Bird's-eye view
This passage describes the final, climactic rebellion against God at the very end of the millennial age. After a long period of gospel ascendancy, during which the nations are discipled and Christian civilization flourishes, Satan is released from his prison for one last, desperate gambit. This is not a protracted war, but a final exam. He successfully deceives the nations, gathering a vast international confederacy of rebels, symbolically named Gog and Magog, to assault the people of God. This great host surrounds the global church, described as the "camp of the saints" and the "beloved city." But just as the enemy believes victory is in his grasp, the rebellion is decisively and instantaneously crushed by the direct intervention of God. Fire comes down from heaven, representing the final judgment at the Second Coming of Christ, and devours them. The devil is then cast into the lake of fire, his final place of torment, joining the beast and the false prophet. This event does not contradict the victory of the millennial age but rather culminates it, demonstrating God's ultimate sovereignty and the eternal security of His church.
The postmillennial understanding of this passage sees the "thousand years" as the long era of the church, the time of the Great Commission. The loosing of Satan is a brief episode at the very end of this period. This final apostasy is permitted by God to show that even after generations of peace and righteousness, the heart of unregenerate man remains desperately wicked. It proves that salvation is always and only a work of God's grace, not a product of a sanctified environment. The final victory is not won by the church's might, but by the glorious appearing of her King.
Outline
- 1. The Final Rebellion (Rev 20:7-10)
- a. Satan's Brief Release (Rev 20:7)
- b. The Global Deception (Rev 20:8)
- c. The Siege of the Saints (Rev 20:9a)
- d. The Decisive Judgment (Rev 20:9b)
- e. The Devil's Final Doom (Rev 20:10)
Context In Revelation
Revelation 20 is one of the few chapters in the book that deals with events after the A.D. 70 judgment upon Jerusalem. The first nineteen chapters are largely concerned with the covenantal lawsuit against apostate Israel, culminating in the destruction of the city, which is depicted as the great harlot, Babylon. With that old covenant world removed, chapter 20 describes the long age that follows: the millennium. This is the era of the new covenant, the age of the Spirit, where Satan is bound from deceiving the nations, allowing the gospel to go forth and triumph. Verses 7-10, therefore, describe what happens at the conclusion of this long period. This section serves as the immediate prelude to the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15) and the unveiling of the new heavens and new earth (Rev 21-22). It is the final historical conflict before the eternal state is fully ushered in.
Key Issues
- The Nature of the Millennium
- The Reason for Satan's Release
- The Identity of Gog and Magog
- The "Camp of the Saints" as the Global Church
- The Final Judgment and the Second Coming
- Reconciling a Final Apostasy with Postmillennial Victory
The Last Tantrum
One of the central questions for the postmillennialist is why God, after a long and glorious age of Christian victory, would permit Satan to be loosed for this one last rebellion. Why let the devil out of his cage to stir up such monumental trouble? The answer is theological. God is demonstrating, for all eternity, that salvation is entirely of grace. Even after generations have lived under the blessings of the gospel, in a world where righteousness and peace are the norm, the unregenerate heart of man is still capable of the most profound rebellion. Left to himself, even in the best of circumstances, man will choose sin. This final apostasy is not a sign of the gospel's failure, but rather a final proof of man's depravity and God's sovereign grace in salvation. It is a controlled experiment at the end of history to prove the central point of the gospel. God lets the devil out for a short season to show that the only thing keeping any man from becoming a devil is the grace of God. Then, having made His point, He ends the rebellion with a word, demonstrating His absolute and effortless power over all His foes.
Verse by Verse Commentary
7 And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison,
The "thousand years" is symbolic of the long gospel age, the entire period between Christ's first and second comings. During this time, Satan is "bound" in the sense that he cannot prevent the gospel from discipling the nations. His release marks the end of this era. This is not an escape; he is "released." This is a sovereign act of God, for His own purposes. For a brief period at the very end of history, the restraining influence is lifted, and Satan is permitted to work his deceptions on a global scale one last time.
8 and 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.
Satan's one great skill is deception, and he immediately gets to work. He deceives the nations "in the four corners of the earth," indicating that this is a worldwide rebellion, not a localized conflict in the Middle East. John gives this vast confederacy of rebels the symbolic name Gog and Magog. This name is drawn from Ezekiel 38-39, where Gog of the land of Magog is a savage enemy from the north who attacks Israel. In Ezekiel, they were a specific people. Here in Revelation, the name is used typologically to represent the sum total of all God's enemies, the final international anti-Christian alliance. The number of those deceived is immense, "like the sand of the seashore," which tells us that the apostasy is widespread and, from a human perspective, terrifyingly overwhelming.
9 And 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.
This massive army marches "on the broad plain of the earth," again emphasizing the global nature of the conflict. Their target is the people of God, who are described by two phrases. First, they are the camp of the saints, which evokes the imagery of Israel in the wilderness, a pilgrim people living in tents. Second, they are the beloved city, which is the New Jerusalem, the Church. These are not two different locations, but two descriptions of the same entity: the worldwide body of Christ. The saints are surrounded. The situation appears hopeless. But there is no battle. The rebellion is not put down by human means. The end is sudden, decisive, and divine. Fire came down from heaven and devoured them. This is the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ in judgment. This is the Second Coming, described in 2 Thessalonians as Christ returning "in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God" (2 Thess. 1:8).
10 And 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.
The final sentence is executed. The devil, the great deceiver and the engine of this final rebellion, is thrown into his ultimate destination: the lake of fire. This is the second death, the place of eternal punishment. Notice that he is not the king of this place; he is a prisoner in torment. He joins the beast and the false prophet, the anti-Christian civil and religious powers that were thrown there at the beginning of the millennium (Rev 19:20). Their torment is eternal, described as "day and night forever and ever." This is the final and complete eradication of evil from God's creation. Satan's last tantrum is over, and his doom is sealed for eternity.
Application
This passage, while describing a future event, has profound implications for us now. First, it teaches us to have a long-term, optimistic view of history. The "thousand years" is a time of gospel victory, and we are living in it. We should therefore work, plan, and build with the expectation that our labor in the Lord is not in vain, and that Christ's kingdom will advance in history. We are not polishing brass on a sinking ship.
Second, it warns us against a utopian view of that victory. This side of glory, the heart of unregenerate man remains what it has always been. Even in a golden age of Christian influence, there will be unbelievers, and where there is unbelief, there is the potential for rebellion. This should keep the church humble and dependent, knowing that our security rests not in cultural dominance but in the grace of God alone. We must never stop preaching the gospel of regeneration, no matter how Christianized our surroundings become.
Finally, it gives us ultimate confidence. The final rebellion, though massive, is pathetic. It is crushed in an instant. Our God holds all His enemies in derision. There is no ultimate contest between good and evil. Christ has already won the decisive victory at the cross, and the end of history is simply the final mopping-up operation. We do not know the day or the hour, but we know the outcome. The beloved city cannot be overthrown. The camp of the saints is eternally secure. Therefore, we should live in faith and faithfulness, without fear, knowing that the One who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, and that one day soon, fire will come down from heaven.