The Final Insurrection -Revelation 20:7-10

Have you ever come across an intimidating passage of Scripture that you have, for whatever reason, decided to figure out/study some other day. I’m talking about those passages about which even your mentors and teachers are a bit befuddled and lacking in cogent explanations. There is one such passage in the Book of Revelation that fits this criteria for me and today is the day where, as a responsible expositor of the text, I am finally forced to deal with it. There is no more putting this one off as our study leads us to examine Revelation 20:7-10 and the four components of what might be called the final insurrection against God and his people. In this text, God permits Satan to leave his holding cell in the abyss so that he can once more wreak havoc on a world that, for a thousand years, has enjoyed the reign of Christ and his church without this little devil. Why would God allow this? What lessons can we possibly learn from something that, on the surface, appears unexplainable? Today we are going to explore the answers to these questions and come to learn what all of this has to say about the desperate human condition and the only hope there is to fix it.

1. The Timing of the Insurrection-20:7-“…When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,…”

So far two efforts have been given to finally and completely eradicate evil from the face of the earth as the end times heads to the final state: 1) The battle of Revelation 19:11-21 that successfully removed the Antichrist and false prophet from the face of the earth and 2) The expulsion of Satan at the beginning of the millennial period. Revelation 20:7-10 is phase three of this process in which a final eschatological war ensues, forever relegating Satan to the lake of fire. After what is described in this passage takes place, evil will be removed for all eternity, preparing the way for the new heavens and the new earth that is described in Revelation 21:1-22:5.

It is important to remember from the outset of this passage that there is a modified dualism (good vs. evil theme) at work here—the same that has been in play for the majority of this apocalyptic work. The forces of good and evil are not opposite but equal. The battle that is mentioned here is, like conflict describe earlier in Revelation 19:11-21, a “nonevent” (Osborne, Revelation, 710). In it, God is supremely victorious over an infinitely inferior foe. This is indicated in verse 7 when it says, “When the thousand years are complete, Satan will be released from his prison” (20:7). The passive voice here indicates that Satan did not escape his temporary holding cell in the demonic jailhouse that is the abyss (see 20:1-3). He was released by a higher authority—i.e. granted temporary parole. Nothing, not even this final insurrection is beyond the scope of God’s sovereignty. Once the thousand years is complete—that is the millennial reign of Christ on the earth—Satan will be temporarily loosed upon the earth.

2. The Nature of the Insurrection-20:8

The two-fold purpose of this release is given in verse 8—“and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog” (20:8a). First, he will be released to “deceive the nations” (def. “to cause someone to hold a wrong view and thus be mistaken”). The “nations” include those who have been repopulating the planet and living under Christ’s reign. These are those masses that will be managed in part by the glorified people of God. In other words, believers today and those who have passed away before us are not a part of the “nations” described here. Instead, these nations include the children of the survivors of the tribulation who have been living their lives during this thousand-year period without Satan’s presence on the earth.

When Satan is released, the text infers that it doesn’t take long for the nations, in spite of their experience under the millennial reign of Christ, to immediately flock after the devil. This peculiar episode indicates several important things for today’s reader. “Neither the designs of Satan nor the waywardness of the human heart will be altered by the mere passing of time” (Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 371). 1000 years in a holding cell doesn’t reform Satan out of his ancient habits of deception and destruction. Neither does 1000 years of the existential reign of Christ cure the natural human condition of sin. You have heard it said “time heals all wounds.” However, this text teaches otherwise.

This global deception is compared to what was witnessed in Ezekiel 38-39 in an episode involving an ancient power—"Gog and Magog” (20:8a). In this historical conflict, Gog (the king of the northern lands) and Magog (meaning the land of Gog) come to wage war against the people of God. Interestingly, the story that unfolds in Ezekiel runs parallel to the events of Revelation 19-20. In Ezekiel 36 the nation is resurrected and reconstituted (see the “valley of dry bones” passage). This foreshadows to Revelation 20:4-6’s description of the resurrection of the redeemed who go on to rule alongside Christ during the millennial kingdom. In Ezekiel 38, a coalition of nations comes to destroy God’s people. This is similar to what we read here in Revelation 20:1-9a. However, the enemies of God are said to be destroyed in Ezekiel 39 and then the victorious people of God are then permitted to enjoy the eschatological temple in Ezekiel 40-48. This mirrors Revelation 20:9b-14 and 21:1-22:5 respectively. In other words, John frames this end-times episode by means of a familiar story that most of his audience would have remembered. He describes the victory God achieves here in Revelation  by means of another victory He was awarded earlier in Ezekiel 38-39. In many respects, the conflict of Ezekiel 38-39 projects what will one day be fulfilled here in Revelation 20 (See Osborne’s discussion in Revelation, 711-712).

The second reason for Satan’s release involves war. In fact, the aim of his deception of the nations is to “gather them for the war.” (20:8b). Satan’s appetite for war is insatiable. He will stop at nothing to ruin what God has created and what God has willed. From Lucifer’s short-lived tenure in the heavenlies as an especially powerful archangel, to the insidious deception in the garden, to the misinformed building project at Babel, to the conspiracy to kill Christ in the first century, to the skirmishes he has lodged throughout church history, to the programmatic persecution during the tribulation, to the war in heaven against Michael in Revelation 12, to the battle of Armageddon in Revelation 19, Satan’s proclivity toward insurrection is bordering on clinical. He certainly has proven to live up to his title “the adversary” and this he will continue to do here at this final insurrection.  

The size of the armies Satan will quickly amass is incalculable for John—“the number of them is like the sand of the seashore” (20:8c). By the end of Satan’s quick program of deception, you will have, generally speaking, two kinds of people on the earth—the glorified and redeemed people of God who sympathize with the reign of Christ and rule the world with him and those who buy into the lie of this newly-arrived rebel and take up arms against the very King who has perfectly ruled the earth for a thousand years.

3. The Highlights of the Insurrection-20:9

The insurrection itself is depicted by means of two highlights. First, Satan and his massive army of deceived soldiers from the nations of the earth “came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (20:9a). In keeping with ancient military strategy, the satanic forces surround/”lay siege” to the saints who are in Jerusalem/”beloved city.” As the city of Jerusalem is too small to house all of the redeemed, this spectacle most likely paints the battle in symbolic language in an effort to reveal that the people of God will be surrounded by those who have allied themselves with the Devil.

This battle formation is very common throughout history. As a proud son of Texas, one of the most vivid examples of this strategy for me is the battle of the Alamo. Santa Anna’s Mexican army surrounded the small mission-turned-garrison where the even smaller Texan militia had boarded themselves up. The Mexican army’s goal was to wait for the tiny unit inside the domain of its dominating perimeter to run out of rations and supplies only to finally overwhelm them in a swift battle. At least in this example, Santa Anna’s army was successful. However, the same will not be true in the final insurrection described in Revelation 20.  

Before the battle horn can even be blown the text reveals the next highlight of the scene: “and fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (20:9c). As Satan ascends from the abyss to wage war with Christ’s kingdom, he is met with a descending and consuming fire. The verb means to consume/destroy completely (Louw & Nida) and is reminiscent of another battle found in 2 Kings 1. There, a wicked king summons Elijah to come down to him and this is what transpires:

2 Kings 1:9-11-“Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, ‘O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’ Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, ‘If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.’ Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.”

It is also similar to the consuming fire in another earlier conflict in which the prophets of Baal are humiliated when they cannot call down fire to consume the altar. After God answers Elijah’s prayer by sending down fire, the pagan prophets are seized and slain (see 1 Kings 18).

To be sure, God has made a habit out of sending fire to judge and destroy his enemies. Even in the Old Testament parallel events of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38:22 and 39:6 fire is sent down upon the enemy forces. Earlier in Revelation, the two witnesses of God breath fire and devour their enemies (see Rev. 11:5). This brand of judgment is in keeping with God’s holy character. Just listen to how Hebrews 12:25-29 describes God’s judgment.

Hebrews 12:25-29-“See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.”

This text, taken alongside Revelation 20, reveals that there will ultimately be two kinds of people: those who show gratitude for the kingdom that God sets up in the end and those who will wage war against it. The latter will be devoured by God’s holy wrath, described as a consuming fire.

4. The Results of the Insurrection-20:10

The results of this final insurrection are presented next “and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also” (20:10a). Though God granted parole to the Devil from the jail that the he occupied for 1000 years (see 20:1-6), here he sends Satan to a maximum security prison called the “lake of fire” that he will never leave. There he will join the beast and the false prophet who are already there and together these three—the unholy trinity—“will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (20:10b).  

This descriptive phrase is a combination of other phrases used to illustrate the eternal judgment of the wicked elsewhere (see Rev. 14:10-11). The verb (which means to punish by physical torture (Louw & Nida)) and the pairing of “day and night” with “forever and ever” demonstrate the grave reality that is the fate of the devil and his minions.

So What?

In reflecting on the events and outcomes mentioned in this passage, one commentator writes, “The picture here is too detailed to mean anything other than eternal punishment. One of the themes of the book is the depths of human depravity. Sin is eternal, so its consequences are also eternal. After a thousand years of experiencing Christ, the unbelieving nations throw themselves after Satan the first chance they get. The message is that in a billion years, a trillion years, they would do the same!...” (Osborne, Revelation, 716).” This goes a long way to explain why in the world God would permit Satan to instigate this final battle. While saints today need not fear being deceived by Satan in this final insurrection as, following the first resurrection, they will be gloried (rendered perfect), there will be many on the earth during this millennial kingdom who are not yet glorified (the descendants of the survivors of the tribulation). The final insurrection reveals that nothing save from repentance and faith in the completed work of Christ can save these from their sin and their habit of following after Satan the first chance they get—not even the physical and visible reign of Christ on the earth. If we can learn anything from this passage it is this: the solution to mankind’s problem of sin is not some external motivating factor (the law in the Old Testament or the existential rule of Christ in the millennial kingdom), but an inner and transforming miracle of regeneration. The only thing that can save a wretch like you and me is the amazing grace of God applied to sinners who turn from their sin and place their faith in who Jesus is (God made flesh) and what he has done (came to the earth, died in our place, and was raised back to life). This has always been the case and always will be.