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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Revelation 20:7 - 20:10
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev_20:7-10
7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Rev_20:7 "Satan will be released from his prison" Ezekiel 36-39 is the background to this context. In Ezekiel God's people rest securely in an eschatological setting (Judah or Jerusalem or the Promised Land), but are still attacked by evil nations (Gog and Magog). In rabbinical Judaism these two enemies came to be used to describe all of the enemies of the Messiah and the people of God. Originally, Gog was a man from the land of Magog, but in this chapter, the terms have been personified into twin enemies. John always reworks his OT allusions to fit his first century readers.
Rev_20:8 "and will come out to deceive" It is amazing that mankind can be led into rebellion after a 1,000 reign of Christ! Were these nations "unbelievers" or "initially believers?" Is Christ's presence and reign not able to effect permanent change in human society?
▣ "Gog and Magog" This is an allusion to the continuing rebellion of the unbelieving nations. After Israel is restored to the promised land (cf. Ezekiel 37), based on God's actions (cf. Ezekiel 36), she will still have problems with the nations who will again invade her ("Gog in the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal," Eze_38:2). These stand for leaders' names or regional names of invading armies; Eze_38:5-6; Eze_38:13 make it an international army. Chapters 38-39 of Ezekiel have an end-time setting (cf. Eze_38:8; Eze_38:10; Eze_38:14; Eze_38:16; Eze_38:18; Eze_39:11). These chapters have been the source of much of John's OT end-time allusions. Things will get worse (birth pains of the new age) before they get better (new Jerusalem).
Notice how John has taken OT texts but reworked them in light of first century Greco-Roman culture. Gog, Magog, and Babylon are not enemies from Mesopotamia or Turkey, but Rome.
▣ "the nations which are in the four corners of the earth" This is obviously a universal deception and rebellion (cf. Rev_7:1). The number "four" had symbolic significance representing the whole world.
▣ "like the sands of the seashore" This phrase was originally used of the seed of Abraham (cf. Gen_15:5; Gen_22:17; Gen_32:12 and Heb_11:12). This may be another example of evil mimicking the terms which describe God's people. However, because of the first phrase of Rev_20:9, this seems to be just another definition to denote a very large army.
Rev_20:9 Does this verse refer to a literal battle on the plains of Megiddo as an end-time army moves toward the Palestinian city of Jerusalem? There are many allusions to this scenario in the OT (cf. Psalms 2; Ezekiel 38-39; Dan_9:24-27; Zechariah 13-14). However, Jerusalem is many miles from Megiddo.
In Revelation "the city" is usually (1) human society organized and functioning apart from God, personified as Babylon and (2) historically referring to Rome in John's day (cf. Rev_14:8; Rev_16:19; Rev_17:18; Rev_18:2; Rev_18:10; Rev_18:16; Rev_18:18-19; Rev_18:21). However, the city of Jerusalem is possibly referred to in Rev_11:8 and here.
The NT authors in general, and John in particular, have taken OT imagery and universalized it to relate to all mankind. The issue in Revelation is not Jews versus Gentiles, but believer versus unbeliever. This then is the same end-time battle as Rev_6:15-16; Rev_11:18; Rev_16:12; Rev_16:14; Rev_16:16; Rev_19:19 (parallelism).
▣ "and fire came down from heaven and devoured them" This is an allusion to Eze_38:22; Eze_39:6. The victory is God's!
Rev_20:10 "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone" This is where the beast and the false prophet were cast in Rev_19:20. This is where Death and Hades will be cast in Rev_20:14 and where all who have not trusted Christ will be cast in Rev_20:15. It is synonymous with Gehenna (hell) and represents eternal separation from fellowship with God and His Christ (cf. Mar_9:43; Mar_9:48).
▣ "and they will be tortured day and night forever and ever" This is very similar to Rev_14:10-11; Rev_19:5. The concept of a permanent separation is alluded to in Mat_25:46 where the same term (aiônios), used for heaven, is used for hell.
Most of God's judgments had redemptive purposes; that is true of the OT and the NT. Hell has no known redemptive purpose. It fulfills God's promise to restore justice and righteousness. Hell is the isolation of evil from God's good creation. As horrible as hell is for mankind, it is worse for God. By allowing His highest creation, mankind, to have a choice (one aspect of the image of God in man), God knew that a significant percentage would choose self and sin. Hell is an open, bleeding sore in the heart of God that will never be healed. Hell is a tragic mystery of the paradox of the eternal love and the justice of God!