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.
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