Analysis Of The Chapter This chapter Revelation 20:1, like Revelation 16:12, Rev. 17–19, pertains to the future, and discloses things which are yet to occur. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, for the reason stated in the notes on Revelation 16:16, that much obscurity should hang over it, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW AN ANGEL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN - Compare the notes on Revelation 10:1. He does not say whether this angel had appeared to him before, but the impression is rather that it was a different one. The whole character of the composition of the book leads us to suppose that different angels were... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE LAID HOLD ON - Seized him by violence - ἐκράτησεν ekratēsen. The word denotes “the employment of strength” or “force”; and it implies that he had power superior to that of the dragon. Compare Matthew 14:3; Matthew 18:28; Matthew 21:46; Matthew 22:6; Matthew 26:4. We can at once see the pro... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CAST HIM INTO THE BOTTOMLESS PIT - See the notes on Revelation 9:1. A state of peace and prosperity would exist as if Satan, the great disturber, were confined in the nether world as a prisoner. AND SHUT HIM UP - Closed the massive doors of the dark prison-house upon him. Compare the notes on J... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW THRONES - θρόνους thronous See Revelation 1:4; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 4:3. John here simply says, that he saw in vision thrones, with persons sitting on them, but without intreating who they were that sat on them. It is not the throne of God that is now revealed, for the word is in t... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE REST OF THE DEAD - In contradistinction from the beheaded martyrs, and from those who had kept themselves pure in the times of great temptation. The phrase “rest of the dead” here would most naturally refer to the “same general class” which was before mentioned - the pious dead. The meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED - That is, his condition is to be regarded as a happy or a favored one. This is designed apparently to support and encourage those who, in the time of John, suffered persecution, or who might suffer persecution afterward. AND HOLY - That is, no one will be thus honored who has not an establ... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE THOUSAND YEARS ARE EXPIRED - See Revelation 20:2. SATAN SHALL BE LOOSED OUT OF HIS PRISON - See Revelation 20:3. That is, a state of things will then occur as if Satan should be for a time let loose again, and should be permitted to go as formerly over the world. No intimation is given... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL GO OUT TO DECEIVE THE NATIONS - See the notes on Revelation 12:9. The meaning here is, that he would again, for a time, act in his true character, and in some way delude the nations once more. In what way this would be done is not stated. It would be, however, clearly an appeal to the wick... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY WENT UP ON THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH - They spread over the earth in extended columns. The image is that of an invading army that seems, in its march, to spread all over a land. The reference here is to the hosts assembled from the regions of Gog and Magog; that is, to the formidable enemies... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE DEVIL THAT DECEIVED THEM - See the notes on Revelation 20:3, Revelation 20:8. WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE AND BRIMSTONE - In Revelation 19:20, it is said of the beast and the false prophet that they were “cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone.” Satan, on the other hand, i... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW A GREAT WHITE THRONE - This verse commences the description of the final judgment, which embraces the remainder of the chapter. The first thing seen in the vision is the burning throne of the Judge. The things that are specified in regard to it are, that it was “great,” and that it was “wh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAW THE DEAD, SMALL AND GREAT - All the dead - for this language would express that - the whole race being composed of the “small and great.” Thus, in other language, the same idea might be expressed by saying, the young and old; the rich and poor; the bond and free; the sick and well; the hap... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE IN IT - All that had been buried in the depths of ocean. This number in the aggregate will be great. If we include all who were swept off by the flood, and all who have perished by shipwreck, and all who have been killed in naval battles and buried in the sea,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DEATH AND HELL WERE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE - Death and Hades (hell) are here personified, as they are in the previous verse. The declaration is equivalent to the statement in 1 Corinthians 15:26; “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” See the notes on that passage. The idea is, t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHOSOEVER - All persons, of all ranks, ages, and conditions. No word could be more comprehensive than this. The single condition here stated, as being what would save any from being cast into the lake of fire, is, that they are “found written in the book of life.” All besides these, princes, kin... [ Continue Reading ]