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Revelation

Revelationchapter 20

15 verses · BSBRevelation book hub →

Speaks with:Revelation 20×4Daniel 7×3Ezekiel 38×3Revelation 1×2Matthew 25×2Revelation 21×2

Summary

Chapter summary

The thousand years, which the house reads plainly as a real, coming reign of Christ upon the earth. An angel with the key of the abyss and a great chain lays hold on the dragon, 'the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan,' binds him a thousand years and seals the abyss over him, 'that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished.' Then thrones, and the souls of them beheaded for the testimony of Jesus: 'and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.' 'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no power' (20:6). Afterward Satan is loosed, Gog and Magog come up out of Ezekiel 38-39, and fire devours them. Then the great white throne, and the books opened.

Context

Apocalyptic · John — Revelation overview

  • A. 1–6 A Chain, a Pit, and a Thousand Years
  • B. 7–10 Loosed for a Season: Fire Ends the Last Siege
  • C. 11–15 The Great White Throne and the Books Opened

The outline

  1. A.A Chain, a Pit, and a Thousand Yearsvv. 1 to 6

    Read vv. 1 to 6 →

  2. B.Loosed for a Season: Fire Ends the Last Siegevv. 7 to 10

    Read vv. 7 to 10 →

  3. C.The Great White Throne and the Books Openedvv. 11 to 15

    Read vv. 11 to 15 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

To him that overcometh

Pattern

Each of the seven letters ends with a promise to him that overcometh, and the book keeps every one. The tree of life, the escape from the second death, the book of life, the new Jerusalem, and the throne all return, granted in the closing chapters.

The promises of chapters 2 and 3 are a ledger the end of the book settles line by line. A reader who traces them sees that the letters to the churches and the visions of the end are one book, with one author keeping his word.

  1. Revelation 2:7

    The tree of life promised

    To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life.

  2. Revelation 2:11

    Not hurt of the second death

  3. Revelation 3:5

    The name kept in the book of life

    I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.

  4. Revelation 3:12

    The new Jerusalem written on him

    The name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem.

  5. Revelation 3:21

    A seat in the throne

    To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.

  6. Revelation 20:4 you are here

    The thrones filled

    I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

  7. Revelation 20:6 you are here

    The second death powerless

    On such the second death hath no power.

  8. Revelation 20:12 you are here

    The book of life opened

  9. Revelation 21:2

    The new Jerusalem comes down

    The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.

  10. Revelation 22:2

    The tree of life yields her fruit

    The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The world behind this chapter

Revelation 20
When
The thousand years and the last judgment · c. AD 95 on the majority view
Where
The abyss sealed shut, thrones set, and a great white throne
Who first heard it
Believers who wanted to know what happened to the accuser and to their own dead

The history

An angel comes down with a key and a great chain, seizes the dragon, throws him into the abyss, shuts it, and seals it. Sealing a door with clay and a stamp was ordinary practice on a tomb, a storehouse, or a jar — the seal did not add strength, it added authority. Breaking it was a crime against whoever's mark was on it.

Those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and had not worshiped the beast come to life and reign with Christ a thousand years. Beheading was the Roman execution used for citizens, so the detail names a specific and familiar death.

Expectation of a coming age of righteousness on earth was already part of Jewish hope, and the earliest Christian writers we have — Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — plainly expected a literal reign. Others in the church came to read the thousand years differently. That range of readings is ancient, not modern.

After the thousand years Satan is released, deceives the nations one last time, and is finished. The names Gog and Magog come from Ezekiel.

Then the great white throne. Books are opened and another book, the book of life. Cities in the Greek world kept citizen registers, and having your name struck from the roll was civic death — so a book of life was not an abstract idea to these readers. The dead are judged out of the books, according to their works.

What it meant to them

The chapter gave the persecuted a specific reversal: the ones executed by the empire are the ones seated on thrones, and the one who drove the persecution ends in the lake of fire.

It also answered the injustice question at the root. Everything gets read out. Nothing that was done in the dark to a believer in Pergamum or Thyatira went unrecorded, and no one gets past the throne on reputation.

Sources cited

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on Revelation 20. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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