REVELATION 20.1-6

Chapter 19 ends with the Battle of Armageddon and Christ’s second coming—events that mark the close of the Tribulation. The events of chap. 20—the binding of Satan, Christ’s 1,000 year earthly kingdom, Satan’s final rebellion, and the Great White Throne Judgment—fit chronologically between the close of the Tribulation and the creation of the new heaven and the new earth described in chaps. 21,22.

In Revelation 20, there are six references to a period of 1,000 years in the first 7 verses. The Greek word for thousand is chilioi and the Latin is mille. From this we get the word millennium and the biblical doctrine or the 1,000 year reign of Christ is also known as the Millennium.

There are 3 main positions or interpretations on this doctrine:

• Amillennialism- the pre fix a means “without or no”, thus this view believes that there will be no literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth. In other words, they do not believe that Jesus Christ is going to set up a kingdom on earth after the end of the great tribulation period. According to this view, the events spoken of in the Revelation are symbolic of the conflict between light and darkness until the Second Coming of Christ, which will usher in the eternal state. The 1,000 years period does not refer to a future kingdom of Jesus Christ on this earth, but it refers to the spiritual reign of Jesus in the hearts and minds of His people. 
• This view was adopted by Augustine, the Roman Catholic Church and most (not all) Reformation theologians.
• Postmillenneal- The prefix post means “after”. According to this view, the progress of the gospel and the growth of the church will gradually increase to the extent that the vast majority of the earth will become Christian. As the gospel spreads, the earth will more and more function according to God’s standards, and in doing so, usher in an indefinite period of time of peace and righteousness, symbolized by the 1,000 years, after which, The Lord Jesus Christ will physically return. In other words, the church triumphant will victoriously win the earth to Christ through the preaching of the gospel, and in doing so, usher in the kingdom age, after which (thus post mille) Jesus Christ will return and then we will enter into our eternal state. 

The 3^rd view of the millennium is the doctrine that is held by KF, which is known as premillenialism.

• Premillenneal- The prefix pre means “before”. Stated briefly, our belief is that Jesus Christ will return in the clouds to take His bride the church to heaven to be with Him before the time known as the great tribulation. During this time, the wrath of God, as spoken of in many OT/NT prophecies and Revelation 6-19 will be poured out upon the earth. We believe that after this period known as the great tribulation, The Lord Jesus Christ will physically return to the earth with all the redeemed, including His bride the church. After He smites all of his enemies with the word of His mouth, He will set up His kingdom on earth.
• Dan 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
• Listen to one of the promises of Jesus to those who overcome.
• Re 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
• Listen to this view of the kingdom reign from the pen of CHS:
• “Let us rejoice that Scripture is so clear and so explicit upon this great doctrine of the future triumph of Christ over the whole world . . . We believe that the Jews will be converted, and that they will be restored to their own land. We believe that Jerusalem will be the central metropolis of Christ’s kingdom; we also believe that all the nations shall walk in the light of the glorious city which shall be built at Jerusalem.  We expect that the glory which shall have its center there, shall spread over the whole world, covering it as with a sea of holiness, happiness, and delight.  For this we look with joyful expectation.” This is our position as well.
• At the end of the millineum, Satan is loosed from the bottomless pit, there is the final white throne judgment for all non-believers and then we enter into the eternal state either with Christ in eternal glory, or apart from Christ forever in the lake of fire.

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven (the angel that will subdue Satan is anonymous), having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

• There are 7 references to the bottomless pit in the book of Revelation. This bottomless pit in the Greek is abusso, which literally means depthless abyss.

• When Jesus was at Gadara and He was met by the demon possessed man. The demons begged Jesus that He would not send them to the deep (abusso) Luke 8.31 to torment them before the time (Matt 8.29). 
• Back in the 9th chapter of the Book of Revelation, there was another angel, a star it was called, fall from heaven having this key to the abusso.  When he opened it, the earth was invaded by demonic hoards that created great havoc upon the earth. 
• We read in chapter 17 of the Book of Revelation that the beast, who is the Antichrist, will come out of this abusso or bottomless pit.
• As we will see in verse 2, Satan will be bound with a great chain and seal and placed into this abusso for this 1000 year period.
• And it would seem from the Scriptures that this is the place where some of the fallen angelic-kind of beings are incarcerated.
• 2Pe 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
• Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
• What kind of chain can hold the devil?  We do not know, but we do know from the 2 Scriptures just quoted that right now there are demonic spirits who at the present moment are imprisoned and chained (Jude 6).  If God can place them in everlasting chains of darkness forever unto the judgment of the great day, He can most certainly chain Satan for 1,000 years.

Rev 20:2 And he (the angel) laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan (cp. To names in Rev 12.9), and bound him a thousand years,  

• Note that the Bible clearly reveals that there is a real personality known as the devil. He is also revealed as a liar, tempter and deceiver. Jesus spoke of him in the first person and He even encountered him one on one on the pinnacle of the temple. Luke & Matt 4.
• I find it interesting that a single angel is commissioned by The Lord to bind Satan. This is a dramatic declaration that Satan is not God’s opposite or equal; the opposite of Satan would more than likely be another created angel. This also shows us that God can easily stop Satan’s activity at any time.  Why God doesn’t do this all the time is what is called in Scripture, the mystery of iniquity.

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

• That he should deceive the nations no more: This shows us Satan’s main mode of attack is revealed.  Satan is a deceiver, so the most potent defense and weapon against Satan is the truth of God’s word.
• For the first time since man has existed, Satan is not able to deceive people. For one thousand years, he is not able to put wrong thinking into anyone's mind. He is no longer able to deceive the nations.
• Since Satan’s work of deception continues today, we know that he is not bound in the way that this passage describes.  We know that Satan was not bound at the finished work of Jesus on the cross, at the resurrection, or at the founding of the church.  We know this because Peter said that Satan was free to walk about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).Paul told the church at Ephesus that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness. (Eph 6.10-18).
• Satan will not be bound and sealed in the bottomless pit until the Second Coming of Christ. Yes, Satan was defeated at the cross, but he will not be bound and rendered powerless until the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ on the earth, after which time he will be loosed for a season for one final attempt to dethrone God

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received [his] mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

• Notice, “I saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given unto them.”  Who are they?  These people on their thrones are the church.  Back in Rev 3.21, “To him that over cometh I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.” 
• Paul writing to the Corinthians in 1 Cor 6.2,3 said, “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?  How much more the thing that is pertain to this life?” 
• But notice, John also he sees a second group.  Notice, he says, “And I saw the soles of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus.” He saw the second group, which were the martyred saints, who had come up out of the great tribulation, had not worshiped the beast or taken his mark.  According to Rev 6.9 & 7.13.
• Once again it is stated that these 2 groups of people will live and reign with Christ for 1,000 years.  

Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.

• The rest of the dead, that is the unsaved, will not rise until the thousand years are fulfilled.  We will see reference to them again when we get to verse 11.

·      The first resurrection is what Jesus called the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:14). It is shown in both the O.T. and N.T. that the resurrection of the just is unto life eternal, and the resurrection of the lost is unto everlasting condemnation.

• Act 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
• Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.
• John 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
• The Holy Spirit clearly states here for the first time the precise interval between the two resurrections is a period of 1000 years.
• Secondly, note that there are only two places for people to go in the next life…heaven or hell, thus the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is unbiblical and offers a false hope to those who embrace the church teaching of indulgences on behalf of departed loved ones in order to rid them of unforgiving sin.

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

·      If you are born twice, you will only die once; on the other hand, if you are born once, you will die twice. Back in chapter two, Jesus said in verse eleven, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit say to the churches, for he that over comes will not be hurt of the second death.” 

·      Jesus said in John 3 “You must be born again.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh.  That which is born of the spirit is spirit.  Don’t marvel that I say you must to be born again.” 

·      Only those who are born again or born of The Spirit will enter into the kingdom of God. In other words, nobody is born again when they are born physically. That is only a biological birth. You’ve got to have a second birth, a spiritual birth that takes place when a person places their faith in Jesus Christ. So, if you are born twice, physical and spiritual, you will only die once.

·      But, if you only have had a physical birth and have never been born again, you will not only die physically, you will be cast into the lake burning with fire, the second death, that eternal separation from God.

·      Note that priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.  In 1 Pet 2.5,9 the church is called a holy priesthood, a royal priesthood. To be a priest in the New Covenant, you must have a blood line that goes back to Calvary.

·      Revelation 1:6, He has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.”  Revelation 5.9,10, “In heaven we are singing for Thou has made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.”  Saints in heaven are anticipating a time when they will reign with Christ on earth.

·      So this thousand-year reign is that time period when we will live and reign with Him upon the earth.

·      Regarding the Kingdom Age, the earth will be restored to the Edenic glory as it was in the Garden of Eden.  The whole earth will be a paradise.  The whole earth will be filled with His glory!  Righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.  We will be living with Christ and reigning with Christ over the earth.  And during this period of ideal weather conditions, ideal living conditions, no more sicknesses, no more diseases, no more floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes.  Man and animal will peacefully coexist.

·      Here are a couple of passages that refer to the kingdom age conditions that this earth has not experienced since before the fall in Genesis 2:

o   Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

o   Isa 11:4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9 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.