Revelation 20 commentary

1. Revelation 20 edited by Glenn Pease 1. And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for 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 are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. 7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven

2. and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW The Simple OVERVIEW of chapter 20 is that Christ the Messenger of the Covenant, the Deliverer, that was promised should come, comes down from Heaven and lays hold on Satan, who has been deceiving the whole world, and binds him up in spiritual chains, for as long as it takes to build the Church of GOD. During this time he is not able to deceive that church, so as to make it fruitless, and in this time, many souls are saved, raised up, Resurrected in Christ to new life, to reign with Him in His kingdom. Blessed are the souls that have part in the First Resurrection. And when the fullness of Believers have come in, then Satan will be loosed ONCE AGAIN and go forth deceiving again, to muster an army to come up against the church. This period is called the great tribulation. Believers normally have tribulation from unbelievers, but this is great Tribulation near the End of the world. Satan and his army assult the churches but are devoured by the fire of GOD which burns them as if they were wood. And then Christ returns, and the Judgment is set, and all are judged by what is written in the book of life, and all are judged according to their works. This is what Revelation chapter 20 is saying. It's a Symbolic picture of what takes place from the coming of Christ, the first time, to His second coming. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. May The Lord give us all wisdom in the Study of His HOLY word. Peace, Tony Warren 1 And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

3. The identity of the angel is an issue. John Gilmore in his book Probing Heaven argues that the angel is Christ. He goes back to Revelation 12:7-9, which he sees this passage reduplicating. There the archangel Michael is casting down the dragon. In the Old Testament the archangel Michael was another name for Messiah (Dan.12:1). For details see Hengstenberg, Christology of the Old Testament vol. IV: 266-268. Heb. 6:13 insighting Gen. 22:16 identifies Jesus with the angel of Jehovah in addition, the great angel of the covenant (Gen.22:11,12) is, according to Heb. 12:25, Jesus. It is likely also, that Mal. 3:1 alluded to the angel of covenant as the Lord, Christ. Gilmore goes on, "In the ew Testament one may deduce from First Thess. 4:16 and John 5:25-29 that the voice of the archangel is actually the voice of the Son of God." In Rev. 1:18 Jesus holds the key to Hades and He alone. The Key of the Abyss Remember what we've already learned about the Abyss. It is the Greek word "abussos", sometimes translated "the bottomless pit". The Abyss is a shaft, a bottomless pit leading to Hades in the center of the earth. How can it be bottomless, yet lead and end at the center of the earth? Simple: if you are in the center of the earth, where is the bottom? The center of the earth is the one place that we know of which has no bottom - only top. Whatever direction you go, it's up, not down! In chapter 9 we saw that the devil had the key to it: Rev. 9:1-2 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit... In the book of Revelation, satan has used this key to release a demonic horde upon the earth, and to bring the antichrist up from the abyss. But now an angel has the key, and instead of releasing evil from it, he's shutting up evil inside of it. WILLIAM BURKITT, This chapter begins with a fresh and glorious vision which St. John had of an angel's descending from heaven, to bind Satan for a thousand years; and herein we have observable, 1. The person binding, the angel of the covenant, Christ Jesus (for he only has the keys of the bottomless pit, of hell, and of death, Rev_1:18. This angel is here said to come down from heaven, and with a great chain in his hand, denoting his omnipotent power and sovereignty over Satan, and his ability to restrain him. Observe, 2. The person bound, Satan; where mark, that he is set forth here by five names, he is called the Dragon, the Serpent, the Old Serpent, the Devil, and Satan. And note, Christ's power is set forth in as many terms as the devil has titles, he is said to lay hold on him, to bind him, to cast him into the bottomless pit, to shut him in, or seal him up for a thousand years, that is, to restrain him and render him incapable of doing such mischief to the world as he had done before.

4. Observe, 3. What we are to understand by Christ's binding Satan: some thereby do understand Christ's overthrowing the power of the devil in the heathen world; his casting down those strong holds of Satan, to wit, ignorance, superstition, idolatry, and lying oracles, by the light and power of the gospel, preached among the Gentiles; his curbing of Satan, that he should no more cozen the world with heathenish delusions as he had done. Others understand this binding of Satan to be after the destruction of antichrist; when the Jews shall be converted, and there shall follow a quiet and peaceable state of the church for a long time, styled here a thousand years; during which time Satan shall be bound, and there shall be no molestation from him. From the whole learn, That be the devil never so devilish, Christ has power to overpower him. Christ has a great chain in his hand to bind Satan: intimating, that how mighty and malicious soever Satan is, Christ has him as a dog in a chain. But observe a little, how Christ's power meets with and masters Satan's power: the devil carries power in his name, he is called a dragon; in his nature, as being an angel; in his numbers,which are numberless: but Christ overpowereth him, so that he cannot do his own will without him; he bound him in the execution of his malice, though his malice be boundless. Satan is bound in a double chain, in a chain of justice, and in a chain of providence; he cannot move a foot either to tempt or trouble us, without a permission from Christ. BARNES, And I saw an angel come down from heaven - Compare the notes on Rev_10:1. He does not say whether this angel had appeared to him before, but the impression is rather that it was a different one. The whole character of the composition of the book leads us to suppose that different angels were employed to make these communications to John, and that, in fact, in the progress of things disclosed in the book, he had contact with a considerable number of the heavenly inhabitants. The scene that is recorded here occurred after the destruction of the beast and the false prophet Rev_19:18-21, and therefore, according to the principles expressed in the explanation of the previous chapters, what is intended to be described here will take place after the final destruction of the papal and Muhammedan powers. Having the key of the bottomless pit - See the notes on Rev_1:18; Rev_9:1. The fact that he has the key of that underworld is designed to denote here, that he can fasten it on Satan so that it shall become his prison. And a great chain in his hand - With which to bind the dragon, Rev_20:2. It is called great because of the strength of him that was to be bound. The chain only appears to have been in his hand. Perhaps the key was suspended to his side. CLARKE, An angel came down from heaven - One of the executors of the Divine justice, who receives criminals, and keeps them in prison, and delivers them up only to be tried and executed. The key of the prison and the chain show who he is; and as the chain was great, it shows that the culprit was impeached of no ordinary crimes.

5. GILL, And I saw an angel come down from heaven,.... All Christ's enemies, and Satan's instruments being removed, the devil is left alone, and only stands in the way of Christ's kingdom; and what will be done to him, and how he will be in the issue disposed of, this vision gives an account: by the "angel" John saw, is not to be understood Constantine the great; for though he is the man child that was taken up to God, and his throne, being advanced to the empire, yet he cannot, with that propriety, be said to come down from heaven; and though he vanquished the Heathen emperors, in which the dragon presided, and cast Paganism out of the empire, by which the devil ruled in it, yet the binding of Satan is another kind of work, and seems too great for him; and besides, did not take place in his time, as will be seen hereafter: nor is an apostle, or a minister of the Gospel intended; such are indeed called angels in this book, and may be said to come down from heaven, because they have their commission from thence; and particularly the apostles had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, but not the key of the bottomless pit; and a chain and system of Gospel truths, which they made good use of for the establishing of Christ's kingdom, and weakening of Satan's, but not such a chain as is here meant; and they had the power of binding and loosing, or of declaring things lawful or unlawful, but not of binding and loosing of Satan; nor was he bound in the apostolic age: nor is one of the ministering spirits, or a deputation of angels designed; for though Christ will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, and will make use of them, both to gather together his elect, and to cast the wicked into the lake of fire, yet not to bind Satan; but the Lord Jesus Christ himself is this angel, who is the angel of God's presence, and of the covenant; and who is in this book called an angel,Rev_7:2 to whom all the characters here well agree, and to whom the work of binding Satan most properly belongs; for who so fit to do it, or so capable of it, as the seed of the woman, that has bruised serpent's head, or as the Son of God, who was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, yea, to destroy him himself; and who dispossessed multitudes of devils from the bodies of men, and is the strong man armed that dislodges Satan from the souls of men, and is the same with Michael, who drove him from heaven, and cast him out from thence before, Rev_12:7. And his coming down from heaven is not to be understood of his incarnation, or of his coming from thence by the assumption of human nature; for Satan was not bound by him then, as will be seen hereafter; but of his second coming, which will be from heaven, where he now is, and will be local, visible, and personal: of no other coming of his does this book speak, as seen by John, or as future; nor will the order of this vision, after the ruin of the beast and false prophet, admit of any other. Having the key of the bottomless pit: the abyss or deep, the same out of which the beast ascended, Rev_11:7. And the key of this becomes no hand so well as his who has the keys of hell and death, Rev_1:18 who has all power in heaven and in earth, and has the power of hell, of opening and shutting it at his pleasure, which is signified by this phase; see Rev_9:1. The Ethiopic version reads, "the key of the sun", where some have thought hell to be; and yet the same version renders the word, the deep, inRev_20:3. And a great chain in his hand; the key in one hand, and the chain in another; by which last is meant, not any material chain, with which spirits cannot be bound, nor indeed sometimes bodies possessed by evil spirits,Mar_5:3 but the almighty power of Christ, which he will now display in binding Satan faster and closer than ever. HENRY, We have here, I. A prophecy of the binding of Satan for a certain term of time,

6. in which he should have much less power and the church much more peace than before. The power of Satan was broken in part by the setting up of the gospel kingdom in the world; it was further reduced by the empire's becoming Christian; it was yet further broken by the downfall of the mystical Babylon; but still this serpent had many heads, and, when one is wounded, another has life remaining in it. Here we have a further limitation and diminution of his power. Observe, 1. To whom this work of binding Satan is committed - to an angel from heaven. It is very probable that this angel is no other than the Lord Jesus Christ; the description of him will hardly agree with any other. He is one who has power to bind the strong man armed, to cast him out, and to spoil his goods; and therefore must be stronger than he. JAMISON, Rev_20:1-15. Satan bound, and the first-risen saints reign with Christ, a thousand years; Satan loosed, gathers the nations, Gog and Magog, round the camp of the saints, and is finally consigned to the Lake of Fire; The general resurrection and last judgment. The destruction of his representatives, the beast and the false prophet, to whom he had given his power, throne, and authority, is followed by the binding of Satan himself for a thousand years. the key of the bottomless pit now transferred from Satans hands, who had heretofore been permitted by God to use it in letting loose plagues on the earth; he is now to be made to feel himself the torment which he had inflicted on men, but his full torment is not until he is cast into the lake of fire (Rev_20:10). PULPIT, Verse 1. - And I saw an angel come down from heaven; coming down out of heaven. The usual mode of introducing a new vision (cf. Revelation 4:1, etc.). On account of Revelation 1:18, some have considered this angel to be Christ himself; but this is incorrect. As in Revelation 12:7-9, an angel is the immediate agent in this expulsion of Satan (vide infra). Having the key of the bottomless pit; the abyss; as in Revelation 9:1, 2, 11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8. In all these places the word signifies the present abode of Satan and his angels, whence they direct their operations in hostility to God, not the place of their final punishment (see ver. 10). In Luke 8:31 the word has exactly the same meaning; while in the only remaining place where it is used in the New Testament, viz. Romans 10:7, it stands for the place of abode of the souls of the dead. Having the key of the abyss therefore informs us that power is given to this angel over Satan during the time of this world's existence. And a great chain in his hand; literally, upon his hand, as if lying on it and hanging from it; the chain evidently symbolizing the power of the angel over the inhabitants of the abyss, and the purpose with which he now comes, viz. to restrain the power of Satan. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR Satan 1. Whereas it is said that this Angel that came down from heaven had the key of the bottomless pit, we see that our Saviour has all power given to Him in heaven, the earth, and hell itself. 2. That He had a great chain in His hand, shows us that how mighty and malicious soever Satan may be, yet for our comfort Christ has him in a chain, without whose

7. permission he can do nothing. 3. Whereas Satan is called an old serpent, we see to whom they are like who are habituated in wickedness and crafty to do evil. 4. Whereas he is called the devil, or an accuser, we see whose brood they are who in like manner are false accusers of their brethren, slanderers, etc. 5. He is also called Satan, that is, an enemy to Gods glory and mans good of salvation, therefore whoever by doctrine or practice impairs the one, or opposes the means of the other, they are satanical, and like him. 6. Whereas it is said that Satan was shut up, that he should deceive the nations no more, we see that his task from the beginning hath been deceiving, using fraud where he cannot prevail by force; wherefore we should beware of his deceiving in his subtle instruments, and acknowledge whose brood they are. 7. Whereas it is said that he was bound up so long that he should deceive no more, this shows that on the contrary, therefore, when we see seducers arise and abound, that then Satan in his instruments for the punishment of a nation or Church is set loose to be a lying spirit in the mouth of false prophets. 8. Whereas it is said that after the time of his binding or shutting up he is to be loosed a little season, this is greatly for the comfort of the godly, that Satans prevailing in his instruments is determined by God, and shall be but for a little season; therefore with patience let them possess their souls. (Wm. Guild, D. D.) He laid hold on the dragon. The great enemy of humanity I. The great enemy of humanity described. Dragon stands as an emblem of power. His power is seen in the vast authority which he wields. 1. Over fallen angels (Eph_6:11-12). He is the leader of those myriads. 2. The authority he exercises over men. He leadeth the world captive at his will. He worketh in the children of disobedience. He opposes God, Christ, the universe. The existence of such a being in the universe as this impresses us with (1) The fallibility of the holiest creature. (2) The independent force of moral mind. (3) The mysteriousness of the Divine government. II. The great enemy of humanity imprisoned. 1. His imprisonment is effected by a Divine messenger. 2. His imprisonment is effected by Divine authority. 3. His imprisonment is effected by a Divine instrument. What is the chain? Gospel truth. What is meant by imprisoning Satan? Limiting the sphere of his agency. Every man who expels him from his own heart helps to imprison him, and every man who seeks to expel him from the heart of others helps to imprison him. As liberty binds the influence of slavery, intelligence the influence of ignorance, religion the influence of infidelity, so Divine truth will bind the influence of the devil.

8. Lesson: 1. The true sphere of heroic action. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resist him as he is on the arena of your own soul; resist him as you find him on the arena of society in everyday life. 2. The grandeur of the Christian character. Put on the whole armour of God, etc. (Homilist.) The scene of mural struggle I. Redeemed humanity has a fearful antagonist to contend with. 1. The actual existence of such an enemy. (1) Universal belief of humanity. (2) The opposite classes of moral phenomena. In the world we have error, selfishness, infidelity, misery, and truth, benevolence, religion, happiness. Can these be branches from the same root? (3) The general teaching of the Bible. 2. The personality of such an enemy. An evil principle implies an evil person. 3. The characteristics of such an enemy. (1) Mighty. (2) Crafty. (3) Virulent. II. Heaven has vouchsafed an agency which is destined to master the adversary. Let the word angel here stand for every true religious teacher. 1. His authority. Every man who has the spirit and power of a teacher has the key or the authority to teach. He has a right to do battle with the enemy wherever he is found; whether in literature or commerce, churches or governments, theories or practices. 2. His instrumentality. A chain. Iron, brass, adamant? No. These cannot fetter intellect or manacle soul. Nothing can curb or restrain the influence of Satan but Christian truth. What is meant by binding Satan? It does not mean the binding of his being or faculties, but the binding of his influence. He is to be bound, in the sense of limiting his sway, by closing up human hearts against him. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Bound him a thousand years. Satan bound for a thousand years I. There is in the world a mighty force of evil. II. Mightier forces of good, although unseen, are in the background. III. The employment of the mightier against the mighty has been matter of ancient promise (Gen_3:5).

9. IV. The stronger force of good has ever been at work. This world has never been given up to the evil one. V. Wherever the gospel has been preached there a binding of Satan has been and is being effected. VI. Nevertheless, the passage before us leads us to expect a much greater restraint on Satans activity than has as yet been known. VII. When the binding of Satan is completely effected, there must needs be a period of rest, such as neither the world nor the Church has enjoyed since sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Note 1. Let our faith embrace all that is in the Word, and we shall then find nothing in the fiercest conflicts of the age to shock or disturb it. 2. Let us thank God for the restraint which we know is even now put upon Satan. He worries, but he cannot devour. 3. Let us be stimulated by the fact that, through the energy of the Spirit of God, the power of evil is being subdued within us and around us. 4. Let us, with renewed faith, energy, prayer, and hope, be found doing our part towards bringing about earths time of rest. (C. Clemance, D. D.) EBC, JUDGMENT OF SATAN AND OF THE WICKED IN now approaching chap. 20, with its yet unsolved difficulties of interpretation, it is of essential importance to observe, in the first place, the relation of the chapter to what immediately precedes. The Seer is not entering upon an entirely new subject. He distinctly continues, on the contrary, the prosecution of a theme he had before begun. In the previous portion of his book three great enemies of the saints of God had been introduced to us, the dragon or the devil, the beast, and the false prophet. These were the main opponents of the Lamb, in one way or another stirring up all the efforts that had been made against Him by the kings of the earth, their armies, and their followers. For a time they had appeared to succeed. They had persecuted the saints, had compelled them to flee, had overcome them, and killed them. This, however, could not continue; and it was to be shown that the final triumph remains with those who have suffered for the sake of righteousness. In chap. 19, we have the beginning, but not the close, of this triumph. Of the three great enemies only two - the beast and the false prophet - perish in that chapter. The destruction of the third is reserved for chap. 20, and is effected at the tenth verse of the chapter. The verses following then describe the judgment of those who had listened to these enemies, but who, though defeated, or even killed,1 or devoured by fire out of heaven when in their service,2 had not yet been consigned to their doom. Thereafter nothing remains, in order to complete the triumph of Christ and His saints, but that death and Hades shall also be removed from the scene and cast into the lake of fire. (1 Rev_19:21; 2 Rev_20:9) These considerations are of themselves sufficient to show that the overthrow of Satan, and not the reign of a thousand years, is the main theme of the first ten verses of the chapter. So far is the latter from being the culminating point of the whole book, that it is not even introduced at the beginning of any new and important section. It starts no new series of visions. It comes in, in the midst of a section devoted to an entirely different matter: -

10. "And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead Lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the second death hath no authority, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan than be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and com passed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fare and brimstone, where arc also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev_20:1-10)." It is impossible within the limits of a commentary such as the present to discuss the different interpretations that have been given to a passage so difficult and so much controverted as the above. Nothing more can be attempted than to state briefly what seems to be the true meaning of the sacred writer, together with the grounds upon which the interpretation to be suggested rests. The fundamental principle of that interpretation, to be kept clearly and resolutely in view, is this: that the thousand years mentioned in the passage express no period of time. They are not a figure for the whole Christian era, now extending to nearly nineteen hundred years. Nor do they denote a certain space of time, longer or shorter, it may be, than the definite number of years spoken of, at the close of the present dispensation, and to be in the view of some preceded, in the view of others followed, by the second Advent of our Lord, They embody an idea; and that idea, whether applied to the subjugation of Satan or to the triumph of the saints, is the idea of completeness or perfection. Satan is bound for a thousand years; that is, he is completely bound. The saints reign for a thousand years; that is, they are introduced into a state of perfect and glorious victory. Before endeavoring to bring out this thought more fully, several preliminary considerations may be noticed. 1. Years may be understood in this sense. In Eze_39:9 it is said that the inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall .prevail against the enemies described, and "shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall make fires of them seven years." No one can suppose that the "seven years" here spoken of are to be literally understood, or even that the length of time which would be needed to burn the weapons is the thought upon which the prophet dwells. His meaning, in correspondence with the use of the number seven, can only be that these weapons shall be destroyed with a great and complete destruction. Again, in the same chapter, at:Eze_39:12, after the defeat of "Gog and all his multitude," it is said, "And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land." A literal interpretation is here not less impossible than in the case of the burning of the weapons; nor can the meaning

11. be exhausted by the thought that a long time would be necessary for the burying. The number "seven" must have its due force assigned to it, and the prophet can only mean that the land should be thoroughly cleansed from heathen impurity. The use of the term "years" in the vision before us seems to be exactly similar; and the probability that it is so rises almost to certainty when we observe that, as proved by the vision of Gog and Magog in the subsequent part of the chapter, the prophecy of Ezekiel is before the Seers eye, and that it constitutes the foundation upon which his whole delineation rests. The only difficulty connected with this view is that in the third verse of the chapter Satan is said to have been shut into the abyss until the thousand years should be finished, and that in the seventh verse we read, And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed. But the difficulty is more specious than real. Let us familiarize ourselves with the thought that the thousand years may simply express completeness, thoroughness, either of defeat or victory; let us remember that the Seer had represented the defeat of Satan by the figure of being bound for a thousand years; finally, let us notice, as we have yet to see more fully, that Satan, although deprived of power over the righteous, is still to be the deceiver and ruler of the wicked: and it immediately follows that this latter thought could find no more appropriate form than in the statement that the deception took place, not "until," or "after," the thousand years should be finished. This is simply the carrying out of the symbolism already employed. To revert for a moment to the symbolism of Ezekiel, let us suppose that, after the prophet had described the burning of the weapons for "seven years," he had wished to mention also some other step by which the burning was to be followed. What more suitable words could he have used than that it took place either "after this," or "after the seven years were finished"? In point of fact, this is exactly what the prophet does. He has occasion to refer to further efforts made to secure the purity of the land; and the words employed by him are, "After the end of seven months shall they search."* The one expression is no more than the natural con sequence of the other. (* Eze_39:14) 2. What is the meaning of the last words of the third verse of the chapter, - He (i.e., Satan) must be loosed for a little time? What is this "little time"? The words take us directly to that conception of the Christian age which is so intimately interwoven with the structure of the Apocalypse, and even of the whole New Testament, - that it is all "a little time." This is particularly apparent in the application of the very same words to the souls under the altar in Rev_6:11 : "And it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, which should be killed even as they were, should be fulfilled." The "little time" there is undeniably that extending from the moment of the vision to the close of the present dispensation. But, if it be so there, we are entitled to suppose that the very same expression, when used in the passage before us, will be used in the same sense; and that, when it is said Satan shall be loosed "for a little time," the meaning is that he shall be loosed for the whole Christian age. Again, in Rev_12:12 we read, "The devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time." The "short time" here referred to begins with the casting down of the devil out of heaven into the earth spoken of in the ninth verse of the same chapter. It must therefore include the whole period of his action in this world; and the manner in which that period is designated corresponds closely with the description of the time during which he is said, in chap. 20, to be loosed. Again, inRev_10:6 the angel swears that there shall be "time" no longer, using the same word for time that we meet with in the verse now under consideration; so that it would appear as if to the author of the Apocalypse the word "time" were a kind of technical term by which he was accustomed to denote the period of the Church s probation in this world. Lastly, this conclusion is powerfully confirmed by the many passages of the Apocalypse in which it is

12. clear that the Christian dispensation, from its beginning to its end, is looked upon as a "very little while," as hastening to its final issue, and as about to be closed by One who cometh quickly.* The "little time," therefore, of the present chapter during which Satan is loosed, and which, when more fully dwelt upon, is the time of the war spoken of in Rev_20:7-9, is the historical period of the Christian dispensation, during which Satan is permitted to deceive the nations and to lead them against the camp of the saints and the beloved city. It is, in short, the time between the first and second coming of our Lord. The period so often sought in the thousand years of Rev_20:2 is really to be found in the "little time" of Rev_20:3. (* Rev_1:3; Rev_2:16; Rev_3:20; Rev_22:20, etc., 1Co_7:29; Heb_10:37) 3. Attention ought to be particularly directed to the condition of the saints during the thousand years spoken of. It is described in general terms as a first resurrection. Certain words of our Lord in the Gospel of St. John throw important light upon the meaning of this expression: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that have heard shall live,"1 and, again, a little later in the same discourse, "Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth."2 Let us compare these two verses with one another, and the presence of the clause "and now is" in the first, taken along with its omission in the second, leaves no doubt as to the principle on which they are to be interpreted. The first refers to a spiritual, the second to a bodily, resurrection. Here then in the words of our Lord Himself we have the source whence the idea of the "first resurrection" of the Apocalypse is derived. It is not an actual resurrection from the grave, although that resurrection is potentially involved in it. It is a spiritual resurrection in an hour "that now is;" and the fact that this is St Johns meaning is brought out still more clearly by the intimation that what he saw was souls, whose resurrection bodies had not yet been given them.3 (1 Joh_5:25; 2 Joh_5:28; 3 Comp. Rev_6:9) The condition of the saints thought of in this vision is described, however, not only generally, but in various particulars, all of which, it will be seen, correspond with the apocalyptic idea of it even in a present world.And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them. But we have been already told that "they reign over the earth."1 Judgment was given unto them, words which seem best understood in the sense, so peculiar to St. John, that for believers there is in the ordinary sense of the term no judgment. As they have passed through death, so also they have passed through judgment.2 They lived with Christ. But Christ Himself had said in the Gospel, "Because I live, and ye shall live."3 They reigned with Christ. But that is only another method of saying that they sat on thrones, with the added conception, so often associated with the word in the Apocalypse, that their enemies were bruised beneath their feet. Over these the second death hath no authority. But we have before been told of "him that over-cometh" that he shall not be hurt of the second death."4 Finally, they shall be priests of God and of Christ. But it is needless to dwell upon the fact that from the opening of this book such has always been spoken of as the position of believers. (1 Rev_5:10; 2 Comp. the teaching of our Lord in Joh_11:25-26; Joh_5:24; 3 Joh_14:19 (margin of R.V.); 4 Rev_2:11) Nothing, in short, is said of the saints of God in this picture of millennial bliss that does not find a parallel in what the Seer has elsewhere written of their present life. On not a few different occasions their ideal condition in this world is set forth in as glowing terms as is their thousand years glory and joy. One expression may indeed startle us. What the Seer beheld is said to have beenthe souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of

13. God. Is the word "beheaded" to be literally understood? Then a very small number of martyrs can be thought of. The great majority of those who have died for the faith of Jesus have been martyred in other and more dreadful ways. The word is the counterpart of "slaughtered" in the vision of the souls under the altar.* These were the saints of the Old Testament, whose death is described by a term characteristic to the Jewish mind of the mode in which offerings were presented to God. When the Seer passes to the thought of the great Gentile Church, he uses a term more appropriate to the Gentile method of terminating human life. "Beheaded" therefore expresses the same thing as "slaughtered." Both words refer to martyrdom; and both include all faithful ones in the dispensations to which they respectively belong, for in the eyes of St. John all the disciples of a martyred Lord are martyrs. (* Rev_6:9) 4. The meaning of the doom inflicted upon Satan demands our notice. And theangel laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him. It is hardly possible to read these words, at the same time remembering St. Johns love of contrast or even travesty, and not to see in them a mocking counterpart of the death and burial of Jesus, when the stone was rolled to the door of the sepulchre and sealed. If so, it is not enough to say that by the infliction of this doom the power of Satan was restrained, and his influence lessened. Much more must be implied; and the language can only mean that, in one sense or another, Satan was rendered powerless and harmless, as unable to act his part as though he had been laid in the grave. 5. The use of numbers in the Apocalypse ought to be remembered. These numbers are invariably symbolical; and, if the number a thousand is to be here interpreted literally, it seems in that respect to stand alone. Nor is it a reply to this to say that, though not in the strict sense literal, it may signify a period of indefinite length. Such an interpretation would be not less opposed than the former to the genius and spirit of this book. The numbers of the Apocalypse have always a definite meaning. They express ideas, but the ideas are distinct They may belong to a region of thought different from that with which arithmetical numbers are concerned, but within that region we cannot change their value without at the same time changing the thought. We are not to imagine that numbers, in the allegorical or spiritual use made of them by the Jews, might be tossed about at their pleasure or shuffled like a pack of cards. They were a language; and the bond between them and the ideas that they involved was quite as close as it is between the words of ordinary speech and the speakers thoughts. A thousand years cannot mean two, or ten, or twenty, or three hundred and sixty-five thousand years according as we please. If they are a measure of time, the measure must be fixed; and we ought to be able to explain the principle leading us to attach to the number one thousand a value different from that which it naturally possesses. 6. The teaching of Scripture elsewhere upon this subject has to be considered. Upon this point it is unnecessary to say much, for the difference between that teaching and any view commonly taken of the thousand years reign is acknowledged. It ought to be observed, however, that this difference is not merely negative, as if the rest of the New Testament simply failed to fill in certain details of events more largely described in the Apocalypse, but upon the whole substantially the same. The difference is also positive, and in some respects irreconcilable with what we are taught by the other sacred writers. The New Testament, unless this passage be an exception, always brings theParousia and the general judgment into the closest possible connection. It nowhere interposes a lengthened period between the resurrection of believers and that of unbelievers. It knows only of one, and that a general, resurrection; and the passages, such as1Co_15:23-24,

14. and 1Th_4:16-17, usually quoted to support another conclusion, fail when correctly interpreted to do so. When our Lord comes again, He at once perfects the happiness of His saints and makes all His enemies His footstool.1 One text alone may be quoted upon this point While the "first resurrection" is assigned to a date a thousand or even thousands of years before the end, it is several times repeated in the discourse of Jesus in the sixth chapter of St. John that the resurrection of believers takes place at the "last day."2 (1 Mat_25:31-46; Rom_2:5; Rom_2:7; 1Th_4:17; 2Th_1:7-10; 2 Joh_6:39-40; Joh_6:44) 7. One other consideration may be kept in view. It would appear that about the time of the Advent of our Lord there was a widely extended opinion among the Jews, traces of which are also to be found among the Gentiles, that a golden age of a thousand years duration might be anticipated in the future as a happy close to all the sins and miseries of the world.1 Here, it is sometimes urged, is the source of the apocalyptic figure of this chapter, which thus becomes only one of the wild chiliastic expectations of the time. But, even if it be allowed that St. John drew the particular figure employed by him from a general belief of his age, it by no means follows that he accepted the literal interpretation of that belief as the reality and substance of prophetic hope. In many a passage of his book he has undeniably spiritualized hopes of Israel founded on the language of the Old Testament in its outward form. He might easily do the same with what he recognized as a belief, not less widely spread and not less deeply seated in both the Jewish and Gentile portions of the Church. To use the language of the late Archdeacon Lee, "a world-wide belief such as this naturally supplied St. John with symbols and with language wherein to clothe his revelation of the fortunes of the Church, just as he has employed for the same purpose the details of the theocracy, or the imagery of war, or the phenomena and the convulsions of nature."2 In all such cases the determination of the point at issue really rests upon our view of the general tone of the writing in which the difficulty occurs, and on our perception of what will give the unity and harmony to his words for which every intelligent writer is entitled to expect credit at his readers hands. This conclusion is in the present instance strengthened by the fact that St. John did not confine himself to the traditional belief he is said to have adopted. So far from doing so, he occupies himself chiefly with a picture of that overthrow of Satan which seems to have been no part of the belief, and the mould of which is taken from entirely different sources. (1 See authorities in Lee (Speakers Commentary) on Rev_20:2, and his excursus on that chapter; 2 Speakers Commentary, u.s.) Putting together the different considerations now adduced, we can have but little difficulty in understanding either the binding of Satan or the reign of the saints for a thousand years. The vision describes no period of blessedness to be enjoyed by the Church at the close of the present dispensation. Alike negatively and positively we have simply an ideal picture of results effected by the Redeemer for His people, when for them He lived, and suffered, and died, and rose again. Thus He bound Satan for them; He cast him into the abyss; He shut him in; He sealed the abyss over him, - so that againstthem he can effect nothing. He is a bruised and conquered foe. He may war against them, afflict them, persecute them, kill them, but their true life is beyond his reach. Already they live a resurrection and ascended life, for it is a life hid with Christ in God, a life in that "heaven" from which the devil has been finally and forever expelled. They rest upon, they live in, a risen and glorified Redeemer; and, whatever be the age, or country, or circumstances in which their lot is cast, they sit with their Lord in the heavenly places and share His victory. He has been always triumphant, and in His triumph His people even now have part. The glory which the Father gave the Son the Son has given them.1 They cannot sin, because they are begotten of God.2 He that was begotten of God keepeth

15. them, and the evil one toucheth them not.3 This is the reign of a thousand years, and it is the portion of every believer who in any age of the Church shares the life of his risen and exalted Lord. (1 Joh_17:22; 2 1Jn_3:9; 3 1Jn_5:18) Thus also we may comprehend what is meant by the loosing of Satan. There is no point in the future at which he is to be loosed. He has been already loosed. Hardly was he completely conquered for the saints before he was loosed for the world. He was loosed as a great adversary who, however he may persecute the children of God, cannot touch their inner life, and who can only "deceive the nations," - the nations that have despised and rejected Christ He has never been really absent from the earth. He has gone about continually, "knowing that he hath but a short time."* But he is unable to hurt those who are kept in the hollow of the Lords hand. No doubt he tries it. That is the meaning of the description extending from the seventh to the ninth verse of this chapter, - the meaning of the war which Satan carries on against the camp of the saints and the beloved city when the thousand years are finished. In other words, no sooner was Satan, as regards the saints, completely bound than, as regards the world, he was loosed; and from that hour, through all the past history of Christianity, he has been stirring up the world against the Church. He has been summoning the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war. They war, but they do not conquer, until at last fire comes down out of heaven and devours them. The devil that deceived them is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. (* Rev_12:12) The whole picture of the thousand years is in its main features - in the binding of Satan, in the security and blessedness of the righteous, and in the loosing of Satan for the war - a striking parallel to the scenes in chap. 12 of this book. There Michael and his angels contended with the devil and his angels; and the latter "prevailed not,"1 but were cast out of heaven into the earth, so that the inhabitants of heaven are forever safe from them. There the man-child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and from the thought of whom it is impossible to separate the thought of those who are one with Him, is caught up unto God and unto His throne. Finally, there also the dragon, though unable really to hurt the saints, "the rest of the womans seed," makes war upon them, but without result. Of this scene the picture which we have been considering is at once a repetition and a fuller development; and, when we call to mind the peculiarities marking the structure of the Apocalypse, we seem in this fact alone to have no slight evidence of the correctness of the interpretation now proposed.2 (1 Comp. the remarkable parallel in Joh_1:5 : "and the darkness overcame it not.") (2 It is not to be denied that difficulties attend the interpretation of the thousand years suggested in the text. The writer would advert in a note to the two which appear to him to be the most formidable. 1. In Rev_20:3 we read that Satan was cast into the abyss, etc., "that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished." Let it be granted that "the nations" here referred to can hardly be understood in any other sense than that common in the Apocalypse: the heathen, the ungodly, nations or the wicked in general. We then seem to read that there must be a time during which Satan does not "deceive the nations," while the explanation given above has been that he was no sooner subjugated for the righteous than he was let loose to deceive the unrighteous. In his Lectures on the Revelation of St. John (p. 224, note) the author was disposed to plead that the words in question may not have beer intended to indicate that action on Satans part was for a time to cease, but rather to bring out and express that aspect of Satan by

16. which he is specially distinguished in the Apocalypse. In deference to the criticism of the Rev. H. W. Reynolds (Remarks on Dr. Milligans Interpretation of the Apocalypse, pp. 9, 27), he would yield this point. Notwithstanding the irregular constructions of the Apocalypse, it is at least precarious; and it is better to leave a difficulty unsolved, especially in a case where difficulties surround every interpretation yet offered, than to propose solutions of the sufficiency of which even the proposer is doubtful. It may be asked, however, without resorting to the conjecture formerly thrown out, whether the words "that he should deceive," even when taken in what is said to be their only true sense, are irreconcilable with the view of the thousand years advocated in this commentary. - That view is that the subjugation of Satan for a thousand years means his complete subjugation. When, therefore, it is said that he has been so shut up as "to deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished," the meaning may simply be that in the act of being subjected he was deprived alike of authority and opportunity to deceive the nations. It lay within the power of the Conqueror to grant or not to grant him fresh liberty to do so. The "strong man" was then bound, and "his goods were spoiled." He was completely subjected to Christ. When, therefore, we are told of the thousand years during which he was to deceive the nations no more, this language is only the continuation of the figure used in the second verse of the chapter; and what the Seer intends to express is, that during the process of his subjection, and until he should be again loosed by Him who had subjected him, he could do nothing. Satan, in short, must be permitted to come up out of the abyss either in his own person or by his agents before he can disturb the earth (comp. Rev_9:2); and it is the purpose of God that he shall not have power to disturb it until, having been really "brought to nought" by Christ (comp. Heb_2:14), he shall go forth to his evil work among the nations as one who, whatever may be the increase of his wrath (comp. Rev_12:12), has yet been overcome by another far mightier than himself. 2. The second difficulty demanding notice is presented by the words ofRev_20:5, "The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished." Who are these called "the rest of the dead," and in what sense did they "live"? The term "the rest," applied to persons, occurs in the following passages of the Apocalypse in addition to that before us: Rev_2:24; Rev_9:20; Rev_11:13; Rev_12:17; Rev_29:1. In every one of these cases it refers to the remaining portion of a class mentioned, but not exhausted; and it cannot be extended to any class beyond them. Here, however, no class has been spoken of except the righteous, or rather the "souls" of the righteous, described by various particulars both of their character and their state. "The rest" of the dead must therefore belong to that class, and to it alone. They cannot be the general body of mankind, both good and bad, with the exception of those previously mentioned. Again, what is meant when it is said that the rest of the dead "lived"? The same word had occurred in the immediately preceding verse, and it must now be understood in the same sense. "If," says Dean Alford, who has been quoted with great confidence against the present writer (Reynolds, u.s., p. 23), "in such a passage the first resurrection may be understood to mean spiritual rising with Christ, while the second means literal rising from the grave, then there is an end of all significance in language; and Scripture is wiped out as a definite testimony to anything. If the first resurrection is spiritual, then so is the second, which I suppose none will be hardy enough to maintain" (onRev_20:4-6). Now that is exactly what is here maintained. The "lived" of Rev_20:4 is spiritual; the "lived" of Rev_20:5 is also spiritual. The "rest of the dead" then are the Old Testament saints of Rev_6:9, who, by the completion of the Lords redeeming work, were brought up to the level of the New Testament Church. The meaning of Rev_20:5 may thus be said to be that, the New Testament Church having had first bestowed upon it a complete

17. redemption, the same white robes were afterwards given to the Old Testament Church, the succession being again one of thought rather than time. In this wayall the members of Christs body are marked out as having been "dead" before they lived, thus identifying them with their Lord in Rev_1:18; the position of the words at the close of Rev_20:5, "this is the first resurrection," is rendered more natural by their thus following what is wholly a description of the condition of the blessed, instead of having a sentence interposed of an entirely different character; and, finally, to say nothing of the contextual consideration already referred to, the full Johannine force of the word "lived" is preserved. These answers to the two chief difficulties associated with the interpretation here suggested of the thousand years may not be satisfactory to all; but it is submitted that they go far at least to meet them, and that in themselves they are neither unfair nor strained. Against one thing only must the author of this commentary enter his most decided protest, - the allegation that the interpretation here offered is gained by dispensing with textual criticism (?) and by sacrificing grammar to an idea. If there be one ground more than another upon which it rests, it is upon the strictest principles of historical interpretation. It ought only to be remembered that the idiosyncrasies of an author are as much a part of such interpretation as the literal meaning of his words; and that to that interpretation, if honestly and thoroughly conducted, the most deeply ingrained prejudices will in due time be compelled to submit. The three great enemies of the Church have not only been overcome, but judged, and forever removed from all possibility of troubling the righteous more. But the great mass of the wicked have not yet been overtaken by a similar fate. The time has now come to show us in vision what awaits them also: - "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire (Rev_20:11-15)." Upon various particulars mentioned in this passage it is unnecessary to say much. The throne beheld by the Seer is great, at once in contrast with the "thrones" of the millennial reign, and as befitting the majesty of Him who sits upon it. It is alsowhite, as emblematic of His purity and holiness. The Judge is God, the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father; and thus the judgment is searching and complete, and is answered by the consciences of those upon whom it is executed. They see that the Judges eye penetrates into the most secret recesses of their hearts, and that He is One who has been in the same position, has fought the same battle, and has endured the same trials as themselves. Thus His sentence finds an echo in their hearts, and they are speechless.* Thus also judgment becomes really judgment, and not merely the infliction of punishment by resistless power. (* Comp. Mat_22:12) The effect of the Judge s taking His seat upon His throne was thatfrom His face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Yet we are not to understand that after their flight there was neither an earth nor a heaven to be found. It is only the old earth and the old heaven that are spoken of; and almost immediately

18. afterwards the Seer exclaims, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away."1 The change is part of that "restoration of all things" of which St. Peter spoke to the multitude gathered together in Solomons porch,2 of which he then added, "Whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets which have been since the world began," and upon which he dwelt more fully in his second Epistle when he said, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. But, according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."3 In the Epistle to the Romans, too, "creation" longs, not for destruction, but for something akin to that "liberty of the glory of the children of God" which they shall obtain along with their "adoption, to wit, the redemption of theirbody."4 In all these passages it is not the translation of Gods saints to an immaterial sphere that lies at the bottom of the thought. It is rather the idea of change, of the trans figuration, of the glorification, of this present scene into a state corresponding with that of its redeemed inhabitants, when they shall "not be unclothed, but clothed upon,"5 and shall dwell in "spiritual bodies."6 To St. John "heaven" is not an abode of bliss in a scene of which we can form no clear conception, but the spiritual atmosphere in which, alike on this side the grave and on the other, the saints live and move. The "dwellers upon earth" are not those who simply tread its firm soil and breathe its atmosphere, but those who are worldly in their spirit and whose views are bounded by the things of time. The kingdom which Christ establishes is the "kingdom of this world" in its cleansed and purified condition rather than one to which we travel by long and unknown paths. As the Seer looks forward to the future there is nothing to show that he thinks of any other residence for man than that which the Son consecrated by His tomb in Josephs garden and by the glory of the resurrection morning; and even the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to be established upon earth. (1 Rev_21:1 2 Act_3:21; 3 2Pe_3:10; 2Pe_3:13; 4 Rom_8:21-23; 5 2Co_5:4; 6 Comp. 1Co_15:44) Many may doubtless think that such a hope is too earthly, too material, to be suited to the spiritual nature of the Christian dispensation. They fear that it has a tendency to withdraw us from Him who is "spirit," and who must be worshipped, if He is to be worshipped acceptably, "in spirit and truth."1 But any such apprehension is at variance with the fundamental fact of our Christian faith, the incarnation of our Lord, and is little less than the revival of the old Manichean heresy that matter is essentially evil. Two errors have existed, and may exist, in the Church upon this point. We may strip the Gospel of its spiritual element, and may reduce it to a system of outward and material forms, or we may strip it of its material element, and may resolve it into a vague and shadowy mysticism. Both are the errors of extremes, and it would be difficult to say which has wrought most havoc in the Church. If the one was disastrous in the days of the supremacy of Romanism, the other is hardly less disastrous now. To the false and spurious spiritualism which it engenders we owe not a few of the most serious misconceptions of the present time with regard to the person of Christ, the Church, the Sacraments, and the purpose of redemption as a whole.2 (1 Joh_4:24; 2 In connection with the point here spoken of, reference may be made to an interesting and instructive paper by Canon Dale Stewart Rector of Coulsdon, in The Churchman for December, 1887.) To return to the main question in connection with the passage before us. Does it present us with the picture of a general judgment or of a judgment of the wicked alone? There is much in the passage that leads distinctly to the latter conclusion. 1. The whole vision is obviously an enlargement of what we have already met under the

19. seventh Trumpet, when it was said that "the time of the dead to be judged came."* In both visions the persons spoken of as "the dead" must be the same; and they are clearly distinguished in the earlier vision from those called "Thy servants the prophets," the season of whose "reward" was come. With this corresponds the fact that in the writings of St. John the words "to judge" and "judgment" are always used, not in a neutral sense, but in one tending to condemnation. Without some qualifying term the Apostle could hardly have applied them to the acquittal of the righteous. (* Rev_11:18) 2. The sources whence the "dead" are gathered confirm this conclusion. These are three in number: the sea, death, and Hades. Looking first at the two last of these, it is plain that "death" cannot in this connection be the neutral grave, for it is "cast into the lake of fire," where the devil, the beast, and the false prophet are. Similar remarks apply to "Hades," which in Rev_6:8 is the coadjutor of death, and which in the New Testament always appears as a region of gloom, and punishment, and opposition to the truth: " And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven? thou shalt go down unto Hades; "And I also say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."* If such be the sense in which we are to understand death and Hades, light is thrown upon the manner in which we are to interpret the first of the three sources, - "the sea." This cannot be the ocean, because the number of those to be given up from its depths at the last day is comparatively small; because, as the literal sea, it is in no way suitably associated with death and Hades; and because, when we read in Rev_21:1, "And the sea is no more," it is impossible to think that the word is used in any other than a figurative sense. No reason can be imagined why, when the earth is renewed, there should be no more that sea which is one grand instrument of its present greatness and glory. Besides all this, we have hitherto found that in the Apocalypse the "sea" is the emblem of the unruly and troubled nations of the earth, and the source from which the first beast of chap. 13 had his origin. In the same sense therefore we must understand it here. Like "death" and "Hades," "the sea" spoken of can give up none but ungodly dead to the judgment of the great day. (* Mat_11:23; Mat_16:18) 3. The "books" mentioned in the passage are clearly books containing the record of evil deeds alone. When it is said that "books" were opened, and that "another book was opened, which is the book of life," the "books" are distinguished from the "book." It harmonizes with this that the book of life is not opened in order to secure deliverance for those whose names are inscribed in it, but only to justify the sentence passed on any who are cast into the lake of fire. 4. The general teaching of St. John ought not to be lost sight of in considering this question. That teaching is that the eternal condition of the righteous is fully secured to them even in this life, and that in their glorified Head they have already passed through all those preparatory stages on their way to everlasting blessedness at the thought of which they might otherwise have trembled. In Him they have lived, and overcome, and died. In Him they have been raised from the dead, and been seated in the heavenly places. All along they have followed the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, and everything that befell Him has in principle befallen them. We cannot say, in the Johannine sense of the word, that Christ has been "judged;" and therefore "judgment" cannot be predicated of the members of His Body. To these last "judgment," we have already seen, "was given" at the time when they entered on their millennial reign; and, with the result of this judgment (for that is the true meaning of the original) in their hands, it is impossible to think of them as judged again. The judgment of these verses is therefore a judgment of the wicked; and, when it is

20. closed, all Christs enemies have not only been vanquished, but have been banished from the scene where He is to reign " before His ancients gloriously."* The first part of the final triumph has been accomplished. (* Isa_24:23) HAWKER, Revelation 20:1-3 (1) And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, (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. We have here the judgment of Satan, and his being chained for a thousand years. And from that prison, be is not to be loosed, until the thousand years are expired. I pray the Reader to observe, the beautiful order of things, in this divine procedure. First, the beast, and the false prophet, were to be cast into hell. That we saw, done, in the foregoing Chapter. Next comes Satans imprisonment. And that is accomplished in the opening of this Chapter. But, though there spoken of as done, because Johns vision these things were so represented; yet the events have not yet been done. The beast still reigns. The false prophet still exerciseth his delusion. And Satan never more artfully deceived, than he doth now, in the present hour. But these prophecies are to be accomplished in their due course. And here they are recorded in their proper order. And a beautiful, and blessed account it is, taken in one grand whole; and enough to warm the affections of Gods redeemed ones, into an ardent love to the Person of Christ, when God the Holy Ghost graciously becomes our Teacher. I beg the Readers attention to it, in order, First. Here is an Angel seen by John, coming down from heaven, with a key in his hand, and a chain. Now we cannot be at a loss to know who this is; it can be no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. For not only must it be Him, and can be no other, because all power is his in heaven and earth, and he hath the keys of hell and death, Rev_1:18. but because the personal hatred the devil hath to Christ, and the opposition Satan hath made to Christ and his kingdom, renders it peculiarly suitable and proper, that he should have his punishment immediately from Christ himself. Secondly. Here is the power of Christ manifested, in seizing the old serpent, and binding him, and casting him into the bottomless pit, and the time limited for his confinement. Thirdly. Here is also an account of a time of liberation; for the devil when he shall be at liberty for a little season, and when, as it should seem, he shall again deceive the nations, though but shortly. Now some have thought, that this confinement of Satan began, when Christ cast out the devil from the bodies of men, in the days of Christs flesh, and of consequence, the term is expired. And in proof of this opinion, they quote those scriptures, where it is said, that for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the woks of the devil, 1Jn_3:8. And Christ himself said, that he beheld Satan, as lightning fall from heaven, Luk_10:18-19. But to these things it may be said, that the purpose of Christs coming, will be as fully answered by Satans destruction, when the time cometh, as to suppose it hath come. And very certain it is, from the days of Christs being upon earth to this hour, there hath never been a period of shortness, much less of a thousand years, in which the devils influence on the minds of men, hath been restrained. And, moreover, as

21. the imprisonment of the devil, according to the statement in this scripture prophecy, is to follow the burning alive of the beast and the false prophet, and not before these events, and as neither of these events have as yet taken place, it should seem, that there can be but little question, that the time of the devils overthrow by Christ is not yet arrived. I shall take occasion in this place, to offer to the Reader, some few, and, I hope, not unprofitable observations, on this interesting subject of the war Satan hath waged with the Lord Jesus Christ and his people, and on scriptural authority. And I pray God the Holy Ghost, that, from his divine teachings, I may be kept from advancing any one single point, but what is in perfect conformity to the word of God; and the Reader may be preserved from deriving anything in those observations, but what shall be in strict consistently With Gods truth, that both the Writer and Reader of this Poor Mans Commentary may be taught of God, and be mutually blessed by them to the Lords glory, and to our souls furtherance in grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the prosecution of this service, I shall not think it necessary to go over the whole ground of enquiry concerning Satan, and the empire, which from the fall of men he hath established, and in cruelty exercised over the souls and bodies of men, more or less, in every individual instance of the children of Adam. This would be too extensive a subject. But I shall take the matter up from that part, which, unhappily for mankind, is too well confirmed, and too strongly proved to our sorrow, to be called in question. I mean, that there is this evil, and formidable foe to our nature, which walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, 1Pe_5:8. Our adorable Lord hath so very fully drawn the outlines, both of the Person and kingdom of Satan, in his ministry when upon earth, and the Holy Ghost by his servants, both of the Old Testament and the New, have also so very largely set forth, the several horrible features belonging to both, that a reference to those scriptures, will supersede the necessity of advancing a single line, on these plain points. That there is this Prince of the power of the air, as he is called by the Holy Ghost, which worketh in the children of disobedience, and that the Church, as well as the whole Adam race, had their spirits under his government by nature, is a truth not to be controverted, Eph_2:2-3. But the scripture is in a great measure if not altogether, silent, from whence this malignity of Satan to our nature arose, and wherefore this cursed and apostate spirit, hath taken up such a bitter and irreconcilable hatred to man. Some great and distinguished men among the Lords people, gathering into one focus, the several lights which here and there the word of God hath thrown forth upon this subject, have conceived that when the whole rays are centered, they do shine with sufficient clearness, to show, that this malignity of hell first began, when at the fall of those apostate spirits, they took offence at the Son of God, betrothing the nature of man for a spouse for himself, at the call of God the Father, and not marrying the angelic nature. Their high intellectual powers could not stomach this choice. And therefore, rebellion brake out against the counsel and pleasure of the whole Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And, hence the quarrel with the Son of God became personal. Satan attempted to set up a kingdom in opposition to Christs. Hence he began his malignant purposes upon the first man, made in Christs image, in the garden of Eden. And, hence, the war hath continued ever since, and will remain during the whole time-state of the church, and Satans enmity to all eternity. But be this as it may, very sure we are, that such a deadly foe we have, whose captives, both by original and by actual transgression we are, and under whose dominion we must

22. have lain forever; had not God our Savior conquered him for us, and conquered him in us. And it is only by his victory, that we are delivered from the powers of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of Gods dear Son. It is the personal labors of the Son, of God, which have accomplished all the purposes included in redemption; and though all the Persons of the Godhead have manifested the interest they take in this contest, yet the whole efficiency in the executive part of the work is in Christ, and by Christ. Christ, in his own Person, hath subdued Satan f or his people. And by his Holy Spirit, he subdues him in his people. A few leading points on this most interesting of all subjects, will make this matter abundantly clear, and from the warrant and authority of scripture. I began from that part, where the word of God begins; namely, Satans ruining our nature in the instance of the first man in the garden of Eden. Here we date the origin of all the sins and sorrows of life. By the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. So saith the scripture. And so saith common sense. For as in our first father, we all had an inheritance of holiness, had he kept it in which we were all by right interested. So by his loss of it, and the sin involved in that loss, we are, by right of inheritance, included. Adam did then, as many a worthless father doth now, by sin, spent his estate, and left his children beggars. But, Reader! By the way, do not fail to observe, that as by original sin, in a birth-right of nature we had no hand in, we are all implicated in Adams sin and misery, so is it the mercy of the Church, that by the birth-right of grace to all Gods people, we are all interested, and take part in Christs righteousness and glory, in which we bore no hand. So sweetly saith the same scripture. For as by one mans obedience many were made sinners; so, by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous, Rom_5:12 to the end. One caution I beg the Reader to take with him, as he makes application of these scriptures, I mean, that he sees the proof of his relationship, in the right of which the whole depends. Prove yourself my brother, by the birth-right of grace; a child of God, before you lay claim to the privileges of a child. For, as upon the supposition I had not sprung from the first Adam, so called, and none of his blood had ran through my veins, I certainly should not have been implicated, either in his sin or his condemnation; so by a parity of reasoning, unless I can prove my relationship to the second Adam so called, I can lay no claim for an interest in his righteousness and justification. It is the relationship which makes out the right of both. Now both you and I too sadly prove we are sprung from the earthly Adam in nature. Can we as joyfully prove we are born of the heavenly Adam by grace? Sure we are, that we are by generation of the first man, which is of the earth, earthly. Are we as sure, that by regeneration we are of the second man, which is the Lord from heaven, 1Co_15:47. It is truly blessed to observe, how graciously the Son of God, when coming into our world to destroy the works of the devil, took up both our cause and his own, and as the apostate spirit, dared to attack the Lord of Life and Glory, Jesus not only came to redeem his people from his power, but to destroy him, and root out every evil from his kingdom. The Holy Ghost in one sweet verse of scripture, sums up in a comprehensive manner the whole subject. For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to Bondage, Heb_2:14-15. But it would be the subject of a volume, yea, many volumes, to go over the track of ground which the scriptures furnish, in showing, Christs personal triumphs and victories over sin and Satan, death, hell, and the grave. What an huge account might be gathered, if only from that branch of the Lords first open skirmishes with Satan, in his miracles, when dispossessing him from the bodies of men? And then again from the

23. souls of his people? That Christ was the glorious Person interested in this great event, of the destruction of Satan and his kingdom, is evident, from, every consideration. For against Christ as God- Man, and his kingdom as his glory, the devil bent his whole malice. And hence, when Christ wrought his miracles, and especially in those miracles in which he cast out devil, Jesus made an appeal to those works, as so many demonstrations of his kingdom. If I, said Jesus, cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you, Mat_12:28. The first, and greatest act of Christs triumph over Satan, was on, the cross. Here, most eminently might it be said, that, through death, he destroyed him that had the power of death. For the devil is said to have had the power of death, not from his appointing the time of any mans death, or having any power so to do, but because, by his introducing sin, he hath brought death into the world, which God, hath appointed, as the unavoidable consequence of sin, and therefore, the devil is very properly said, on this account, to have been a murderer from the beginning, Joh_8:44. Hence, Christ by his dying for sin, hath removed the cause of death for his people, in the everlasting effects of it. And as by his death and resurrection, he is said to have overcome death and the grave, so in those glorious acts, he here gave the first death-blow to Satan and all his cursed empire; and from the cross and the tomb, the first views of the everlasting mansions of the redeemed were then discovered, 2Ti_1:10. The Holy Ghost, by his servants the Prophets and Apostles, hath caused these victories of Christ to be loudly and joyfully celebrated. The Lord Jesus himself, speaking in the language of prophecy thus delivered the blissful tidings ages before the event was to take place. I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues. O grave, I will be thy destruction; repentance shall be hid from mine eyes, Hos_13:14. And the same is spoken of Christ by the Apostle after the great triumph had been accomplished., And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross and having spoiled principalities and powers (that is, those whom Paul elsewhere calls the rulers of the darkness of this world; see Eph_6:11-12.) he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it, Col_2:13-15. Hence here the Lord Jesus began the first open display of his personal victory over Satan. And hence God the Fathers gracious acknowledgment of the same, with the blessed consequence which were first delivered by prophecy, and confirmed by the event: Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors, Isa_53:12. And in the prospect of this, just before the Lord Jesus entered the field of battle, he cried out; Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world, be cast out, Joh_12:31. Secondly. After the Son of God had accomplished redemption - work, and was returned to glory, he sent down the Holy Ghost for the carrying on this victory in the hearts of his people. It was not sufficient, in Gods view, for Christ personally to conquer Satan, he shall be conquered by Christ mystically, yea, the poorest, the humblest, the feeblest, of the Lords members, in that day shall be as David by his Spirit dwelling in them, Zec_12:8. But while I begin this subject at this point, of Christ first personally triumphing over

24. Satan on the cross, let not the Reader misapprehend, as though none of Christs chosen were enabled by virtue of their union with Christ, to triumph over Satan in the Lords strength before. This would be to mistake my meaning. Instances we have upon record, of old Testament saints, of Job and others who in the strength of Christ, were borne up against the devil and his temptations, before Christ at his incarnation, became manifested to destroy the works of the devil, But what I mean to say, and indeed what the word of God declares, is, that Christ in his own person conquered Satan, at his death, upon the cross, and Christ in his members conquers Satan, when at any time by the influences of his Holy Spirit, he bears them up against his temptations. Now it is blessed to behold Christs triumphs over Satan, in every individual instance of his members, when, at regeneration, the Lord brings them out of his prison and sets their souls at liberty. Indeed, the Lord Jesus calls this work himself, the proof of his grace in the hearts of his people. For when Jesus sent Paul to preach the Gospel, his commission ran in these words, I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou host seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me, Act_26:16-18 And although the enemy, doth rally again and again, and endeavors to draw back to his prison-house the souls a those that was once led captive by him at his will; yet, blessed be God, there is that, in every truly regenerated soul, which in Christs strength keeping them alive, (the Lord himself being their strength,) that enables the child of God to resist the devil stedfastly in the faith. And, if at any time the Lord, to show them their own nothingness, and his all sufficiency, permits the enemy, as in the case of Job, to come on more furiously, yet the end is, but for the greater glory of God, the greater good of his people, and the greater disgrace of Satan. Yea, even in those cases where, for the moment, the child a God falls, and is led away by the enemy, yet, even then like a captive, reluctantly obliged to march, be goeth on sullen and displeased. And when the grace of Christ recovers him, as Peter was recovered by one look of Jesus, oh! how godly sorrow springs up in the soul afresh, and he cries out, rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me, Mic_7:8-9. Thirdly. But the victory of Christ, in his own Person, over Satan, and the triumphs of Christ in his members, during the time-state of the Church, are here followed by the tremendous one, the opening of this Chapter presents to us. The Son of God having thrown down Pagan Rome, Papal Rome, and the false Prophet, here seizeth upon Satan, the ringleader of all, and being now about at this period of his Church, to set up a visible kingdom in this world, and before the final day of judgment, he shuts up the devil for a thousand years, that he shall not, during that time, afflict the people of God, either with persecutions or temptations. What events will mark this era of the Church, and to what extent the blessings of the Lords people will reach, we have no further account, than that it will be a time of great ingathering to the Lord. There will be, according to the predictions of scripture concerning it, the more immediate presence of God our Savior in the midst of his people. Ezekiel speaking of it, said, that the name of the city from that day; shall be Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there, Eze_48:35. There will be a great pouring in of the Lords people, gathered out of all nations. In allusion to this day, it should seem, is that scripture. Thy people shall all be righteous, Isa_60:21. Not more righteous in themselves, for Christ is the

25. righteousness of his people, but all of them shall be righteous in being brought home by the Spirit to Christ. There will be true spiritual ordinances, and a true spiritual ministry. Pastors after Gods heart, and watchmen that shall see eye to eye. And the people shall have one heart and one way, and serve the Lord with one consent, Jer_32:39; Jer_3:15; Isa_52:8. Fourthly, and finally. The Lord Jesus will bring Satan, with all his hellish crew at the day of judgment, and completely execute his wrath upon him and them, by fixing them in eternal punishment in hell. This is read to us, verse 10 (Rev_20:10). And the devil that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And let all the people say, Amen and Amen. Reader! pause one moment more over the wonderful subject, and with me, bless God for the graciousness of those discoveries, concerning both the ruin of Anti-Christ and the devil, and all his works. How little should we have known of these things, but for our Lord Jesus in these sweet records. How little do we even now meditate upon them, in a way equal to their vast importance. Think how the Church above, have been watching over these events, which have taken place below since their translation. Think how the spirits of just men made perfect in the Patriarchs, and Prophets, and Martyrs, who died in the faith of Christ before the coming of Christ, when they beheld Christ combating with the devil, in the wilderness, and in the garden, and when by his death he overcame death and the devil, and by his blood paid their ransom, which God had trusted him for, and for which they were received into glory. That those departed have an intimate knowledge of these things is certain, for we find them (Rev_6:10) crying with a loud voice for vengeance on their murderers, when God explained to them the reason, wherefore they were to wait a little season for the accomplishment of their wishes. And, therefore, how must they have looked on and beheld with holy joy, the Lord Jesus casting down the beast and the false prophet alive in the lake of fire, and chaining Satan for a thousand years in the bottomless pit. And, oh! what joy, what shouts of praise will burst forth from the whole army of heaven, when all the accursed crew, shall be finally sent together into everlasting perdition, and their sentence and execution be in the full view of the congregated world of angels and of men. COX 1-3, The question arises here, as in all parts of the Revelation, as to just who is to be the judge in deciding what parts of a given verse are to be interpreted literally and which parts symbolically. Who gives the millennialist the right to decide that one word is literal while the very next word is symbolic, then to ostracize another Christian for daring to sugg

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