REVELATION 20
Read Revelation 20:1-15
Chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation gives assurance to the faithful that God has triumphed in Jesus and that the devil is defeated. The Chapter begins by confirming the defeat of the devil and telling us that he will be imprisoned for a thousand years. One question we could ask is, ‘when will this happen?’ It obviously hasn’t started yet as the television, radio, newspapers and internet remind us on a daily basis. Or so it would seem.
This is a difficult passage and has caused a lot of controversy in Christian circles. Some take it to be a literal description of what will happen; Christ’s return in power and glory will deprive the devil of his power, the Christian dead will raise and rule for a thousand years. Then the devil will emerge from hid prison and will be destroyed and then will come the judgement of all. This approach is called premillennialism. The problem with this view is that pretty well all of the rest of Revelation is cast in symbolic and metaphorical language, so why has it now become very literalistic?
Another view is that this passage is like the rest of Revelation and is to be taken symbolically rather than literally, and that it is consistent with the rest of the Bible. Thus, the devil has been defeated by Jesus on the cross, but as is obvious from the world we live in, still active and will only be defeated when Jesus returns. This period between Jesus on the cross and his return could be the ‘thousand years’ and we remember that numbers in Revelation are often symbolic and the number ‘thousand’ can simply refer to ‘a lot’, like we may say ‘I’ve told you a million times not to do that’.
Another view (postmillennialism) draws on the biblical saying that ‘a day is like a thousand years’ to the Lord (2 Peter 3:8, Psalm 90:4) and that the thousand years simply refers to the day of Jesus’ return.
The various views are a lot more complex than outlined above, but rather than trying to figure out exactly what Revelation is trying to communicate, we should do what we have been doing throughout this study and take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Satan has been defeated and he has been defeated by Jesus, the Lamb upon the throne, and Revelation has been telling us that consistently from Chapter 4 onwards. The faithful are promised eternal life and judgement is a reality and those who have not been faithful to the Lord are condemned to eternal separation from him.
This chapter acts as a sort of summary of all that has gone before and sets the scene for the final two chapters of the book. Up to now, although Revelation is described as being a picture of the end times, it can be seen as the world as it was in John’s time and as it still is today, a world full of sin with the devil as its leader and only a small minority who are faithful to the Lord. Their respective fates are clearly set out.