When the Tribulation days shall have run their course, Christ shall come with His saints, and having cast down all opposing powers, will fling Satan into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, during which time He, with the saints, shall rule over the earth. At the end of the millennium Satan will be temporarily released, but he and his quickly gathered followers will be cast into the final hell forever. At that time also the unsaved dead of all the ages will be resurrected and after being judged according to their works will be given their portion in perdition.
Revelation 20
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.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 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.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
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 for ever and ever.
11 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.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; 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.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:1-3 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:4-6 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:7-9 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:10 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:11 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:12-13 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:14-15 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 20:1-6 – The Millennial Reign
In the preceding chapter the beast and the false prophet are depicted as meeting their punishment in the lake of fire. In this, the devil, death, and Hades are consigned to a similar fate. The imagery is apparently drawn from that fearful tragedy which left so deep an impression on the ancient world. See Genesis 14:10; 19:24; Jude 1:7. The last reference is especially interesting, because there, the fate of the cities of the plain is quoted as an example of eternal fire. May it be ours to participate in the first resurrection!
Let our loins be girded and our lamps trimmed, that we may be found of Christ in peace, at our posts, and prepare to enter with Him into the bridal feast. This is a more solemn and critical consideration than the majority of Christians seem to suppose. In fellowship with their Lord, His people are to exert in a godly direction the same kind of influence over the affairs of men, as the rulers of darkness in an ungodly sense now exercise. Thank God, every morning brings that blessed day nearer. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Revelation 20:7-15 – Before the Great White Throne
Gog and Magog take us back to Genesis 10:2; see also Ezekiel 38-39. It would seem that this great confederacy of the northern nations against the beloved city, Jerusalem, will be led by Satan, and overwhelmed once and for all by the direct judgment of God.
The final judgment is depicted in Revelation 20:11-15. God’s people will not appear at that bar. All the human family will be arraigned, save those whose names are in the book of life, John 5:24. See Exodus 32:32; Daniel 12:1; Philippians 4:3; and Revelation 21:27. Death and Hades will surrender their contents. What a marvelous audience! The throne is great, because of the destinies to be decided; and white, because of the immaculate purity of the Judge, who will be none other than our Lord. See John 5:22; Acts 17:31. The books will surely include conscience; Romans 2:15-16; God’s Word, John 12:48; and the tablets of memory, Luke 16:25. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Revelation 20:11—A great white throne.
Great, because of the great causes that will be decided there; the great destinies that will impinge; the great God who will sit there; the great eternity which will be decided for good or bad.
White, because of its immaculate purity. Sir Walter Raleigh, involved in a net-work of malice, and unjustly condemned to die, turned from the earthly court in which he had suffered vile insult and cruel wrong to the thought of heaven’s unimpeachable truth. being ferried from Westminster to his dark cell in the Tower, which we visit with hushed footsteps and bated breath, he wrote by lamplight of
“Heaven’s bribeless hail,
Where no corrupted voices brawl,
No conscience molten into gold,
No forged accuser bought or sold,
No cause deferred, no vain-spent journey–
For Christ is there, the King’s Attorney.”
Throne, because a King will sit there, the Son of Man, the Son of God. What a change is here! He that hung upon the cross in shame, shall sit upon the throne in glory. He who stood condemned before the earthly tribunal, shall decide the destinies of the race, and reveal the principles of the Divine government.
But that judgment will not affect those who have fled to the refuge of his wounds. These cannot come into judgment. Let us always distinguish between the judgment of the world-spirit, when Jesus died; the judgment of sin on the cross; the judgment which awaits each believer as to the use he has made of his talents, and the work he has done in the world; and finally, the last great judgment which has to do with those who have refused the love and light of God, and have voluntarily cast in their lot with Satan. —Our Daily Homily