Chains, Thrones, and a Thousand Years

20:1-3The key, the chain and the pit

"I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand." The abyss is the place where the powers of darkness are held (9:1-2). There a fallen star had been given its key and opened the pit; now an angel holds the key and shuts it.

The dragon is named four ways, just as in 12:9: "the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan." The one who seemed so terrifying is seized by a single angel. No battle is recorded. He is bound "for a thousand years," cast into the abyss, shut in, and "sealed it over him," the way a stone and seal closed Daniel's den (Daniel 6:17) and later Jesus' tomb (Matthew 27:66).

The reason is stated plainly: "that he should deceive the nations no more." This is the heart of the binding. He is not stopped from existing, but from the specific work of deceiving the nations, the lie behind emperor worship and every counterfeit religion. Isaiah foresaw a time when God would imprison "the army of the high ones on high" and "the kings of the earth," shut up in the prison and, "after many days," "visited" (Isaiah 24:21-22).

And then a strange line: "After this, he must be freed for a short time." "Must" is the language of divine purpose. Even the devil's release is on God's timetable. Jesus himself spoke of binding "the strong man" to plunder his house (Matthew 12:29), and said, "Now the prince of this world will be cast out" (John 12:31).

20:4Thrones for the beheaded

"I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them." The scene comes straight from Daniel 7. There "thrones were placed" and a horn "made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High" (Daniel 7:9, 21-22). Daniel's saints suffered, and then they were vindicated. So do John's.

Who sits on these thrones? John names them: "the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God," and "such as didn't worship the beast nor his image." The word for "beheaded" comes from the Greek for an axe. Many scholars think the second description fills out the first, so that one company of faithful witnesses is described two ways, those who died and those who refused. Others think it widens the circle to all faithful believers.

Notice the word "souls." We met these "souls" in 6:9, under the altar, crying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood?" The people who sat on the lowest step in heaven now sit on thrones, and those whom Rome called guilty have judgment placed in their hands.

"They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." The verb "lived" is the very one used of Jesus in 2:8: the first and the last, "who was dead, and has come to life." They share his resurrection life, and they share his throne (3:21).

20:5-6The first resurrection and the second death

"The rest of the dead didn't live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." If there is a first resurrection, there must be a second, and Jesus did teach that all will hear his voice and come out of the tombs, "those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29).

Then comes the fifth of the seven blessings in this book: "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power." The words "second death" first appeared in Jesus' letter to Smyrna, a church facing prison and death: "He who overcomes won't be harmed by the second death" (2:11). The first death is the one every body goes through. The second, as we will read in 20:14, is the final judgment. Those who belong to Jesus will go through the first at most, never the second.

And their future is not sitting on clouds. "They will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him." The titles have been building since 1:6, "he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father," and 5:10, where the redeemed are made "kings and priests" who "will reign on the earth." In Israel these roles were mostly kept apart, kings from Judah and priests from Levi. Now both belong to the people the world thought were nothing. Paul put it simply: "If we endure, we will also reign with him" (2 Timothy 2:12).

20:1-6Three main ways Christians read the thousand years

The phrase "thousand years" appears six times in verses 2 to 7, and thoughtful readers disagree about what it means.

Premillennial readers believe Christ returns before the thousand years. They see chapter 20 following chapter 19 in sequence: Satan is bound, the faithful dead rise bodily in the first resurrection, and Christ reigns on earth before a final rebellion and judgment. Some early Christian writers held this, and many believers since.

Amillennial readers believe the thousand years describes the present age, from Christ's first coming to his return. Satan is bound in the sense that he can no longer prevent the gospel from reaching the nations, and the "first resurrection" is either new life with Christ (Ephesians 2:5-6) or the faithful dead reigning with him in heaven. They see Revelation as telling the same story several times from different angles, so chapter 20 looks back over the same ground as chapter 19. This has been very widely held across the history of the church.

Postmillennial readers expect the gospel to spread so widely that a long era of blessing comes before Christ returns, and that he comes after it.

Each view takes the text seriously, and each has questions to answer. Good Christians can open the same page and see it differently, and we do not need to ridicule one another to love the Bible.

20:1-6What every orthodox reader holds

Look at what the views share, because the shared ground is large and firm. First, Christ reigns. Whether now, or visibly in the future, or both, the Lamb who was killed rules over every power. Second, Satan is a prisoner, not a rival. An angel with a chain handles him, and even his future release is something that "must" happen under God's rule. Third, the martyrs are vindicated. Those who were put to death for Jesus are not forgotten losers. They live and they reign. Fourth, resurrection is real and bodily. Christians of every view confess that the dead will be raised, "each in his own order," Christ the first fruits, then those who are his at his coming (1 Corinthians 15:23). Fifth, the second death has no power over those who belong to Jesus, because he has already passed through death and out the other side (Romans 6:9). And sixth, final judgment and a new creation follow, which is where the book is heading.

The gospel is behind all of it. "For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). That exchange is why anyone can have "part in the first resurrection." Tomorrow the chain is unlocked, and we see the last rebellion.