Listen to Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Satan Chained for 1000 Years in Bottomless Pit
Re 1:18, Re 3:7, Re 9:1, Re 20:1 — Keys references. Jesus holds the keys of death and Hell (1:18) and the key of David (3:7); in 9:1 the key of the bottomless pit is given to the fallen star, and here a messenger descends holding that same key. The connection is the keys themselves; the text does not identify this messenger.
Re 9:1, Re 20:1 — Key of the bottomless pit.
Verses 20:1-2 are important when determining whether Revelation 20 continues the sequence from Revelation 19. Revelation 19 concludes with the beast and the false prophet being cast into the lake of fire, while Revelation 20 begins with Satan being bound for 1,000 years in the bottomless pit. These two acts share the same thematic movement: the coming of Christ’s kingdom and the removal of the principal adversaries. This continuation also places the first resurrection (20:4) within the 1,000 years following Satan’s binding, meaning it is woven tightly into the period after these adversarial removals.
This is important because it appears to distinguish the group in Revelation 15:2 from the first-resurrection group in Revelation 20:4. The group in 15:2 is portrayed as already standing in heaven before Jesus comes “as a thief” (16:15), and that thief-like coming is then marked by His visible appearance on the white horse before the principal adversaries are removed (19:11–21). This suggests a gap in time between those seen in heaven in 15:2 and the first resurrection described in 20:4, meaning that when 15:2 occurs, the dead are not yet raised first.
If Revelation 15:2 is connected to the events described in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 and Matthew 24:30–31, this sequence becomes more coherent, because neither of those external texts places the resurrection as the central point of emphasis when the saints are gathered after the beast’s rule during the tribulation. Also, those in Revelation 15:2 and 20:4 are described distinctly as people connected to the tribulation; the language is largely specific to those who endured the beast’s persecution. This is important because it excludes those who died before the final seven years and before the beast’s public Revelation 13 rule, leaving room for an unexpected resurrection of those prior saints who had died in the Lord — that is, a resurrection that occurs before the "first resurrection".
Now, it is important to understand that just because Revelation labels the resurrection in 20:4 as the “first resurrection,” this does not necessarily limit the number of resurrections that may occur before that point. The term “first” is best understood within the immediate context of the two resurrections that bookend the 1,000 years. If “first” were taken absolutely, meaning the first resurrection of any kind in all of biblical history, then it would create an unnecessary contradiction, since the two witnesses have already been raised before the first resurrection of Revelation 20:4. Therefore, the “first resurrection” appears to refer to the first resurrection of its kind within the given context: a mass resurrection after judgment, not a prior resurrection before judgment.
This text "he should no more deceive the nations" should be noted. This points to the idea that the nations have not all been killed, but that the arm was what was feasted upon by the birds.
Living Saints Rule and First Resurrection
Important Note: If this resurrection is the same resurrection Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, then the catching up would happen here, after the beast and false prophet have already been cast into the lake of fire and after Satan has been bound in the bottomless pit. That possibility should be faced plainly.
However, the details in Revelation 20 also create interpretive tension that should not be overlooked. John first sees thrones, and those seated on them are given judgment. Then he sees the lifeᵖ (ψυχάς) of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and they live and reign with Christ. This means the text presents a throne group before the dead — the lifeᵖ John sees — are described as living. Revelation 15:2 also shows victors over the beast in a heavenly vision before this scene, standing on the sea of glass and singing. These details do not by themselves explain how those saints came to be there, or whether they are being described as embodied saints, as lifeᵖ (ψυχή), or another visionary category. But they do make it difficult to force Revelation 20:4-5 into a simple one-to-one equation with Paul's resurrection and catching-up passages without further interpretation.
There is also a reading question inside Revelation 20:4 itself. The dead who live and reign may be read narrowly as beast-conflict or tribulation martyrs, since they are described as beheaded and as refusing the beast, his image, and his mark. Or they may be read more broadly as representative of the saints as a whole. That variation in possible reading also warns us not to generalize the content too quickly. If the group is only the beast-conflict martyrs, the passage is not directly describing every saint in the same way. If the group represents the saints more broadly, then the passage is doing more than naming one martyr subset. The text requires interpretation either way.
The word "first" should also be read in its immediate context. Revelation 20 contrasts two resurrections: the resurrection of those who reign with Christ before the thousand years, and the resurrection of the rest of the dead after the thousand years. In that local series, this is the first resurrection. That does not necessarily require "first" to mean the first resurrection of any kind in all of Scripture. Revelation has already shown the two witnesses raised in 11:11, and Revelation often uses numbered or ordered series for things grouped in context, such as the numbered messengers in chapter 14 and the ordered plague sequences. Therefore, "first resurrection" may mean the first resurrection in the two-resurrection sequence being contrasted here, or the first mass resurrection of its kind after the seven years, rather than automatically settling every resurrection question in all of biblical theology.
For that reason, this study leans toward the series-numbering approach. It follows Revelation's established habit of grouping events in ordered sequences without unnecessarily narrowing every interpretive possibility. If those who live in 20:4 are meant to be read as those who died in the tribulation, this approach does not create a conflict with other resurrection details. It can also account for the obvious nuances in Revelation's resurrection scenes and related events, which can otherwise seem to contradict or confuse the timing. The best placement of the interpretation, then, is that this is the first resurrection of the two being contrasted in this particular sequence, not necessarily the only mass resurrection that could happen before the first of those two.
Also, in Revelation 20:4, the dead are not described in explicit terms as overcoming the beast. In context, the beast has already been dealt with, so there is no need for the passage to frame their vindication as a present-tense "victory over him." We may naturally think in those terms—and that may be a sound inference—but the text itself does not emphasize it the way earlier passages do.
By contrast, Revelation 12 and Revelation 15 speak in defined, overt language of salvation, victory, and overcoming. Those scenes feel like triumph. They read like the testimony of people who are on top of the conflict, not merely crushed beneath it.
Important Note: The first resurrection here is one made known by this book to take place before the resurrection that brings back the good who die during the thousand years and all the bad from the beginning of creation in Genesis onward. The good of the ages before have already been raised at least once by then — at the first resurrection at the latest, and more likely earlier, in what 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:23, and Isaiah 26:19 describe, which does not clearly align with the first resurrection either. Prophecy is textured, and we need not flatten it. At the white throne, the scroll of life is opened (Revelation 20:12), the dead are judged every man according to their works (Revelation 20:13), and only those not found written in the scroll of life are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). That wording allows names to be found written there, so the resurrection at the end of the thousand years is not for the wicked only. This means the general resurrection of both the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29) does not need to be divided across the thousand years. It can stand whole at the white throne, while Revelation 20:4 reveals a distinct, earlier resurrection scoped to those who faced the beast, not detailed before the writing of this book. New prophecy does not remove or contradict older prophecy. It complements it and adds detail, as with the seals, trumpets, and vials. If we are comfortable with Revelation adding detail about judgment, we should be comfortable with Revelation adding detail about salvation and reward.
The living church is already ruling on thrones, or the 24 elders are, since they are the only others shown with thrones; the dead are mentioned next. The thrones could also belong to both the church and the 24 elders, since 3:21 promises the church a seat on the throne.
The word translated “beheaded,” πεπελεκισμένων, comes from πελεκίζω, to execute with an axe; it occurs only here in the New Testament.
Codex Alexandrinus reads πεπολεμημένων instead — from πολεμέω, to wage war — which would give “those who were warred against.” The brackets carry both, with “beheaded” first because every other witness and every printed edition reads it.
The choice changes what the line points at. If “beheaded” stands, the verb is used nowhere else in Revelation or the New Testament, and the clause names a particular manner of death. If “warred against” stands, the word is not rare at all but reaches back to the war made on the saints — “to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (13:7), and the same war-root at 11:7, 12:17, 13:4, 17:14 and 19:11 — so the verse would be naming that conflict rather than a method of execution, and the souls under the throne would be its casualties.
This verse binds the end of Revelation 19 with the start of Revelation 20. Here, the forty-two months of the beast’s limited rule come to a close, and those associated with him by their death are seen raised. Thus, the passage bridges the beast’s fall with the raising of these saints.
Unless otherwise indicated, life translates ζωή (zōē), denoting life as possessed or imparted. Lifeᵖ translates ψυχή (psychē), denoting the living self, person, or one’s personal life. The superscript p is an editorial marker for psychē and is not part of the Greek text.
Re 3:21, Re 4:4, Re 11:16, Re 20:4 — All places where "thrones" is used in the plural are shown. In Matt 19:28, Jesus has told the 12 apostles that “in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (NASB 1995). The "regeneration" is not the same word used for resurrection. So this does not explicitly mean the 12 disciples are among the 24 elders judging at this time, but it is very close, so we should consider it possible. 3:21 is included in this list not because it has the plural of thrones, but because the plural is implied in the text, so the "thrones" are not exclusive to the 24 elders or narrowed to the 24 elders alone in 20:4.
Re 6:9, Re 20:4
Re 15:2, Re 20:4
This "first" resurrection is clearly positioned within this portion of Revelation, not the whole book, as we have already seen the resurrection of the two witnesses in 11:11. So, this first resurrection does not need to include the resurrection of 1 Corinthians 15:52. Also, "the rest of the dead" is not a wicked-only group. It includes the good who die during the thousand years together with all the bad from the beginning of creation. At the white throne the scroll of life is opened (Revelation 20:12), and only those not found written in it are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).
The KJV/TR reads οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ … οὐκ ἀνέζησαν — "But the rest … lived not again"; the critical text reads οἱ λοιποὶ … οὐκ ἔζησαν — without "But," and "lived" rather than "lived again."
1000 Years End and Satan Loosed From Bottomless Pit
Important Note: Here we see that Jerusalem, the beloved city, is still in existence, so it is not simply identical with Mystery Babylon, as that city is never seen again.
"Expired" points to a clear countdown of time, not an allegorical or idiomatic time.
Ezekiel supplies a bounded prophetic shadow: a particular Gog coalition, judgment within the land, and an Israel-centered temple-city restoration. Revelation appropriates and escalates that shadow: Gog becomes worldwide rebellion, judgment encompasses Satan and all the dead, restored land becomes new creation, and temple and city become one universal sanctuary in the immediate presence of God and the Lamb. Because the correspondences are typological rather than one-to-one, they should be allowed to remain distinct where the later text deliberately makes them distinct. Revelation 20’s “Gog and Magog” does not appear to be a chronological bridge collapsing Revelation 19 and 20 into one battle.
Re 16:14, Re 16:16, Re 19:17, Re 19:19, Re 20:8 — While assembling is set in the context of war in Revelation, this does not mean that all the assemblings are the same event. The army assembled in Revelation 16 is the one standing in Revelation 19, where the winepress is trodden — the assembling and the treading belong to a single sequence. The war in Revelation 20 has no winepress at all.
Further, the war in Revelation 20 is waged by Satan himself, while the wars in Revelation 16 and 19 are associated with the beast and the false prophet. Revelation 20 takes place only after Satan is released from the bottomless pit. Revelation 20:10 also makes clear that the beast and the false prophet are already in the lake of fire before this final war is completed.
This order matters. Revelation 19 puts the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire, and only afterward is Satan bound — so the war of Revelation 20 should not be folded into the wars of 16 and 19 simply because the same assembling word stands in each.
The text marks the difference. Earlier the beast and the dragon make “a war” (11:7; 12:17; 13:7). At 19:19 it becomes “the war” (ποιῆσαι τὸν πόλεμον) — the only place the make-war phrase is definite — pointing back to the war already named at 16:14, “the great day of God, the Almighty.” Three chapters, one war. Revelation 20:8 also reads “the war,” but a thousand years stand between it and 16:14, so it names that episode's own appointed war instead. (The King James reads “the battle of that great day” at 16:14 and “to battle” at 20:8, following the Textus Receptus.)
Re 13:1, Re 20:8 — Sand of the sea (ἄμμος/ἄμμον, θαλάσσης) — The expression “sand of the sea” occurs only twice in Revelation. Some translations render it idiomatically as “seashore,” although the Greek literally reads “sand of the sea.” The phrase appears in two different contexts and serves two different functions. In Revelation 13:1, the dragon stands upon the sand of the sea; in Revelation 20:8, the number of the assembled army is compared to the sand of the sea. Therefore, the shared wording does not establish that the two events occur at the same time. Using the phrase alone to synchronize these passages would go beyond what the text supports. It does allow the interpretation that the sand relates to a number of people.
If Mystery Babylon is simply identical with Jerusalem in every sense, then how do we see this city, Jerusalem, still standing?
The expression “the beloved city” occurs explicitly only in Revelation 20:9 (τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἠγαπημένην), yet the concept is rooted in the Old Testament portrayal of Zion/Jerusalem as the object of God’s מיוחדת love and delight (Ps 78:68; 87:2; Isa 62:4), providing the canonical background for its identification.
The KJV/TR reads "fire came down from God out of heaven"; the critical text reads κατέβη πῦρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ — "fire came down out of heaven."
Re 11:2, Re 20:9
Re 1:5, Re 20:9
Perdition.
Note that the lake of fire is described as the place where “the beast and the false prophet are.” This means they have not been annihilated or removed from existence, but continue to exist within the lake of fire. The wording communicates the severity of the lake of fire: it is not merely destruction in the sense of nonexistence, but a place of ongoing judgment.
Re 19:20, Re 20:10 — It is important to understand that Revelation tells us the beast and the false prophet are already in the lake of fire at the end of the 1000 years, meaning they have been there for 1000 years when Satan is cast into it. This places the beast and the false prophet's entrance into the lake of fire before the first resurrection in Revelation 20:4.
White Throne
Important Note: The white throne resurrection is not for the wicked only. The scroll of life is opened here (Revelation 20:12), and only those not found written in it are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). That wording allows names to be found written at this judgment, such as the good who die during the thousand years. So the general resurrection of both the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29) can stand whole here, without being divided across the thousand years. See the note on the first resurrection at 20:4.
Identifying “the one seated” upon the great white throne as the Father does not conflict with Matthew 25:31-46, where Jesus describes himself as the Son of Man who executes final judgment. Revelation 20:11-15 does not state that the one seated personally performs the judgment. It says that the dead “were judged” (ἐκρίθησαν, 20:12-13), using a passive verb that leaves the acting agent unstated. Matthew 25:31-46 supplies the role of Jesus: the Son of Man takes his judicial seat, separates the nations, and pronounces their sentences. Moreover, Revelation 3:21 says that Jesus sits with the Father upon the Father’s throne, establishing that Jesus shares in the Father’s authority and can therefore fulfill Matthew 25 as the enthroned executor of judgment. Revelation consistently distinguishes the Father and the Son as individual persons, such as when the Lamb approaches the one seated on the throne (Revelation 5), but this personal distinction does not imply separation in their rule, purpose, or divine unity. Their individual identities are preserved while their authority is exercised in perfect unity. The Father may therefore be identified as the one seated upon the great white throne in Revelation 20:11, while Jesus, sharing the Father’s throne and authority, executes the judgment described in Matthew 25:31-46. These descriptions are complementary rather than contradictory.
Re 4:2, Re 4:3, Re 4:9, Re 4:10, Re 5:1, Re 5:7, Re 5:13, Re 6:16, Re 7:10, Re 7:15, Re 19:4, Re 20:11, Re 21:5 — Throughout Revelation, “the one seated on the throne” is consistently distinguished from the Lamb and therefore identified as the Father (4:2–3, 9–10; 5:1, 7, 13; 6:16; 7:10, 15; 19:4; 21:5). This distinction is especially explicit in 5:7, where the Lamb approaches the one seated on the throne, and in 6:16, where “the face of the one seated on the throne” is distinguished from “the wrath of the Lamb.” Revelation 20:11 is less explicit: it introduces “a great white throne” rather than the heavenly throne previously surrounded by the four creatures and the twenty-four elders. Nevertheless, this difference does not require a different occupant. The reaction to the enthroned figure provides an important verbal connection: earth and heaven flee “from whose face” (οὗ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου; 20:11). The same noun, πρόσωπον (“face” or “presence”), occurs in 6:16, after the sky has receded like a scroll (6:14), when the inhabitants of the earth call upon the mountains and rocks to hide them “from the face of the one seated on the throne” (ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου). This shared throne designation, together with the repeated description of creation recoiling from the enthroned one’s πρόσωπον, supports identifying the occupant of the great white throne in 20:11 with the Father, while recognizing that the verse itself does not explicitly name him.
Here it says "the dead stand". This is a way of saying, the dead are resurrected. That is, this is the next resurrection after the first in the context of this portion of the book of Revelation. Also, this demonstrates that Revelation is not always explicit about how it describes a resurrection. This leaves room for an interpretation of 12:11 as a possible resurrection, given its phrasing of the dead in the passage as those who "overcome".
The KJV/TR reads ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ — "before God"; the critical text reads ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου — "before the throne," which the draft follows.
Re 11:18, Re 20:12-13 — 11:18 moment should not be confused with 20:12-13. In 11:18, the text places the scene when "the temple of God which is in heaven was opened, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament" (11:19). The moment the temple opens is placed at 15:5, before the vials are poured out.
Re 11:18, Re 13:16, Re 19:5, Re 19:18, Re 20:12 — 11:18 and 19:5 refer to the same type of group, "the small and the great," within the context of saints. Whereas 13:16,19:18, and 20:12 refer to the same type of group but not the saints. So, we should not see "small and great" as a reserved reference for saints. It likely intends to point out the idea of encompassing people in both low and high positions.
Re 9:20, Re 14:13, Re 18:6, Re 20:12-13, Re 22:12 — The "works" mentions in 9:20, 14:13, 18:6, 20:12-13, and 22:12 seem related to those of the seven churches in 2:2, 2:9, 2:13, 2:19, 3:1, 3:8, and 3:15.
Re 1:18, Re 6:8, Re 20:13-14 — The Greek term here is ᾅδης, rendered "hell" in the KJV tradition. Revelation distinguishes Hell from the lake of fire: Death and Hell give up the dead, and then Death and Hell are cast into the lake of fire.
Re 9:20, Re 14:13, Re 18:6, Re 20:12-13, Re 22:12 — The "works" mentions in 9:20, 14:13, 18:6, 20:12-13, and 22:12 seem related to those of the seven churches in 2:2, 2:9, 2:13, 2:19, 3:1, 3:8, and 3:15.
Second Death
The KJV/TR ends the verse οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ δεύτερος θάνατος — "This is the second death"; the critical text adds ἡ λίμνη τοῦ πυρός — "the lake of fire," which the draft follows.
Re 1:18, Re 6:8, Re 20:13-14 — The Greek term here is ᾅδης, rendered "hell" in the KJV tradition. Revelation distinguishes Hell from the lake of fire: Death and Hell give up the dead, and then Death and Hell are cast into the lake of fire.
Re 14:10, Re 20:15
Important Note: This study reads the thousand years as a real thousand-year period because Revelation itself treats numbers, ordered series, and time markers with great precision. The book gives numbered churches, seals, trumpets, vials, kings, heads, horns, months, days, and hours. It can speak with hyper-specific timing, as with the hour, day, month, and year in Revelation 9:15, and it can give direct numbered periods such as five months, 42 months, and 1,260 days.
Revelation can also use more veiled time language when it wants to. The phrase “time, times, and half a time” is less arithmetically plain than “1,260 days” or “42 months,” even though it still marks a defined period in the book's prophetic structure. That matters because Revelation knows how to speak in a more veiled way when it intends to. It does not do that with the thousand years. When Revelation 20 repeats “a thousand years” six times, the book itself gives no signal that this number should be dissolved into an undefined symbolic age.
This does not mean an amillennial or postmillennial reading is impossible as an interpretive decision. But that decision is made by moving outside the normal pressure of Revelation's own numeric style. Revelation is precise when it means to be precise, and when it is using a symbol it often tells the reader directly or gives enough symbolic context to make that clear. It does not do that with the thousand years. The number is stated, repeated, and tied to a sequence of events: Satan is bound, the saints reign, the rest of the dead do not live until the thousand years are finished, Satan is released after the thousand years, and then final judgment follows.
This literal reading also has early Christian precedent. Irenaeus, in Against Heresies 5.28.3, connects the last-days hope with the thousand-years pattern, and the Epistle of Barnabas 15.4-5 shows an early expectation of six thousand years followed by a seventh-day rest connected with the Lord's return and judgment. The author of Barnabas is not certainly the biblical Barnabas, but the passage is still useful as early evidence that some Christians read the thousand-year pattern as a real future rest rather than a merely symbolic present age.
For that reason, this study takes the thousand years seriously as stated. Before we make the number meaningful to our own system, we should let Revelation mean what it says. If the book works this hard with numbers and timing, the safer reading is that “a thousand years” means a thousand years.