CHAPTER
20
By
the time we reach chapter 20 we have
seen the church age come and go. We have seen Satan attempt to take
over our
Lord’s true churches, but in chapter 17 we have seen the utter
destruction of all his attainments concerning the churches. We have
seen the
terrible wrath of God being poured out upon this old wicked, God hating
world.
We have seen the utter and complete destruction of the fighting power
of this
old world at Armageddon. We have seen the Lord of Glory just say the
word and
the commanding officers of all the mighty armies of the world, their
aides, and
all that pertains to them are slain by that Word. We have seen “the beast and the false prophet” rise
up and perform their wicked and evil work. Then we have seen them being
taken
and “cast into the lake of fire”
alive.
In chapter 13 we saw Satan
giving his power,
and even his throne to “the beast and
the false prophet.” Now it would appear that when these two are
cast into
the lake of fire they still have Satan’s power. In chapter 12
we saw
that it took Michael, the archangel, and his angels to subdue Satan and
cast
him down to the earth. But now we see in verse 1 of the chapter
before
us that an angel comes down from heaven and binds old Satan. This angel
is not
called an arch-angel neither is he called a mighty angel, but rather
just an
angel. Nothing is said about his having any help in the matter of
binding this
once mighty foe of God and of His people. The anointed cherub of Ezekiel
28:14
who, no doubt, was honored above any of his fellow angels is now being
bound by
just an angel.
We
are told that this angel has “the key
of the bottomless pit.”
In 9:1 we see this key being given to
the fallen star who is none other than old Satan himself. This word “key” (KLEIS) as we have already said in
chapter 9 usually means
authority. In fact, I know of no place in the New Testament where this
word
means a small metallic instrument used to unlock a door, or to turn on
the
ignition in a car. This angel here in verse 1 simply has
God-given
authority over this bottomless pit. This
“great
chain” in the hand of this angel is from HALUSIS
which can mean a cord, or a chain as we know chains, but it
also has the meaning of restraint or to restrain. So, could this chain
speak of
God’s restraining power? He who spake the word and the universe came
into
being, He who restrains the innumerable bodies in the universe that
they
neither get off their prescribed course nor change their prescribed
speed can
also say the word and Satan will be more securely bound than all the
material
chains in the world could bind him. Enemies of the Bible make light of
the idea
of binding a spirit with a chain. And we must admit that they have a
point if
we contend that this “great chain”
is a literal chain. This angel could not tie this chain around Satan’s
neck,
because he has no neck. He could not tie it around his body, because he
has no
body. But if we contend that this Greek word HALUSIS
here in this particular Scripture means God’s great
restraining power, these enemies of the Bible can take it, or leave it. The
enemies of the Bible also hoot at the
millennial reign of our Lord because they do not find the word
“millennium” in
the Bible. Some of them do this through ignorance. Others of them do it
maliciously. Just as the word century means one hundred years, the word
“millennium”
means one thousand years. Six times in this short chapter we see the
expression
“thousand years,” and you can substitute
the word “millennium” in every one of those six places and you would
not change
the meaning of the Scripture one iota. So if you deny the millennial
reign of
Christ on the grounds the word “millennium” is not found in the Bible,
please
remember you either do it through ignorance, or you do it with
malicious
intent. In
verse 3 Satan is “cast” “into the
bottomless
pit” where he is “shut up” and
the pit is sealed. This seal does not mean that the mouth of this pit
is sealed
up with mortar and stone. Something of this nature would not deter old
Satan in
the least. You will recall that the seal that protects the hundred and
forty-four thousand during the great tribulation will be the name of
their God
upon their foreheads. So this seal may very well be a statement to the
effect, “Beyond
here Satan cannot go.” We would not try to put words in God’s mouth,
but I do
believe this seal will consist of some statement of God’s choosing. The
thing that rejoices our hearts here in this
verse is the fact that Satan will not be able to deceive any one during
this
glorious millennium. Though there will be millions, yea, billions of
lost
people living upon this earth during that glorious age, still not one
person
will be deceived during that time by him who has been the arch deceiver
through
the ages. Also
in this verse we see that which may puzzle
some of us. No doubt, many of
the saints through the centuries have wondered why God does not cast
Satan into
the Lake of fire along with the beast and the false prophet and be
finished
with him. But God still has a task for Satan to do. It may look as if
Satan has
done his dirty work all on his own, but let us re member, it was all
done
according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. There
are those
who say that Adam thwarted God’s plan and purpose for mankind when he
fell in
the Garden of Eden. But I say unto you that if Adam had not fallen into
sin in
that Garden, he would have completely wrecked God’s plan and purpose
for
mankind. It was not accident or happen so that Adam fell. In Revelation
13:8
we learn that our Lord was slain from the foundation of the world. The
fall of
Adam did not bring about a crisis in God’s economy. There was no need
for God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to call a council to
determine
what should be done in this emergency, for there was no emergency. The
council
had already determined what was to be done way back in the eternity of
the past
long before there was an Adam. But in due time Adam was brought on the
scene,
and he played his part perfectly. So
it is with Satan. God’s foreordained plan and
purpose requires that Satan be turned loose for “a little
season” at the end of the thousand year reign of our Lord.
In verse 7 we see him being turned loose upon the world. And in
verse
8 we learn why God foreordained that he should be turned loose upon
the
world. There will be untold numbers of people living on this earth
during the
millennial reign of Christ who are lost people. They will be outwardly
subject
to Christ’s rule because of two things. One of these things will be the
rod of
iron in the hand of our Lord. The other thing is the fact that during
this time
Satan is bound in “the bottomless pit”,
therefore, he is utterly unable to lead this great host of people to
oppose the
Lord. God
could destroy this great host of lost people
in any way He chose to do so. And He has chosen the way He plans to
destroy
them. Satan is turned loose upon them. He goes out to deceive this
great host
of people. His spirit of opposition to God enters them, and they follow
old
Satan like the Pied Piper’s mice to their destruction. We see them
gathered
together to battle against the Lord and His saints. We are told that
the number
of old Satan’s army “is as the sand of the
sea.” It may
very well be that when this vast army has completely surrounded the
saints and
the city of Jerusalem some of the saints may say as Elisha’s servant
said in
the long ago, “Alas, my master! how
shall we do?” (II Kings 6:15). But just as God
smote those Syrians with blindness, He will devour this vast army with
fire
from heaven. In
verse 10 now that Satan has performed
the task that he alone is fitted to do, he is “cast into
the lake of fire” “where
the beast and the false prophet are.”
Please note, this is where these two men still are. They are to be cast
into
this lake of fire at the beginning of the thousand year reign of our
Lord. Then
at the end of that thousand years the old devil is to be cast in there
where
they still are. These three great buddies will have plenty of time to
talk
about their saint killing days, but their saint killing days are over
when this
time comes. We see that old Satan is to be “tormented …
for ever and
ever.” These people who talk about hell being a place where the
wicked are
consumed will certainly wish it were that way when they find themselves
in
there with these three diabolical characters. We
have purposely skipped over verses 4-6
in order that we might trace
Satan’s trail to his eternal destination. So now let us go back and
consider
these verses which deal with an altogether different subject. In
verse 4 John saw thrones with those
who are to reign with Christ sitting upon these thrones. Authority is
given to
them that they may administer justice. In 5:9 we learn that the
redeemed
are to reign as kings in the earth. So here John sees them taking their
seat
upon their thrones. Then, too, John saw “the
souls of” the ones who had been “beheaded
because of their witness of Jesus”, and their faithfulness to God’s
Word.
Sometimes there is danger of our thinking that the soul and the spirit
are one
the same. But that is not true. In Hebrews 4:12 we find that
the soul
and the spirit can be divided, or separated. That could not be true if
they
were one and the same thing. Then too, they are from altogether
different Greek
words. Soul comes from PSUCHE
whereas spirit comes from PNEUMA.
The word PSUCHE means life, persons,
or individuals. In Acts 2:41 we read, “There
were added unto them about three thousand souls.”
Everyone must admit that the word “souls”
here means people, and it comes from the same Greek word PSUCHE.
So John saw the people who had been beheaded because of
their faithfulness to Jesus and to the Word. Then
John saw these souls (people) come to life,
that is, he witnessed their resurrection. But remember, these are the
people
who refuse to worship the beast, or his image. Therefore, they are of
necessity
the saints who are slain during the terrible tribulation time. During
this age
in which we live this beast will not come on the scene to be
worshipped. So
this resurrection that John sees here takes place at the end of the
tribulation
period. There are two phases of the first resurrection just as there
are two
phases of our Lord’s second coming. The first phase of this first
resurrection
takes place at the end of this church age before the tribulation period
begins, I Thessalonians 4:16. In fact, it is the thing that
separates the church
age and the tribulation period. And though seven years separates these
two
phases of the first resurrection, they are both termed the first
resurrection
because they have to do with the saints. These who are resurrected at
the end
of the tribulation are also given to reign with Christ during the
thousand
years. In
verse 5 we see that which those who
teach a general resurrection must
either ignore or outright deny. It is utterly impossible for anyone to
believe
what we see here in this verse and at the same time believe that the
saved and
the lost will be resurrected at the same time. In verse 4 we
saw the
tribulation saints being resurrected and reigning with Christ for a
thousand
years. And here in verse 5 we
are told plainly that “the rest of
the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.”
Even I have sense enough to see that this teaches, beyond any possible
doubt
that the wicked dead must remain in their graves until the saints have
reigned
with Christ for a thousand years. In
verse 6 we are told that “blessed (or happy) and holy is” the person
who “has part in the first resurrection.”
This is true whether this person is raised before the tribulation
begins or
whether he is raised after the tribulation is ended. It applies to both
phases,
and, therefore, it applies to all the saints who have been raised and
to those
who have been changed at His coming. We are told that over such, that
is, over
all the saints of God, “the second death hath no power (or
authority).”
We shall (our Lord willing) deal with this second death when we come to
verse 13.
Then we see that these (all the saints) over whom the second death has
no
authority are to be priests of God and of Christ, and that they are to “reign with Him a thousand years.” Verse 4 speaks
only of the tribulation saints reigning with
Christ, but verse 6
brings in all the rest of the saints. Then
when we come to verses 11-15 we
see that which we, while
still in these bodies of ours, cannot delight in. We say that what we
see here
is just and right. And to the best of our ability we believe this to be
true.
But still we simply cannot delight in it. But when that time comes we
will be
in our glorified bodies, and to some extent we will be able to see sin
as God
sees it. Then, and then only, will we be able to rejoice at seeing the
wicked
cast into hell. In
verse 11 John “saw a great white throne.” And
not only that, he saw the One who
was seated on that throne. This One on this throne is none other than
the Lord
Jesus Christ. In John 5:22 we read, “The
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.”
So this One “from whose face the earth
and the heaven” flee “away” is
God the Son. There will be no place for the earth or the heaven at this
terrible time. All attention is riveted to the task at hand. Eternal
destinies
occupy the thinking of every one present. There is no time nor any
desire to
think of earthly things. In
verse 12 we find that not only does
John see the throne and Him who sat upon it, but he “saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God.” These dead
people are not lying around before God, they are standing before Him.
This
certainly means that these people are not dead physically, but rather
they are
those who are dead spiritually. In Acts 10:42 and I Peter
4:5 we
learn that our Lord is to judge both the living (saved people)
according to
their works. This has nothing to do with our being saved or lost. A
person
cannot so much as be present at this judgment unless he or she is
already
saved. This judgment has to do with our rewards, not with our eternal
destiny.
In I Corinthians 3:15 we see that those whose works are all
burned up
are still saved. They are saved simply because they are on the
foundation,
verses 11-12. But
here in Revelation 20:12 we see these people are already dead
(spiritually) before they are judged. Just as a person has to be saved
in order
to be in the judgment in I Corinthians 3:11-15
and in II Corinthians 5:10 so a person has to be
lost in order for him to be here, at this white throne judgment. We
see “the
books” are “opened” and also “the
Book of Life” is opened. The books here contain the record of
the
things these lost people have done. And these lost people are judged
according
to the “things” that have been “written in
these books.” There are
those who seem to think that all who go to hell will suffer just alike.
But
there are two things that convince me that this is not true. These
people are
judged “according to their works.”
If all suffer alike, this would be a mockery. People do not come before
this
awful white throne to find out whether they are lost or saved. They are
condemned already, John 3:18. It is true that a great host of
these lost
people will try to convince God that He has made a mistake in their
case, but
it will avail them nothing, Matthew 7:22-23.
Then my other reason for believing that the lost will
not all suffer alike is that God is a just God. And justice demands
that these
lost people suffer “according to their
works.” For the lost person who has lived a moral life, who has
never been
guilty of stealing, robbing, killing, and all such things to suffer as
much as
a Hitler, “the beast”, or “the false prophet”
would be the height
of injustice. So it behooves the lost person to live a good moral life.
He will
be glad he did throughout all eternity. I do not want anyone to get the
idea
that hell will be a pleasure resort for any lost person. Neither do I
want anyone
to get the idea that I believe all lost people will suffer alike. In
verse 13 we see that the sea will give
up the dead who are in it. Also that death and hades (not hell) give up
their
dead. One of the puzzling things about our King James translation is
why the Translators
rendered the word HADES as “hell.” The
word “hell” comes from GEENNA
and is found only twelve times in the New Testament. Our Lord used this
word
eleven times in Matthew, Mark,
and Luke. Then it is found one other time in James 3:6.
Other translations on the verse before us say “death and
HADES.” “Hades”
is no more the ultimate hell than the county jail is the penitentiary.
Hades is
the place where the wicked dead are confined awaiting the great white
throne
judgment. When this verse says “the
sea gave up the dead which were in it” it is talking about
the
bodies of the dead which are in the sea. There is to be a resurrection
of the
wicked dead at the end of the millennial reign of our Lord. The lost
people are
to be given immortal bodies. And by that I mean they are to be given
bodies
that can never die again. Oh, how they will wish throughout all
eternity that
they could die, but their resurrected bodies will last as long as ours,
that
is, for ever and ever. In
verse 14 we see two things that I did
not see for many years. Since there is to be no more death at least, as
we know
death, we see death being cast “into the
lake of fire”. Now that all the wicked dead have been brought up
out of
Hades, there is no further use for this place. But since it has been
the place
where the wicked dead have been kept throughout all the centuries, it
is so
contaminated with sin that our Lord just flings it over into “the lake of fire” as you would fling a
stinking dead rat from your presence. Then
I once thought that the second death was
the lost person’s being cast into “the
lake of fire”. If we follow our Authorized Version alone, we would
have to
say that our Lord’s casting “death and
Hades” “into the lake of fire”,
would be “the second death”. But,
after a closer study on the subject I am persuaded that the lake of
fire itself
is “the second death”. In verse 12 we saw that “the Book of Life” was present at this awful judgment. It will not be there for the purpose that the other books will be. No one here will be judged out of the things written in this Book. This is the Book in which the names of our Lord’s elect ones were written way back before the world was, Revelation 13:8. No one will be cast into the lake of fire because of his works. He will suffer in this awful place according as his works have been. But there is one, and only one reason why these people are cast into this place. And that reason is because their names are not in “the Book of Life”. That is why this Book is to be at this awful judgment. If a person cannot find his name in this wonderful Book, he has no other recourse. |