Sunday School Notes: Revelation 20:4

⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded on account of the testimony of Jesus and on account of the word of God, and those who did not worship the beast nor his image, and did not receive the mark upon the forehead and upon the hand. And they lived and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years.

We took some time to review verse 3 and what it means for Satan to be “bound” and “sealed” for 1,000 years. There are a couple of important things about Revelation we need to remember, and that should guide our interpretation. First, these visions are visions. They represent realities. This means there will be descriptions that defy logic. For example, elders that play “harps” while holding incense (5:8), or a great prostitute who sits on many waters, seven mountains, and the beast (chapter 17). We aren’t supposed to rationalize the pictures, but rather consider the reality behind the symbolism. In the case of the seal, we may wonder how Satan can be active while he is sealed. The answer is that the seal is symbolic of God’s sovereign control over Satan. We read from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, which also talks about Satan being restrained. Everything Satan does is under God’s control. The Lord can even restrict Satan’s activity if He so desires.

Considering what we’ve read over the past few chapters, along with 2 Thessalonians 2 and 1 Corinthians 15, we can perhaps build a picture of what this “millennial” period looks like. Prior to the millennium, Satan is free to deceive the nations. This he does, thwarting Israel’s mandate to rule the nations and be a blessing to them (e.g., Genesis 26:4; 27:29; Deuteronomy 15:6; 28:1). Not only does Satan prevent the nations from following Yahweh, but Israel falls under that same deception and turns from the Lord. “Nations” is a broad, generic term that basically refers to non-Israelite countries. If we consider the evidence from the Old Testament record, few if any people outside of Israel were faithful followers of Yahweh. Indeed, few within Israel itself were faithful.

But Jesus’s coming was the game-changer. With his death and resurrection, Satan is bound under Christ’s authority, and is no longer able to deceive the nations. This allows for the free dissemination of the gospel to all parts of the earth, and people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation turning to the Lord. Satan is still active, but his grip of deception on the nations as a whole is broken. This does not mean we see entire nations turning to Christ. However, it does mean that even within nations that are hostile to the gospel, the Lord is calling his people to himself, and they are responding.

This “millennial” period continues until the end of the church age, whenever that might be. At that time, the Lord will release Satan from his bounds. Then he will deceive the nations once more, this time to gather them for battle (Revelation 16:12-16; 17:12-14; 19:19-21; 20:7-10). At this battle, Satan will be defeated, and along with the beasts he will be cast into the lake of fire.

This is the framework I see being presented here. Granted, I am totally relying upon God’s revelation in His word, since this is information we could not get any other way. It’s very possible my understanding of that revelation is faulty. However, this is the best I think we can do with the information we have at the moment. As the Lord grants grace and better understanding, I will no doubt tweak or modify this model. And one day we will all know for certain what it all means!

With verse 4, John sees a vision of thrones with unnamed people sitting on them to whom is given judgment. We’ve seen thrones throughout Revelation, both of God (e.g., 1:4) and of Satan (2:13; 13:2; 16:10). Of particular interest in this case, however, are the promises the Lord gives to his people that they will sit with Christ on his throne (3:21), and the visions John has of the 24 elders seated on thrones around the throne of God (4:4; 11:16). These 24 elders represent believers from both Old and New Covenants (12 tribes of Israel + 12 Apostles).

Who, then, are the people sitting on thrones in 20:4? Without doubt, the description of people given (those beheaded, who didn’t worship the beast, and didn’t receive the mark) is a description of those on the thrones. But are these talking about one group of people, or three? Are those on the thrones those who have been beheaded who also did not worship the beast and did not receive the mark? Or do they consist of those who were beheaded, and those who did not worship the beast, and those who did not receive the mark?

Revelation has been clear that God’s people will suffer (see the seven letters in chapters 2 and 3, for example), and that the heaven-dwellers will not receive the mark of the beast (14:1, and by implication 13:16-17; 14:9-11; 16:2). So I think it’s fair to say that those on the thrones consist of both those that have been martyred, and those who have not but still remained faithful. John is here seeing the fulfillment of Jesus’s promise to those who overcome.

The term “beheaded” translates the Greek verb pelekizō, which means “to kill with an ax.” It is the verbal form of the noun pelekus, the word for an ax. So literally it means “to ax” someone or something. In the first century, if you are killed with an ax, especially in the judicial sense, you are normally beheaded.

Those on the thrones “came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.” The Greek verb zaō means “to live.” If those on the throne are Christians who have died, either by martyrdom or by natural means, then “come to life” is a reasonable translation. Could this not also be a picture of the current condition of believers? After all, in Ephesians 2:6, Paul says that God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places. There is a now-and-not-yet reality to our spiritual standing. As Christians, we are indeed in Christ, and are seated with him in the heavenly places. But we are also right now here on earth, living out the days that the Lord has set before us to glorify Him with the lives he has given us here. Considering John’s first century audience, and the fact that they were Christians undergoing persecution, probably having witnessed close friends and loved ones lose their lives for the gospel’s sake, I’m inclined to see this as a picture of the intermediate state. This is what it looks like for Christians who die in the Lord.

We will examine this, and the concept of the “first resurrection” versus the “second death” in verse 5 next time.