This chapter the most ignored chapter of the book of Revelation because most scholars and preachers refuse to see and tell the world what it says. It also does away with the philosophy of "one big" rapture event and everyone being taken away to a new place because it explains where the world will endure much more suffering after the millennium with the release of Satan.
With the locking away of Satan for 1000 years (the millennium) and then the release of him afterwards, means chapter 20 covers at the very least 1000 years plus all the time before and after. Then when you look at other scriptures, you can see that after the millennium there will be some more very hard times and even a great war and death again to millions of people and what I call a second tribulation period, with the great one occurring now.
Picking up where the last chapter ends, the great battle is over and Satan is captured and placed into the bottomless pit.
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; Rev 20:1 |
Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for 1000 years. For the first time in the history of man, Satan will not be able to influence people. Man will live and learn as it was planned in the beginning. This is also where many scholars have gone wrong in their teachings because they teach we will be in spiritual bodies, but we won't. We will be alive in our bodies we have now, but they will be renewed and able to live and endure a whole lot more, but still a physical body.
But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isa 40:31 |
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. Isa 11:6-9 |
Then Satan will be released afterwards and go out to the nations of the earth to try and gain back what he lost. His spirit and his followers, those who will be resurrected after the millennium, will once again try to create their safe haven with religious beliefs and perhaps even the economy they once had. Satan will no doubt want to re-gain control over the people who once followed him before they repent and become saved through Jesus.
This chapter is also where we learn the people who did not receive the mark of the beast will live with Jesus for the same time period as those who were raised from their graves, and those who were still alive when Jesus called for the rapture.
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. Rev 20:4 |
The next verse explains what I said about followers of Satan being resurrected, something practically every modern scholar leaves out of their sermons, books and movies. I think the reason they do is because they have taught for so long when Jesus comes back all the good people will be taken up in the rapture and the Day of Judgment will happen. where if they taught about living again and the events that happen afterwards they will look like fools by contradicting what they just taught.
But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Rev 20:5 |
The rest of the dead were not chosen for the first of three stages in the salvation process and did not live through the millennium. They will be resurrected and prepared for the "winter" time of events. Most people cannot accept the fact that there will be a long time after the millennium where all of mankind will be raised from the dead and live once again just like now.
And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. Mat 24:20 |
Your flight is your time of salvation. Jesus said this because he wants you to pray that you are among the first who are resurrected to live with him during the millennium. The winter is the time after the millennium where the second flight will take place, or the second rapture stage. The third flight or resurrection stage, comes after the war on the Day of Judgment, which is the Sabbath day.
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. Rev 20:12 |
While this doesn't come right out and say a chance of salvation will be offered, we know it will because this is the Sabbath day of the restoration prophecy that started a long time ago and the absolute last chance people will have to change their minds and follow God. Salvation will be offered to mankind three times, with each one getting worse and worse. That is why Jesus said to pray that your flight would not be in the last two time periods, winter and the Sabbath.
The Sabbath day is the seventh day of God, or 7000 years of our time. One day to God is like a thousand years to us. This time started back when God revealed his plan to make Abraham the father of billions, somewhere around 1800-2000 BC.
And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. Gen 17:2 |
The prophecy to make great nations among us started then and the ones that followed all said the same thing in general, that God would renew himself with mankind through the second chance person Abraham. Then one day in the distant future, Gods son Jesus would rule them all.
The book of Revelation is the last prophecy of all that was given to mankind. Since then, no one has heard from God and no new prophesies have come around. Revelation tells us that time will continue after the millennium, so in order to figure out how much time will there will be all you have to do is subtract the time since Abraham until now from 7000. which is about 3200 years.
By taking away the time for the millennium, you get around 2200 years of living on this earth after the millennium. Now, as time goes on, that period will shorten. The Sabbath day Jesus spoke of is the Sabbath day of the restoration prophecy and not the Sabbath day since the creation of mankind. The winter and the Sabbath come after the millennium.
If you add the number of years it took to create all of this into that number, you get approx. 14,000 years from the creation to the destruction of the earth, or two weeks of Gods time.
When the 1000 years are done, and after the rest of the dead are resurrected, Satan will be released once again to go out and deceive the world like before. We are not told how long it will be, but I would expect at least another 1000 or more years. He will eventually convince those who follow him that they should go up against the city of Jerusalem where Jesus has set up the new kingdom.
Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 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. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Rev 20:7-9 |
This will be a war like no other, it will involve what appears to be the entire population of the earth in one way or another, those for Jesus and those against. We are not told if people will die again during this time, but war usually brings death.
Another myth that has been taught is that death will be swallowed up when Jesus returns, this next verse obviously tells a different story and shows that death will not be swallowed up until long after the millennium. That means that the angel of death will remain and cause many people to die as this war takes place and God sends out his revenge one last time.
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. Rev 20:9 |
"Then Death and Hades" were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Rev 20:14 |
Death does not end until long after the millennium. The war that takes place is the war Ezekiel tells us about in much better detail than John tell us in his chapter 38 and 39 in the book of Ezekiel.
After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. Ez 38:38 |
Many preachers have taught for years this war takes place just before Jesus returns and call it the battle of Armageddon. That is not so, and it is not a nuclear war either.
The latter days are after the millennium, not before. The people who are brought back from the sword are those who have been resurrected and living once again. People will no longer learn war during the millennium. There will be no need of prisons or fenced houses or building to keep the bad guys out. Ezekiel explains this will happen in the latter years, and not before.
Therefore, Ezekiel is talking about the same thing Rev 20:9 is talking about. The difference is that Ezekiel goes into more detail, while John is shown us the timing of when it will take place. Satan will gather his people for one last fight before he is thrown into the lake of fire. It is God who will then destroy anyone who comes up against Israel and he will do so while they stand on their feet.
And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. Zec 14:12 |
That scripture is also another way to tell what the resurrection really is, they were killed while they stood on their feet in a physical and flesh body.
Again, many people have been teaching that we will have spiritual bodies after the resurrection, and that isn't so. We will be resurrected back into a flesh body just like we have now. That's what the resurrection is, otherwise, if we die and have a spiritual body, then why would there be a need to have a resurrection? Just like Jesus and the 144,000 who came up out of their graves, we too will have our graves opened and our bodies removed from them.
Getting back to the war, after this massive war where millions of people will die while they still stand, comes the last resurrection back to life.
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. Rev 20:12 |
In order for the dead to stand before God, they must be resurrected, otherwise, they cannot stand before God. The dead are the ones who God has rejected for his kingdom. God and Jesus consider anyone who is not worthy of them to be dead.
But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead. Mat 8:22 |
We don't know what the first book is that will be opened, but the second one will be the book of life. Apparently, if your name is listed in it then you will live on forever, if not, you fall among those who will be tormented for eternity.
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. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Rev 20:13-15 |
The sea is the population at large. It makes up kingdoms and nations and tribes of every kind. It will give up its dead when another resurrection happens. This will likely be before all the people stand before God in order to receive their destination decision.
No doubt everyone wants to live forever, and it seems such an easy task to acquire. Call on Jesus for salvation, let him rule you, and wah la, eternal life. If only it was that easy, because even Jesus said not everyone who calls on him will be saved.
Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Mat 7:21 |
We appear to live life in a huge game of chance, which seems to be not whether we trust God, but rather whether or not he trusts us, and not whether we love him, but whether he loves us. We can choose God, but that doesn't mean he has chosen us.