Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.
Let's first dispense with the idea that the thousand years must be understood as a literal thousand. Jesus told us that no one would know the times or the seasons and, in the expressive language of the time, a thousand years...
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.
Let's first dispense with the idea that the thousand years must be understood as a literal thousand. Jesus told us that no one would know the times or the seasons and, in the expressive language of the time, a thousand years means an immense period of time.
The dividing line of time is shown here because Christ's thousand-year reign on earth is through His Catholic church. Rather than being a future era, soon to come, it is the current era, soon to end.
The Devil was cast into the bottomless pit as Jesus' church grew and subdued the world. When the church age draws to a close, the devil is released, and the antichrist rises to power. This book actually tells us very little about the antichrist other than that.
The Beast is not the antichrist is neither is the harlot that rides upon it. Are they foreshadowings, more or less? yes. However, this book's drama is dealing with the defeat of apostate Jerusalem and pagan Rome of the 1st century and their replacement with a new thing.
4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and 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 a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.
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Jesus reigns through the Priests of the Catholic church for the thousand years.
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That period ends with the defeat of antichrist and the resurrection of the dead, at the last judgement.
We do not see the devil defeated, only to rise up again 1000 years later. When Jesus defeats Him, it's for good.
The puzzling part is about those who came to life to rule with Christ. There were a portion that did at this point and a portion that do not rise until later. What is being signified here? The ones who had been slain for Christ and refused to follow the beast, rose to reign with Him and the rest will rise at the second resurrection at the end of days.
This is the Resurrection of the saints and their participation in the heavenly kingdom. Frankly, you have already seen this multiple times. The 24 elders on thrones are just one example.
This idea of some saints rising at one point and some at another is impossible to square with protestant ideology, but we see it clearly here. Some who have died will reign with Christ, during the thousand years and some will rise at the end of the thousand years.
Over those who rose in this first resurrection, we are told that death has no power.
It's quite simple. They won. They persevered, they remained faithful. They washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb (chapter 7, verse 14). They merited their crowns by atoning for their sin and carrying their crosses.
What happens to the others?
We go to Matthew 25 to find out.
31 “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.
34 Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? 39 And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’
41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ 46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
So it can be said that death has no power over the first group but the second group must still contend and fight.
Yet, some of these, who do not reign during the thousand years, and who do not rise at the first resurrection are nevertheless bound for eternity in heaven. How can we explain this delay?
They are saved by the Lamb, through the types of acts described in Matthew 25 but their entrance to heaven is delayed after death. This can only be explained by purgatory.
There are 3 states of the church and they are all shown here:
The church triumphant describes the Church in heaven. In the kingdom of God — the realm in which the holy Trinity, the angels and saints, and the abode of all those who have reached the fullness of salvation in Christ — the Church already exists. But it will have its fullest being at the end of time, when all of creation and (we hope) all human beings will be conformed to Christ and all reality will be one of divine praise and glory.
The term “church triumphant” underlines the truth that in the glory of heaven all human sin will have been transformed, death and suffering will be no more, and the glory of God will have triumphed over all the imperfections of human history.
The church militant refers to the Church on earth. The term “militant” can suggest an antagonistic relationship between the Church and the world. Nevertheless, it refers to an authentic reality: that the Church on earth works to overcome the imperfect and sinful dimensions of human existence.
The Church’s mission is not to oppose the world and society, but to work for their transformation by the convincing preaching of the Gospel and by the edifying power of the good works and example of those who are baptized into Christ. The Church’s best asset is the saintly activity and example of those who have chosen the Christian way of life.
The church suffering refers to the church in purgatory. Purgatory is not a kind of temporary hell. It is rather the threshold, the antechamber of heaven. In purgatory, all those — whether Christian or not — who have reached the gates of death without reaching the full perfection of life represented in Christ are cleansed in a kind of ongoing baptism and are purified by the enlightening fire of the Holy Spirit. The suffering of purgatory is not one of destruction, but the suffering that comes from leaving the old self behind and taking on the new.
7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be loosed from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, that is, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
These are literally the first verses in the entire book of revelation that signal the events in our future about the coming of the antichrist. We are told that he will deceive all the nations, and his followers will be numbered like the sands of the sea.
We are also told that his end will come suddenly and surely from heaven.
Something that you can easily miss is the meaning of ''the saints and their beloved city''. Many is the meme I have seen that twists scripture to identify this beloved city as Jerusalem.
If that's you, I have to wonder if you have been paying attention at all.
Jerusalem is called Sodom and Egypt in chapter 11. In chapter 17, it is called a harlot. In chapter 18, rather than being called the beloved city of the saints, it is called the city that is drunk with their blood.
In the Gospels, we are not told that the surrounded city of Jerusalem will be saved but that it will be desolated!
Luke 21:20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfil all that is written. 23 Alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people; 24 they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
This is obviously a different city that is the city of saints. This is the city that is saved. Gog and Magog were two biblical figures who lived hundreds of years apart. They are being used here to represent the nations of the whole earth who will one day wage war on the catholic church, under the banner of the antichrist.
Probably when things look the bleakest of the bleak, God will wipe them out and save His beloved city- Vatican city.
and here we are shown that the final judgement follows quickly after that.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it; from his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and if any one’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
In his book Coming soon, Michael Barber displays a fascinating typology of events that does seem to provide the template for end-times things. It was literally about 1000 years from the rise of the Davidic King (David) until the fall of the apostate Jerusalem. This seems to project forward to the time from the rise of the real Davidic King- Jesus to the fall of the false church that will be built by the antichrist.
There are many private revelations of saints painting a picture of antichrist restoring Jerusalem and reigning terror for 3 1/2 years. Many of those saints point to our own times as when those things come to pass.
I will not speculate on such things here but feel free to research on your own.
Join us next time for Part 21
