The Apocalypse

The Visions of John in Patmos:

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 20

REVELATION 20.

IT may be well to recall that the events of this chapter form part of a continuous narrative, which commences with Rev. 19:11, and closes with Rev. 21:8. The binding of Satan therefore follows immediately upon the judgment visited upon the beast and the false prophet, together with their armies, as described at the close of Rev. 20: "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 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." (vv. 1-3.)

It should be carefully noted that this is not the final judgment upon Satan — that is found in verse 10; but it is the effectual curbing of his power by his removal from the scene as introductory to the establishment of the kingdom. When the Lord was about to cast out the demons from the poor Gadarene "they besought Him that He Would not command them to go out into the deep." (Luke 8:31.) The word "deep" in this scripture is that which is given in our chapter as the "bottomless pit," literally, in both places, the "abyss." There Satan will be bound and entombed, that, during the reign of the glorious Messiah, man may not be exposed to his deceitful influences and power. Cast down from heaven to earth, as seen in Rev. 12, he will be expelled from the earth, and thrown into the abyss, where he is bound as a slave by the mighty hand of the angelic executant of the divine will. Two things in the description may arrest our attention. The dragon of this book is the old serpent of Genesis, as well as the devil and Satan of the other books of Scripture. It is the enemy of God and of man, and especially of God's people, as expressed by Satan (the adversary) and the devil (the slanderer). He is both a murderer and a liar, and has ever been so from the beginning. (John 8) What a mercy it will be for this poor world to be delivered for a season from such a foe! And how vast the moral change thus introduced in connection with the last trial of man under the righteous reign of Christ!

It is also to be remarked that not only is he bound and shut up, but a seal is set upon him; that is, as we understand it, a seal is set upon the mouth of the abyss. If God seals there is no power on earth or in hell that can break it. After that the body of our blessed Lord had been deposited by the pious hands of Joseph and Nicodemus in the sepulchre, Satan instigated his servants to make the sepulchre sure by "sealing the stone, and setting a watch." (Matt. 27:66.) Impotent attempt! for he had to do with the Son of the living God. But he himself is now in the omnipotent hands of the One whom he had thus sought to detain in the grave, and must there remain until he shall be loosed again for a brief space, to prove anew what man is even in the presence of divine goodness, administered under a perfect government, expressed in every kind of favour and earthly blessing.

The era of the thousand years is now presented: "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 [those] 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." (v. 4.) The first thing that attracted the attention of John was the thrones and they that sat upon them. In Daniel the thrones are introduced, but only the Ancient of days is seen as seated;¹ whereas here, although we know from Rev. 19 that Christ is the supreme and central figure in the scene, those who sat on the thrones are chiefly indicated. But even these are represented by the word "they," and the question therefore at once arises, Of whom does John speak? Following the narrative back, it will be perceived that the "they" can only refer to the "armies" which followed Christ out of heaven (Rev. 19:14), who, as already seen, are composed of the saints represented by the twenty-four elders of this book, the saints of all ages up to the coming of Christ, albeit the church is most prominently displayed. (Rev. 19:7-9.) On earth they had in their various degrees suffered with Christ, and now the recompense of grace is vouchsafed to them of reigning with Him. They are therefore beheld upon thrones, and as Christ's first act in connection with the establishment of His kingdom will be judgment, they share in its exercise. (See 1 Cor. 6:2; Jude 15.)

But there are two other classes joined with those who had been symbolized by the twenty-four elders: those who had been martyred during the rule of antichrist, and those who had refused his behest to worship the beast or his image, and to receive his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. These would be mainly of the faithful remnant described in the Psalms, who, under the frightful terrors and persecutions during the iron despotism of this man of sin, maintained their faith and hope in God, and waited for the coming of the Messiah. They lost everything on earth through their fidelity to God, "for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God," and now they obtain the glorious recompense of the first resurrection, and of association with Christ in the glories of His kingdom. They "lived and reigned" with Christ a thousand years, and if our interpretation of these two classes who are added to those who had been caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, be correct, the first would be raised and the second changed after the pattern of the two similar classes in 1 Thess. 4.

Their special place and reward are emphasized by the following statement: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." (v. 5.) In what plainer language could the pre-millennial return of Christ with His people, to take His kingdom, to reign over the earth during the thousand years, be stated? Or how could the truth of the first resurrection, as distinguished from the final resurrection of unbelievers, be more distinctly unfolded. It is only an inconceivable perversity that can seek to contend for a "resurrection of spiritual principles." If, indeed, this simple and unambiguous language be thus explained away, it would be impossible to maintain the truth of the great white throne and the final judgment at the end of this chapter. Take the scripture as it stands, and all is plain, as well as in complete harmony with the dispensational teaching of the whole book.

Before proceeding with the description the Spirit of God turns aside to pronounce, as it were, a eulogy upon these favoured saints: "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." (v. 6.) All such are blessed indeed (see Rev. 14:13), and they are holy, conformed now to the image of Christ, and thus answering to the claims and nature of God Himself. As risen out of death, or changed, and mortality swallowed up of life, they are for ever beyond the region of sin, death, and judgment; and it is therefore added, that on them the second death, God's just penalty upon the unbelieving and impenitent, will have no power, no title or right; for the last enemy, death, has for them been for ever destroyed. Moreover, they will be associated with Christ in His royal priesthood, and thus as priests they will enjoy access into the immediate presence of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him a thousand years. Having, through grace, overcome the power of Satan through the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony — and they loved not their lives unto the death — they are now exalted into the enjoyment of this glorious recompense. Well might the apostle say, when speaking of the glorious prospect of the believer, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in [or "in respect of"] us." (Rom. 8:18.)

From verses 7-10 we have the account of the loosing of Satan, his last permitted activity, and the judgment inflicted upon him and his deluded followers. The character of the reign of Christ throughout the thousand years is not found in this scripture; for that the reader must search the Old Testament, especially the Psalms and the Prophets. Here the millennium is introduced upon the completion of the first resurrection, and immediately after the statement that those who have part in it reign with Christ a thousand years, it is added, "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (vv. 7, 8.)

During the whole period, therefore, of the reign of Christ over the earth Satan is confined, and men will be free from his temptations. The nations will have the same evil nature as ever, but man's adversary will not be present to entice, to waylay, and to entrap him into sin. What an immense change! Now, all the influences of the scene are against, then, all will be in favour of, the Lord's people. Now the temptation is to depart from God, then it will be to profess allegiance to His Christ. At the close of this happy period, during which all kings will fall down before THE KING, and all nations serve Him, God will once more demonstrate the incurable evil of man's heart by permitting, through the loosing of Satan, one last and final trial. Nations in every quarter of the globe are deceived, spite of the manifested glory of earth's rightful Sovereign. As man had rejected Him in His humiliation he now rebels against Him in His glory. Several traces of these rebellious nations are found in the Old Testament. We read in Psalm 18, "As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall yield feigned obedience." (Margin, v. 44; see also Ps. 66:3, Ps. 81:15.) As when some mighty conqueror subdues a country the people submit to his rule through fear of his power for vengeance, so will it be when Messiah establishes His kingdom. Striking through kings in the day of His wrath (Ps. 110), His enemies, through the greatness of His power, will proffer their submission (Psalm 66:3), lest they also should be destroyed. When therefore Satan is loosed, with rebellion in their hearts, they fall an easy prey to his devices, and, listening to his voice, they allow themselves to be gathered together as the sand of the sea for number, under his leadership, to earth's last battle.² Drawn together, Jerusalem, as so often in the history of the earth, is the point to which they converge, and the object of their attack. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city." (v. 9.)

A remarkable feature of the case is, that Christ Himself is not seen in this conflict. The kings of the earth and their armies gather together, as seen in the previous chapter, to make war against Him; but now the object of their hostility would seem to be the saints and the beloved city. It is God in heaven who is here displayed as the Defender and Avenger of His people; for "fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."' (v. 9.) So perished the enemies of God's Christ and His people; God arose, and they were utterly and for ever destroyed. Last of all, Satan that deceived them receives his final doom; he "was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (v. 10.)³ It was the dragon — that is, Satan — who had given the beast "his power, and his seat, and great authority" on the earth, who had inspired the false prophet (and the three together had formed a mock trinity of diabolical evil), and now we are permitted to behold them submerged in one common woeful doom God thus in His righteousness vindicates His throne, and the throne of His Christ, and reveals at the same time the sure and certain retribution that must overtake all who persist in their enmity to Him and to His beloved Son.

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE. (Rev. 20:11-15.)

The judgment described in this scripture forms the conclusion of all God's ways with man. The kingdom of Christ on earth has been brought to a close; all enemies have been put under His feet; the devil himself has received his final doom; and there remain only the wicked and unrepentant dead to be dealt with, before the introduction of the new heaven and the new earth. It is this last session of judgment that John here portrays: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God."⁴ (vv. 11, 12.)

The character of the throne itself is the first thing to attract the attention. It is said to be "great" — great, either as befitting the dignity of the Judge, or as suited to the magnitude of the judgment; and it is also given as "white." It is not here, probably, the colour known as white — as, for example, white linen — but rather, as the word really signifies, clear or bright; that is, the "whiteness of light."⁵ "This is the expression of the dazzling purity of holiness, whether of the Judge Himself, or of the standard on which His judgment would proceed; for everything connected with Him, the throne on which He sits, or the sentence He pronounces, must be in accordance with what He is in His own essential nature. Who the Judge is, is not here stated, although John saw Him that sat upon the throne; but we know from other scriptures that it is Christ; that the once rejected Jesus, the Son of God, is He into whose hands all judgment has been committed. (See John 5:22-29; 2 Timothy 4:1, etc.) As everywhere, indeed, in this book, it is He who ever makes good God's character in government as against evil; and here, as this scene shows, against those who have died in impenitence, as well as against the living rejecters of His authority. The awful nature of this judicial session is revealed by the statement that the earth and the heaven fled away from the face of the Judge. In what manner they disappear we learn elsewhere (see 2 Peter 3:10-12); the fact only is here stated; and it is given to teach the final character of the judgment. What a close to the history of this poor earth! And what a contrast to the record in Genesis 1, when God looked upon His new work day after day as it sprang forth from His creative hand and pronounced it very good! And to enhance the solemnity of the scene, it may be recalled that He who sat on the throne, in John's vision, is the One by whom all things were created; and now this poor defiled earth, and the heaven that belongs to it, the witness of, and the sharer in, its defilement, are seen fleeing from His face!

Before the judgment commences, therefore, time is no more. The times and seasons have for ever passed (Genesis 1:14), and the great white throne is raised in eternity; and it is connected, as will be hereafter seen, with the destruction of the last enemy, death, as introductory to the blessedness of that eternal state in which God is all in all.

The dead only, it is plainly stated, appear before the great white throne. Already, in many acts, the living have been judged; and hence, for instance, the judgment of Matthew 25:31-46 belongs to another period. The living are judged at the appearing of Christ and during His kingdom, and consequently only the dead remain. And yet, it may be necessary to affirm, not all the dead. As we have pointed out in Rev. 19, an immense army follows Christ out of heaven, and this is composed, as there explained, of all the saints who in every age and dispensation had died, and who had participated in the first resurrection, and of those who, living on the earth at the time of the Lord's return, had been changed and caught up with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air. During the thousand years (Rev. 20:3-4) there are no deaths, except of rebels against the authority of Christ. The conclusion then, as also from the scriptures before us, is irresistible, that only the wicked, the unconverted dead, are seen in this judgment. There is therefore no foundation in Scripture for the popular conception of a general judgment — for the teaching, so prevalent in religious books, that all alike, the saved and the unsaved, are reserved to be judged at the same time. Such a thought could only spring from ignorance both of the word of God and of the nature of redemption.

All the vast multitude of the unregenerate dead, from the earliest ages down to the termination of the kingdom of Christ on earth, will be raised by the mighty power of God, and be brought before the great white throne to receive the award of their eternal doom. And to show that not one sinner who has ever passed away, wherever he may have died, shall escape, it is added in verse 13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them." At the mighty voice of the Son of God, just as the fish came at his bidding into the nets of His disciples, and Lazarus came out of his tomb, so will all this countless throng "come forth" out of their graves, or from their last resting-places, unto the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29.)

We have, in the next place, the principles of the judgment: "And the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (v. 12.) Again we read, "And they were judged every man according to their works." (v. 13.) The first ground of judgment then is the actual works, the deeds of every soul while living on the earth. And, let it be remarked, that positive evidence as to these is adduced from the "things which were written in the books." All the "works" of men are therefore recorded, and recorded by Him, before whose omniscient eye the nature of every action is revealed. Deeds long since forgotten, sins which, apparently trivial in human estimation, have faded away from the memory, all will be produced as the ground of condemnation. Not only so; but the book of life will also be opened, and if the names of those arraigned before this solemn tribunal are not found in it (v. 15) the sentence is passed, and the judgment executed. There are thus two kinds of evidence — positive and negative, both condemnatory, and both alike precluding all ground of appeal.

In connection with this, it is worthy of notice, as illustrative of God's ways in judgment, that He, while answerable to none, is ever careful to vindicate, even in the eyes of men, the rectitude of all His judicial acts. When thus He was about to destroy Jerusalem, through the instrumentality of Nebuchadnezzar, and to send His people into captivity because of their persistent transgressions, He was careful first to present the bill of indictment to prove their guilt. (See 2 Chr. 36:11-21) So here before the great white throne, unmistakable proofs of the guilt of those on trial are shown from the "books" of works; and then, as a conclusive demonstration of their having no title to be spared, it is added that their names were not found written in the book of life. Thus every mouth will be stopped, and will have to confess that He who sits on the throne is justified when He speaks, and clear when He judges.

The doom of this countless throng is next revealed: "And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.⁶ And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Taking it in the order, given, we have, first of all, in figurative language, the destruction of death and hades. (Cp. Hosea 13:14.) The meaning is, that the power of both will be for ever abrogated under the judgment of God. Death had held its sway over all these souls. Their bodies had been until now in corruption, but called out of their graves for this resurrection of judgment, death could claim them no more. When the saints are raised, death for them is swallowed up in victory (1 Cor. 15); but here there is no victory, for the hitherto prisoners of death receive the same sentence as death itself, both being condemned to the same final doom. The last enemy, death, is thus destroyed. Hades, the prison of the spirits of the dead, shares the same fate, for it has no further use in God's economy. Defiled by the character of those it had detained as captives, it passes away to the punishment of the defiled, the judgment of the eternal fire.

The nature of this judicial doom is explained to be the second death. The first death pronounced, as the penalty on Adam's transgression, meant far more than the death of the body. The moral use of the word in the phrase "dead in sins" proves beyond a doubt that it signifies, in its essence, the separation of the soul from God, together with the state of the soul as being without a single movement of life towards God. This interpretation is confirmed by the statement in Romans, that "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" for it is clearly the state of man which is thus indicated. (See also 2 Cor. 5:14.) This, rightly understood, throws great light upon the term here employed — "the second death." "Death," then, will keep its meaning — the absolute separation of the soul from God, its total exclusion from the source of all light and life, and its confinement for ever in the region of darkness; for as light and life, so darkness and death are in their very nature indissolubly connected. Then we have the additional element, "the lake of fire." "Fire" in Scripture is the symbol of the holiness of God as applied in judgment. This may be easily traced through the various books of the Bible, as, for example, in the fire that consumed the sacrifices, and, as again, in the statement that "our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:29.) The second death therefore is the moral exclusion of the soul for ever from God, or rather, it should be said, the separation of the whole man (body, soul, and spirit) from God, under the infliction of His judicial wrath. This is the lake of fire, God's eternal judgment, according to the standard of His own immutable holiness, as visited upon those who refused His grace, rebelled against His authority, and chose death rather than life. It is into this "lake of fire" that every unconverted one, as this scripture plainly teaches, will be, if dying impenitent, finally cast; for it is there that all this multitude find their doom.

Nothing is said here as to the duration of the lake of fire; but, as has been seen in verse 10 of this chapter, and as many other scriptures indubitably teach, there is no ground whatever for supposing that it is less than eternal. Prophets prophesy smoother things, and dreamers dream according to the imagination of their own hearts; but the word of God abides, and it teaches that the punishment of the wicked, as the blessedness of the saved, is for ever and ever.

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1) This scripture is obscured in our translation by the rendering, "I beheld till the thrones were cast down." (Rev. 7:9.) It should be given, as in the Revised Version, "Till thrones were placed." It is so rendered also in a well-known French version, "Je vis jusqu'a ce que les trônes furent placés."

2) The reader must not confound the Gog and Magog of verse 8 with "Gog, the land of Magog," of Ezekiel 38. The latter refers, as can easily be demonstrated, to Russia, the Russia of the future; while Gog and Magog in the former indicate, as stated, the nations in the four quarters of the earth. There is another difference. The invasion of the land by Gog in Ezekiel is immediately after the establishment of Messiah's kingdom; whereas the apostasy of the nations in our scripture takes place at the end of the thousand years.

3) As bearing on the question of the duration of future punishment, we cannot forbear calling attention to the words here employed. They are eis tous aionas ton aionon — "unto the ages of the age."

4) The word "throne" must, it is generally acknowledged, be substituted in the text for "God."

5) A comparison of Matthew 17:2 with Mark 9:3 shows that this, too, was the whiteness of our blessed Lord's garments in the transfiguration.

6) Most editors add here the words, "Even the lake of fire."