The Last Tantrum: Satan's Final Defeat Text: Revelation 20:7-10
Introduction: The Incorrigible Rebel
We come now to the end of the millennium, and to what appears, at first glance, to be a profound challenge to the optimistic, victorious eschatology that Scripture teaches everywhere else. For those who have been tracking with us, we have seen that the thousand years described here is symbolic of the long age of the gospel, inaugurated by the binding of Satan at Christ's first coming. This binding did not render him inert, but it did chain him such that he could no longer deceive the nations wholesale, preventing the gospel from advancing. The result of this binding is the gradual, inexorable, and glorious advance of the kingdom of God over the entire earth. The mustard seed grows into a great tree. The leaven works its way through the whole lump. This is the heart of postmillennialism. It is not a vain hope, but a blood-bought certainty.
But then we have this. At the end of this long period of gospel triumph, a period which will culminate in a great golden age for the church on earth, Satan is released for a "little season." And what does he do? He immediately goes out and stirs up a massive, global rebellion against Christ and His saints. This seems, to many, to be a great contradiction. How can a Christianized world, discipled for generations, suddenly produce a rebellion so vast its numbers are compared to the sand of the seashore? This is the question that causes many of our pessimistic brethren to stumble. They see this final rebellion as proof that the gospel is ultimately ineffective in history, that the church is destined for a last-minute rescue from a world gone mad.
But this is to misunderstand both the nature of sin and the purpose of God in history. This final rebellion is not a sign of the gospel's failure. It is the final demonstration of sin's incorrigibility. It is God's last object lesson, on the grandest possible scale, to prove that even after a long period of worldwide peace, righteousness, and blessing under the influence of the gospel, the unregenerate heart, given the slightest opportunity, will always and immediately rebel against its Creator. This is not a strategic setback for the kingdom; it is the final, pathetic tantrum of a defeated foe, allowed by God to show his true colors one last time before his final sentencing. It is the last gasp of a serpent whose head has already been crushed. God is not wringing His hands over this; He is proving His point.
This episode is the capstone of God's justice. He is demonstrating to all creation that the final judgment is not only righteous but necessary. He is showing that the only thing that keeps wickedness in check is His sovereign restraint, and the only thing that changes a wicked heart is His sovereign grace. This last rebellion is not a question mark at the end of history; it is a divine exclamation point.
The Text
And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison, 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. 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. 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.
(Revelation 20:7-10 LSB)
The Unchained Deceiver (v. 7-8)
We begin with the catalyst for this final conflict.
"And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison, 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." (Revelation 20:7-8)
First, notice the passive voice. "Satan will be released." He does not break out. He does not pick the lock. He is let out on a leash, and the leash is held by the sovereign hand of God. This entire event is within the decreed plan of God. God is not surprised by this; He ordained it. This "little season" of release serves His ultimate purposes.
And what is Satan's first and only impulse? Deception. He "will come out to deceive the nations." This is his nature. He is the father of lies. His binding prevented him from deceiving the nations into a unified, global opposition to the gospel. His release removes that specific restraint. And the unregenerate elements remaining in the world, even after a long period of Christian influence, are shown to be immediately susceptible to his lies. This should not surprise us. A world filled with Christian institutions, Christian laws, and Christian culture is not the same as a world filled with Christians. There will always be tares among the wheat, goats among the sheep. This final test is designed to separate them out, once and for all.
John uses the symbolic names "Gog and Magog" to describe these rebellious nations. This is a direct reference to Ezekiel 38 and 39. In Ezekiel, Gog of the land of Magog is a mysterious northern foe who comes to attack a restored and peaceful Israel. John is not predicting an invasion by literal Russians or Scythians. He is using Old Testament prophetic language to describe the archetypal enemy of God's people. "Gog and Magog" has become biblical shorthand for the seething, godless rage of the nations against the Lord and against His Anointed. These are the nations from the "four corners of the earth," indicating the global scale of this final apostasy.
The number of them is "like the sand of the seashore." This is apocalyptic hyperbole, meant to convey a vast, seemingly overwhelming force. From a human perspective, the situation looks dire. The church, after a long season of victory, is now faced with a worldwide rebellion of immense proportions. But we must remember that apocalyptic literature is picture-language. The point is not to get out your calculator, but to feel the weight of the apparent threat, so that the nature of the deliverance will be all the more glorious.
The Final Siege and the Divine Response (v. 9)
The rebellion moves from deception to direct confrontation.
"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." (Revelation 20:9 LSB)
The enemies of God march "up on the broad plain of the earth." This is the language of invasion. They surround "the camp of the saints and the beloved city." The "beloved city" is not a literal, rebuilt Jerusalem in Palestine. It is the Church, the New Jerusalem, the worldwide community of the redeemed. The "camp of the saints" emphasizes that we are pilgrims and sojourners, a holy army in this world. The picture is one of a total siege. The forces of unbelief have gathered for one final, climactic assault to eradicate the people of God from the earth.
And what is the response of the saints? Notice what is not said. It does not say the saints took up arms. It does not say they fought a long and bloody battle. It does not say they were martyred by the thousands. The saints are surrounded. They have a full opportunity to trust the Lord. And that is all that is required of them. This is not their battle. The text simply says they were surrounded, and then, immediately, deliverance comes.
"And fire came down from heaven and devoured them." This is not a description of a long, drawn-out war. This is a summary execution. This is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. As Paul says, the Lord Jesus will be "revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8). The rebellion is not put down by human means. It is obliterated by the direct, personal, and fiery return of the King.
This is the final answer to the rage of the nations. Their grand coalition, their ultimate rebellion, their final push against the kingdom, is not met with a counter-argument or a political strategy. It is met with fire from the throne of God. The war is over before it begins. The last tantrum is silenced by the final word of the Judge.
The Devil's Final Destination (v. 10)
The chapter concludes with the final sentencing of the architect of all rebellion.
"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." (Revelation 20:10 LSB)
After his pawns are consumed, the king is taken. The devil, the deceiver, is himself thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. This is the final, eternal, conscious punishment for the enemies of God. Notice that this is not annihilation. He is not vaporized out of existence. He is tormented. And this torment is endless: "day and night forever and ever." The smoke of their torment goes up for the ages of the ages. Let all who trifle with sin and flirt with rebellion take note. God's justice is not temporary.
And notice who is there waiting for him. "Where the beast and the false prophet are also." The beast (antichrist political power) and the false prophet (apostate religion) were thrown into the lake of fire at the beginning of the millennium, a thousand years prior (Revelation 19:20). This verse is a powerful argument against annihilationism. They were not consumed or extinguished; they have been in torment this entire time, and now their master joins them. Hell is a real place, and the punishment is eternal.
This is the end of the story for Satan. The ancient serpent, the accuser of the brethren, the murderer from the beginning, the deceiver of the nations, is brought to his final end. His story does not end in a blaze of glory. It ends in a lake of fire. All his cunning, all his malice, all his cosmic rebellion, results in this: an eternal and just punishment from the hand of the God he hated.
Conclusion: Confident Optimism
So what does this mean for us? It means our postmillennial optimism is not a naive, head-in-the-sand optimism. It is a rugged, realistic, and biblically-grounded optimism. We do not believe that every last sinner will be converted before Christ returns. We believe that the gospel will triumph in history to such an extent that righteousness, peace, and the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. But we also recognize that the unregenerate human heart remains what it has always been: desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.
This final, brief rebellion does not negate the glorious victory of the millennium that precedes it. Rather, it vindicates the necessity of the final judgment that follows it. It is the final piece of evidence presented before the court of heaven and earth. God allows this last revolt to demonstrate that even in the best of circumstances, fallen man will choose Satan over Christ if left to himself. It proves that the problem is not our environment, our education, or our economic condition. The problem is our heart, and only the grace of God in the gospel can solve it.
Therefore, we do not fear the end. We do not look at the headlines and despair. The story has already been written. Christ has won. He is currently reigning and putting all His enemies under His feet. The gospel is advancing, and it will continue to advance until the Great Commission is fulfilled. And at the very end, there will be one last, futile spasm of rebellion. It will look terrifying for a moment, but it will be extinguished in an instant by the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The saints will not be defeated. The beloved city will not be overthrown. We will be surrounded, and then we will be vindicated. The last word does not belong to Gog and Magog. The last word does not belong to the dragon. The last word belongs to the Lamb on the throne. And when He speaks that final word, every enemy will be consumed, and we will enter into the joy of our Master, forever and ever.