who bound him, will have to unchain him. Without the will of our heavenly Father he cannot so much as move. The same goes for what is called here Gog and Magog. The church must be prepared for a terrible time when all hell breaks loose once more, when the whole world will be united against ft. Then ft is no longer possible to flee from the one country to the other, as christian refugees have always been able to do till now. Not then any more. Gog and Magog; in the literature of those who expect the rapture, the great tribulation and the Millennium, one can find all kinds of scary details about what we must expect from Gog and Magog, whatever these two words stand for.
To begin with, we must read the signs of the times. It is possible that in our days all these things start to happen. One may be thankful that, as they say, the Cold War is over, but that may also mean that the whole world becomes united. We hear a lot about the new world order.
A new age religion is in the making, a religion without God, because man becomes his own god, the master of his destination. From the four corners of the earth, literally! Although John, as the only one among the Bible-writers, uses the name antichrist four times in his letters, in Revelation this name is not used. But the name Gog and Magog may well be his pseudonym. In the millennianist literature of today one may find all kinds of surprising details about God and Magog.
Our God is a devouring fire, Heb. Why should believers, who have been enjoying heavenly glory during the intermediate state, be raised from the dead in order to return to an earth where sin and death still reign? And then, indeed, comes the Millennium. Also Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism , But that is the only throne on earth of which Revelation knows. Not then any more.
Everyone knows by now that we find this name in Ezekiel 38 and 39, although there it is not Gog and Magog , but Gog of Magog. This then means that the name of this super king is Gog and that he comes from the country Magog. But what does this mean?
Revelation 20 - IVP New Testament Commentaries The three terms come from the word millennium, meaning a period of a thousand years understood as a. Now that the beast and the false prophet have been defeated, John sees another vision which starts in chapter John sees an angel bind up.
I have before me a booklet by radio pastor P. It's main message is, and I quote, Russia's place in prophecy is clearly outlined in Ezekiel Here we read that Russia comes down out of the north, and according to these chapters, does her deadliest work by invading the land of Palestine And then he goes on to identify several Russian cities, like Moscow and Tobolsk, in biblical names of Mesheck and Tubal.