Sunday School Notes: Revelation 20:1-3
1 And I saw another angel coming down from heaven having the key of the abyss and a large chain in his hand. 2 And he restrained the dragon, the serpent of old who is Diabolos and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years. 3 And he threw him into the abyss and locked and placed a seal upon it so that he would no longer lead the nations astray until the 1,000 years will be completed. After these things it is necessary to release him for a short while.
With chapter 20, the judgments come to an end. Satan receives his final punishment, along with all those who follow him: the beast, the false prophet, and all whose names are not in the book of life. There are a number of points in this chapter that have caused a lot of conversation among believers, but perhaps none as charged as the discussion of what the “1,000 years” refers to. Is this a literal millennium, or figurative? What does it mean that Satan is bound during that time? Is this a time where Satan cannot act and the church is allowed to flourish? Or is this a time where Satan’s activity is restrained? What does it mean that God’s people with reign for 1,000 years? And what is the “first resurrection” and “second death”?
As we study chapter 20, we apply the same principles we have throughout this study to see if we can determine a) how John’s audience would have understood these things, and b) what it means for us today.
The very first word of chapter 20 in the Greek causes much discussion: kai, “and.” How we understand what follows depends on whether that “and” means that chapter 20 happens chronologically after chapter 19, or whether it simply means this is yet another vision–another angle on something John has seen before. Past experience with Revelation should caution us against assuming any of these visions follow a chronological sequence. There has been so much overlap in what John has seen over the past 19 chapters that it would be highly unusual if this was suddenly temporally sequential.
In fact, there are various points within chapter 20 that affirm this is a recapitulation–this vision is showing John things he has seen before, except from a different angle and with more information. An important point connecting this chapter with what has gone before is the use of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and the battle with Gog and Magog. While these two names did not occur explicitly in Revelation 19, we noted how much similarity there was between the end of that chapter and the Ezekiel chapters. Not only are Gog and Magog mentioned in 20, but there are also similarities in content. In Revelation 16:14 John saw demonic frogs using deception to gather kings for battle. Revelation 19:19 has the beast and the kings of the earth gathered for battle against Jesus and his people. Likewise in 20:8, the kings of the earth are deceived into gathering for battle.
If there’s any uncertainty that these passages are referring to the same battle, note that at the end of chapter 19, Christ is victorious over all of his enemies. The nations are vanquished. If chapter 20 follows chronologically after this, who are the nations that Satan will deceive for 1,000 years? They’ve all been conquered and Jesus has established his throne. Therefore, that final battle must be the final battle, the same as depicted in 14:17-20, 16:13-16, 17:12-14, and 1917-21. What we have in chapter 20 is another look at that final battle. The Lord clearly has more to show John (and us) about the spiritual realities going on behind the scenes.
John sees the angel with the key to the abyss. We last saw this abyss in chapter 9 where, after the fifth angel’s trumpet, a star fell to earth and was given the key to the abyss. The abyss was opened, smoke rose up, and out poured bizarre locust-like creatures that tormented the earth-dwellers for five months. Back when we studied chapter 9, we determined this fallen star was of evil intent. However, we have no reason to suspect the same of this angel. Indeed, while the star in 9 was opening the abyss, the angel in 20 is closing it and locking Satan inside. In both cases, the key is something given, not something they own. This is explicit in chapter 9, and implicit in 20–unless the angel is Jesus himself, which is possible. We’ve already been told Jesus owns the key to death and Hades (1:18, 3:7). The abyss is not a good place. Only evil comes from the abyss. But Christ has full control over its opening and closing.
The angel then seizes the dragon and binds him with the chain for a thousand years. What does this “binding” of Satan entail, and is this for a literal thousand years? This has been the subject of debate and much theological literature for centuries. We can’t hope to deal with every argument and position within this brief study, but we can look at the text and try to figure out as best we can what’s going on.
First, we’ve already established that the events of the seals, trumpets, and bowls happen between Christ’s resurrection and his return. This means, the opening of the abyss in chapter 9 must happen within that same time frame. So when does the seizing of Satan and chaining him up take place? We didn’t see him mentioned in chapter 9, but we do see the dragon in chapter 12. There he is pursuing the child born of the woman with twelve stars (i.e., Jesus, born out of God’s people). As we recall, the child was taken up to heaven before the dragon could get him, so the dragon turned his attention to the woman. The woman then went into God’s protection for 1,260 days (42 months, 3.5 years). When we studied this, we determined this was the life of Jesus condensed into a few verses. After his resurrection, the church falls under God’s protection. In the next vision (12:7-17), the dragon and his angels is at war with Michael and his angels. The dragon is defeated and cast down to the earth. This, we believe, pictures Satan’s defeat at the cross. But the dragon then goes on to pursue the woman and her offspring (i.e., God’s people and Christians individually), but is foiled in his attempts to destroy God’s people. The next we see the dragon is in chapter 13, where he empowers the beast (i.e., the false Messiah–the ruling powers and authorities behind godlessness in our world).
How might all this help us understand the binding of Satan? Is it possible that the events of chapter 12 map to what we see here in chapter 20? If so, Satan’s defeat at the cross would be his “binding.” And the millennial period would be the equivalent of the church age (1,260 days/42 months/3.5 years). Given that we’ve established numbers are not literal in Revelation, and 1,000 = “a very large undefined quantity” (see chapter 7 and the 144,000), that would fit, since we don’t know exactly how long the church age will be, but we know it has already been over 2,000 years.
But if Satan is “bound” during the church age, how is it he is still active? Surely if Satan was bound, wouldn’t there be an absence of Satanic activity? And yet it’s very clear Satan has been very active over the past 2,000 years. Even Revelation 12 indicates that Satan pursues the church after Jesus’s resurrection.
There are a couple of ways someone could be bound. First, that person could be rendered totally immobile. Chained up hand and foot from chin to ankle. Alternatively, that person could be chained like a dog, able to run so far but then yanked back if they try to go beyond the chain’s reach. The question we should ask is not how we make our understanding of “binding” fit the text, but which definition fits with what the text tells us. If chapter 12 maps to chapter 20 as suggested above, we know that Satan is able to roam during this binding period. Also, 1 Peter 5:8 tells us Satan prowls like a lion looking for prey. This points to the “dog-on-a-chain” type of binding, not the head-to-foot kind.
Another important consideration with regard to the binding (and the “sealing” in the abyss, as we will see in a moment”) of Satan is its purpose. In verse 3, John tells us that Satan is bound and cast into the abyss so that he would “no longer lead the nations astray.” From this we make two very obvious but necessary deductions: 1) Prior to being bound, Satan was actively leading the nations astray; 2) After being bound, he is not able to lead the nations astray. So, Satan is currently active, but his activities have been curtailed so as not to lead nations astray. One might well ask, in light of this, how the second beast in chapter 13 was able to deceive people into worshiping the first beast if Satan is not able to deceive the nations (13:14). Indeed, there are a great many people who have been deceived by Satan over the last few thousand years.
It’s interesting that Revelation 20:3 uses very specific wording: “in order that he may no longer lead astray the nations (ta ethnē) until the thousand years are completed.” It doesn’t say he is unable to lead anyone astray; he is unable to lead astray the nations. Granted, nations are composed of people, but there seems to be something very pointed about the use of “the nations” here, not “people.” In Matthew 28:19, the resurrected Jesus commissioned his disciples to go out and “make disciples of all the nations (ta ethnē).” The gathered believers around the throne are made up of people from “every nation (ethnos) and tribes and peoples and tongues.”
If we recall God’s initial covenant with Abraham, the promise he made him was that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:5). Yet we know this did not happen in Abraham’s lifetime–indeed, it didn’t happen for the entire span of Old Testament history. On the contrary, by the time you get to Malachi, Israel has been torn in half, and what remains is a shadow of its former self. It wasn’t until the coming of Jesus that this promise to Abraham would find its fulfillment (Galatians 3:8). Why didn’t the nations convert to Judaism? Obviously because God had other plans, but might those plans have included the deception of the nations by Satan? And it is only when God stops Satan from deceiving the nations that they are then open to receive the gospel?
Looking at the text of Scripture, considering the information available to John’s readers (i.e., the Old Testament and the preaching of the Apostles, as well as their own experience), this seems to make sense. It also accounts for the visions in Revelation, and the way the visions correlate with one another.
In verse 3, John says Satan was thrown into the abyss and it was sealed over him. If we’ve just said that Satan is able to roam during the millennial period, how could he do this if he’s sealed in the abyss? When we think of sealing, we think of food products that have been sealed in containers to keep them fresh. Or we think of sealing joints in pipes to prevent water coming out. Even the Gospel account of Jesus’s burial mentions that the tomb is secured by sealing the stone and setting a guard in front (Matthew 27:66). Is that the kind of seal John has in mind? If so, Satan would not be able to leave the abyss.
The first thing to remember is this is symbolic. We’ve cautioned before about being too pragmatic in our thinking about these visions. We don’t need to concern ourselves with how the elders hold bowls of incense while playing harps (5:8) or how Jesus is able to speak to John with a sword poking out of his mouth (1:15-20). The picture of Satan being chained, cast into an abyss, and that abyss locked and sealed, is supposed to communicate a truth to God’s people. What might that truth be?
In chapter 5, John had a vision of a book or scroll with seven seals, but no-one was worthy to break those seals and open the scroll and read its contents. When we studied this passage, we considered how this was akin to an ancient will, and only the testator, the one with authority to read the will, could break the seal. So a seal represents authority, and particularly the sovereign authority of someone to prevent or allow a document, or some other item, from being opened. In the case of Revelation, it is the Lord who does the sealing, and only He can seal or unseal.
So the “seal” over the abyss is not a literal closing up of the abyss so the dragon can’t get loose. Rather, it is a symbol of Jesus’s authority over Satan. The curtailing of his deceiving activity is under Jesus’s direct control. And when the millennial period is over, only Jesus can break that seal and allow Satan to deceive the nations again for a little while.
We ran out of time, so we will finish looking at the seal and the meaning of Satan being released “for a little while” next time. We will also consider 20:1-3 in light of 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.
