Revelation 20:1-10
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 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.
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. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 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.
And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 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. 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, 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.
When a non-named angel comes down from heaven with the keys and a chain to bind Satan….hmmmm, makes you wonder, just how powerful is Satan anyway. It’s not the Lamb of God, not Michael, not Gabriel, just an angel. But, then again, is any angel “just an angel”? I think not. God’s army of angels is powerful and given authority when He deems necessary. Keep in mind that Satan (Lucifer) was one of God’s angels, from before Genesis, but was cast down from heaven because he wanted to usurp God’s power and authority. All he had to do was humble himself, and God could have given him great authority, but no. Satan is bound and cast into the bottomless pit, the abyss, for 1,000 years.
The angel will lock the pit and seal it. Satan’s deceptive power on earth is taken away for a time. Some say Satan has already been bound, and we are in the middle of the 1,000 years in the pit. This can make no sense. His evil is very evident today, and his minions, demons, and spirits are working daily in all of our lives. This alone proves that He has not been bound yet.
We must realize that there will be people who make it through the Great Tribulation and still live on earth. They will carry on just as they have, with sinful natures, just as we are today. They will have a righteous leaning, based on decisions to follow Christ, but still living temptation and a sinful nature. Some will also have survived the tribulation, but not have committed to Jesus Christ yet. They may be leaning that way, but still on the fence. There will be a judgment of those who are still alive on earth (Matthew 25:31-34 ~ sheep and goats), and in Revelation 20, we are introduced to the thrones and judgment seats.
Seated upon the thrones are those given the authority to judge the souls of mankind. These could very likely be the saints, referenced in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 from Paul (those who die as believers), or it could be the elders referenced in Revelation 4, but it is unclear in the scriptures. Either way, alongside them are the saints from the Great Tribulation, the martyrs who avoid falling to Satan and the antichrist. Those who were killed for their resistance will now rule and reign alongside Christ on earth, while Satan, antichrist, and the false prophet are absent. The unsaved dead are referred to as the “rest of the dead” and will not come before Jesus and the saints to be judged until after the 1,000 year millennia.
The first resurrection is that of the saints. This is why he says, “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.” These cannot be killed again; there is no power in death for this group. They will be priests of God and reign with Christ for a thousand years. But, as for the unsaved dead, they will experience the second death when they are cast into the lake of fire. Woe to those who denied Christ when given every opportunity to follow Him.
Why was Satan set free after 1,000 years in solitary is a question that has been debated and discussed for centuries. First, let’s imagine a world without Satan, the antichrist, or the false prophet. There will still be sin because of our original sin nature, but it will be significantly diminished. Jesus will reign and rule over the entire globe. No Presidents, no Prime Ministers, no Dictators, no governments, all authority comes from Christ. People living through that period, maybe even those born during the Millennial period, will have a strong firsthand experience of who Jesus truly is. They will have every opportunity to follow Jesus and to give their life to Jesus of their own free will.
What we find out in verse 8 is that there will be those who still rebel against Jesus, even though they have lived with him during that time. Mankind’s sinful nature will still build up a rebellion and depravity that does not want the authority of God for eternity. When Satan is unbound and released back into the world, he immediately brings together an army of millions if not billions, for a final battle against God. Ezekiel 38 talks of Gog and Magog attacking God’s people in the end days. Here again we see a reference to Gog and Magog as joining forces with Satan.
God allows this to happen in order to finally purge and eliminate every hard-hearted person ever to be upon the earth. From Satan down through the least of his minions, they attack the people of God. They encircle the camp of Jesus and the saints from all sides, and it appears as though they could be victorious, but God.
God puts an end to it all. He will rain fire down upon them, such that before the battle even begins, they are consumed and overwhelmed, so none shall escape. Satan is then cast into the lake of fire (hell), along with the antichrist and the false prophet, forever and ever. There they will be tormented forever, because they refused God.
