Sunday, August 14, 2016

Understanding Revelation 20:1-6, Part 3



In two of my most recent posts we have looked at the third reason for holding to an Amillennial understanding of the end times: “The only mention of a 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ is found in Revelation 20.  That text is best understood in the context of Revelation as a reign of Christ in heaven with saints during this present age.”

In our first two looks at that passage, Revelation 20:1-6, we focused on introductory and contextual issues that lead us to believe Revelation 20:1-6 cycles back and focuses upon events that take place during the current time and before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Now we will look in more detail at the passage itself, which is best divided into two parts. To begin, we have verses 1-3, which describe the binding of Satan. Then we have verses 4-6, which describe the thousand-year reign of Christians with Christ. In this post we will explain verses 1-3. Those verses read as follows:
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

There are several things we can say about these verses:
·         *Satan is bound for 1,000 years. What is the purpose? “So that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” This binding is reminiscent of other texts in which we learn Satan is defeated and contained in Jesus’ victory over him through the cross and resurrection (Mt. 12:26-29; Rev. 12:7-9). It also coincides with a greater coming to Jesus by the nations, as prophesied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 59:19-62:12). This binding of Satan is best taken as the ending of the times of ignorance (Acts 17:30), that time when the nations were, for the most part, lost—during the years of God’s working primarily through Israel.  Since once Satan is released, he will gather the enemies of Christ to band together to attack the church (7-9), “We conclude, then, that the binding of Satan during the gospel age means that, first, he cannot prevent the spread of the gospel, and second, he cannot gather all the enemies of Christ together to attack the church.”[1]

·         *Since Revelation is full of symbolic numbers, it would be consistent that the 1,000 years is symbolic. “Since the number ten signifies completeness, and since a thousand is ten to the third power, we may think of the expression ‘a thousand years’ as standing for a complete period, a very long period of indeterminate length”[2] which would occur between the first and second comings of Christ in light of the structure of Revelation.

·         *“Since the ‘lake of fire’ mentioned in verses 10, 14, and 15 obviously stands for the place of final punishment, the ‘bottomless pit’ or ‘abyss’ mentioned in verses 1 and 3 must not be the place of final punishment. The latter term should rather be thought of as a figurative description of the way in which Satan’s activities will be curbed during the thousand-year period.”[3]

·         *That this binding is real, but that the words in the text which depict it are symbolic and not literal are seen in the fact that a non-corporeal being is being bound with chains.  How does that take place literally?  It does not.

So, what is Revelation 20:1-3 talking about?  It addresses a greater working of God among the nations, through the Church, so that people from all over the world will come to know Christ and take their place among the Church. Though Satan still works and brings much damage (cf. Eph. 6:10-13; 1 Peter 5:8; Rev. 6:1-8; 12:1-6, 10), nevertheless God also is currently bringing about a great work and a great harvest at one and the same time that much in the way of trials and persecution are taking place.


[1] Hoekema, The Bible And The Future, 228.

[2] Hoekema, The Bible And The Future, 227.

[3] Hoekema, The Bible And The Future, 227-28.




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