As we get closer and closer to the climactic conclusion of the vision of Revelation, we can feel the heat of the ensuing confrontation. We know the beast and the dragon must ultimately be confronted and dealt with. For this, we need to pick up in the last paragraph to the nineteenth chapter.
Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
And so we find ourselves at that great and final confrontation, which seems to be over as quickly as it begins. Once God decides to act and deliver creation from the order of death and darkness, it’s over. There is no waiting. God’s deliverance is here and the process of renewal commences unhindered. We are told kings of the earth come to fight against the victorious Rider who is called Faithful and True. All the caesars and kings, governors and commanders, emperors and pharaohs line up for battle, but they are too late. The beast is captured, along with the false prophets who performed the signs (more allusions to Exodus, perhaps?), and they were thrown into the lake of burning sulfur.
What I think most of us miss is that this has all happened before in the Book of Daniel. Because of our Christian theology and its relentless focus on the last day of judgment, I think we read these passages and immediately start thinking of people — souls being cast into eternal torment. But what should be clear by now is that we are talking about images of empire and the false imperial narrative holding the world hostage. That John calls us directly to Daniel 7:11 for this image should reinforce the point. Daniel, a book written about the injustice of empire, had already used this apocalyptic image to make the same point. John simply reemploys this mechanic to do so again.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
John then describes an angel descending from heaven, with the keys to tehom — Hebrew for “the abyss.” This is a call back to the beginning of the story of Genesis. We are told in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, that darkness was over tehom; and out of that primordial chaos, God spoke order into being. This angel descends with the keys to that primordial chaos where it all began. The dragon, “the Satan” in the Hebrew mind, is seized and thrown into that tehom so the nations might see things as they truly are.
Many get hung up on the phrase that Satan “must be set free for a short time.” But we usually miss that John is continuing to run right down the narrative of Daniel for his apocalyptic purposes. When the Text speaks of the Abyss being “sealed up” over him — having just referenced the book of Daniel — everyone would have realized it is the same phrase used when Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den so that (as the Book of Daniel puts it) “the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel.” God is shutting up Satan in the Abyss in order to accomplish His purposes.
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 about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share 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.
Ah, yes — the famous “millennial reign” passage. I hope we notice how obscure this reference is for all the hoopla made over it. We argue about pre-millennial, post-millennial, or a-millennial and draw entire eschatological theologies about this lone passage. It seems a bit overdone and out of place by now, I hope. At this point in our journey, numbers should make us think more like an easterner and less like a mathematician. This thousand-year reign is the Jewish equivalent of talking about an era or epoch of time. This is a Jewish way of saying, “There will be an era where the Kingdom of God is seen clearly for what it is.” It’s an apocalyptic message of hope, that all of this struggle isn’t in vain.
And this is reinforced by John’s statement above, which happens to be the point of that paragraph; this is usually missed as we argue about the millennial reign of Christ. You see, John wants everybody to know that all of those who have given their lives notto worship the beast and take his mark — all of those who gave their lives to live rightly — they get to reign with Christ. This is all a continual reference to Daniel (see Daniel 7:9).
Jewish belief in the first century, built upon their understanding of the vision of Daniel, was that those who died unjustly for walking the paths of righteousness would be honored in “the resurrection.” As the Jews looked forward to the “age to come” — or olam haba, as we’ve studied before — they pictured a world where everything was made right and justice ultimately prevailed. Jewish apocryphal works spoke about the righteous ones who died for righteousness being raised in the resurrection to reign with God and help Him restore the world. This happens to be where John goes next in the paragraph above as he references a first resurrection and a second death, which is often confusing to us, and I’ve witnessed some incredible theological gymnastics performed in order to make these references make sense in our eschatology.
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 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 and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
John is not naive to the fact that the future lying ahead of us will be hard and filled with toil. He mentions that when Satan is “released” from his Abyss, he will mount one last effort to overthrow the true King, assembling all of the nations and Gog and Magog (more references from the Tanakh) for that great and final battle in the Valley of Jezreel — the battle of Armageddon. All of this will be far too little, far too late for Satan, as the beast, the dragon, and the picture of empire is done away with — forever.
It would be worth reminding ourselves that if we read these things too literally, we completely miss the point John is making, and we might turn his apocalyptic vision of encouragement into a crystal ball of future happenings. This is John’s message: It looks like empire is winning. It will not. You must overcome, because in the end, the dragon and the beast are defeated. Even when he mounts his last gasping attempt, God’s kingdom emerges victorious.
Or in Jesus’s words from the gospels, “ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, … do not believe it.” Just go about the business of bringing God’s kingdom — God’s shalom — crashing into earth. To try to figure out how all of these images fit into current events is a gigantic adventure in missing the inspired point of Revelation.
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 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. 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 they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
John closes with even more references to Daniel. The idea of the Book of Life is not a Christian idea; the book of Daniel spoke of the sefer chayyim long before the New Testament did. In fact, Jews believe the “Book of Life” is recited every Yom Kippur as God justifies the righteous each year. Again, John’s larger point here is that everything is being made right, not one name is forgotten, and everything is being put in its appropriate place.
And in case we were waffling on what the “second death” and “first resurrection” were, John tells us at the closing of chapter twenty. The “first death” is the obvious one that all of us will experience. The “second death” is the final destruction of evil and the Devil once and for all. The “second death” is the final victory of the Order of Life. In the same way, the “first resurrection” is the apocalyptic belief that the righteous will be given their opportunity to reign in the world to come. The “second resurrection” is the final victory that ushers in such a world for all of eternity.
Pictures and images.
Pictures and images.
Are the pictures true? Sure.
Do we know how these would look in a literal application? Not at all.
What is John’s point? Hope. John’s point is hope. John’s point is that God wins.
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