The vision of Revelation 20:7-10 reflects the New Testament teaching of a great rebellion that will mark the end of the church age. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 24:21: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” Paul wrote that Christ “will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3).

Revelation variously has depicted this intense attack against the church. In chapter 11, the church is represented by twin witnesses resembling Moses and Elijah. When their witness is concluded, “the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,” until Christ raises them three and a half days later (Rev. 11:7-11). Revelation 20:1-3 shows Satan as bound during the church age, “until…he must be released for a little while” (20:3); John picks up this thought in verses 7-8.

We should notice that Satan is “released” from his bonds, emphasizing the sovereign rule of God over him. This detail reminds us that however mighty the devil may be, he remains a finite creature of limited strength, unable to match the infinite might of God. We remember from our study of verses 1-3 that the binding of Satan has to do with God’s forbidding him to “deceive the nations any longer” (v. 3), so that the gospel may spread throughout the world. The binding of Satan doesn’t mean that his evil activities are totally curtailed but that he no longer has authority to bind the nations in the darkness of unbelief. It is noteworthy, then, that as soon as Satan is released, this is precisely what he does: he “will come out to deceive the nations” (v. 8).

This combination shows us that Satan’s chief instrument in this world is not violent persecution but deceptions that promote unbelief. This is why the Christian church is sent into the world with the truth. Whatever else the church does, it must boldly proclaim the truth if God’s Word, refusing to compromise with the prevailing dogmas of secularist unbelief. We are constantly told today that Christians must be less doctrinally fixated and that we must be more tolerant of worldly ideas and practices. This approach should alarm us, given Satan’s chief strategy of binding unbelievers with deception. Moreover, we see that the sinful tendencies of the human heart do not evolve upward over time. As soon as God lifts His restraint of Satan, “the nations” are deceived once more.

The purpose of Satan’s deceptions has always been to lead darkened mankind into warfare against God, and so will be the great tribulation that ends the age (v. 8). The book of Revelation makes clear that this battle is the same final conflict that earlier received the name “Armageddon” (16:16). The great battle of chapter 19 draws the imagery of feeding carrion birds from Ezekiel 39, and the battle of chapter 20 draws the names “Gog and Magog”  from Ezekiel 38, where the prophet foretold a great assault on God’s people after the age of their blessing. Regarding the final battle, Ezekiel wrote: “Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him” (38:2). By using this same designation, Revelation is saying that its final battle is the same final battle anticipated by Ezekiel.

John’s language confirms the New Testament teaching of a final worldwide persecution of the Christian church (see Matt. 24:21; 2 Thess. 2:3-4). First, the nations are gathered from “the four corners of the earth…for battle” (Rev. 20:8). This shows that the final battle is launched not merely by a far-eastern nation such as Russia or China, as popular prophecy teaching often states. It is the entire world that gathers for a stand against the authority of God. Second, “their number is like the sand of the sea” (v. 8), referring to the vastness of these enemies. The battle will not pit evenly matched forces, so that Christians may hope to succeed by their own strength. Rather, only the power of God is able to save them.

This vast worldwide army “marched up over the broad plain of the earth” (v. 9). The idea is of a great army marching over a vast tract of ground. Their objective is the church: “and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” This recaps the biblical model for the salvation of God’s people. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel was placed at the mercy of wicked powers, yet was delivered by God’s sudden intervention. It was the situation of John’s readers, surrounded by pagan rulers who wielded the Roman sword. How often believers have experienced this plight, from David’s exile in the caves of Judea, to the Chinese house churches that meet secretly to avoid arrest, to the Christian churches in Muslim lands that meet under the threat of violence and attack. So in the end the entire church will be besieged, so that a refusal to worship idols and a bold witness to Christ will result in suffering.

Notice the language with which John describes the church: “the camp of the saints and the beloved city” (v. 9). The first description alludes to the camp of Israel in the exodus journey: the church is likewise the pilgrim body of believers passing through life toward a promised land beyond. It is with this in mind that Peter urged Christians to avoid the pollutions of sin (1 Pet. 2:11). At the same time, though we are despised as aliens by the world, the church is God’s “beloved city.” Babylon stands for the prostitute world, just as Jerusalem represents the church as the bride of Christ. Whereas God will judge and condemn faithless Babylon, the faithful church bears His love and receives His promise of an eternal salvation.

We can tell that the people of God are God’s beloved city because of His fiery defense of her from Satan’s attack: “but fire came down from heaven and consumed them” (v. 9). Here, as elsewhere in Revelation and the New Testament, Christ’s second coming results in the immediate defeat of all the foes who afflicted His church. Ezekiel specified that fire would fall on Magog both to defend God’s people and to glorify His name (Ezek. 39:6). This point emphasizes that the church does not fight to defend herself. Revelation 12:11 described her warfare as trusting in Christ’s blood, bearing testimony to God’s Word, and offering our lives to seal our witness.

The main emphasis in this vision is the defeat and destruction of Satan himself (v. 10). Notice that the devil is primarily judged for deceiving the nations, reminding us again that the church’s ministry of truth through God’s Word is always the world’s greatest need. The greatest victory of history is Jesus’ conquest of sin by His blood, and that victory is joined with His defeat of Satan, the great tyrant and deceiver of the world. Knowing this, Christians face the future with great hope, since God has ordained the judgment and condemnation of Satan. This judgment was anticipated in Matthew’s Gospel when demons whom Jesus had cast out admitted knowing of their coming judgment (Matt. 8:29). Jesus said that this time had not yet come, but Revelation shows that history ends with the greatest agents of evil receiving a terrible and just punishment from God.

The final words of this vision are poignant and decisive: “forever and ever” (v. 10). This constitutes the gravest warning for those who enter into rebellion with Satan, reveling in sin and rebelling against God’s rule. Their punishment is as eternal as God Himself is. Sin, being an offense to God’s justice and holy nature, is eternal, and so are its consequences. This same “forever and ever” provides the Christian with a ground for a most joyful hope. Our own sin will be not only forgiven but actually removed. There will be no adversary to accuse us but only God’s justice to demand our justification through faith in Christ.

What is the meaning of this “forever and ever” to believers now? It means that we have an antidote to the crippling fear of persecution that might otherwise undermine our faith. Why would we forsake Jesus Christ amid the afflictions of this world when we know how the story ends? Jesus wins! Why would we abandon His victorious cause, even though it may entail suffering for a little while in tribulation, and even if discipleship to Him requires us to renounce the sinful pleasures of the condemned world? Because we know this end, and the “forever and ever” beyond it without fear, sin, or death, let our worship, our service, and our lives now reflect the joy that belongs to the people of the beloved city that God has made His own.

Revelation 20:7-10 Study Questions:

What is the significance of Satan being released after the thousand years are ended (v. 7)?

The troops go straight for the camp of the saints, but no battle takes place. What happens instead (vv. 9-10)?

How does this picture of the ultimate overthrow of the devil give us hope to face trouble today (v. 10)?

John begins the vision, “Then I saw thrones” (v. 4). This raises the question: Where are these thrones located? According to the premillennial view, these thrones are on earth, since the thousand years sees faithful Christians as reigning with Christ on earth. This claim is problematic, since of the forty-seven times that the word throne is used in Revelation, the thrones are almost always in heaven. The only exceptions are three occasions when the throne of Satan or the beast is mentioned on earth (2:13; 13:2; 16:10), and the references to God’s throne after He has come down to reign in the new heaven and new earth (22:1, 3). On every other occasion, especially when the Lamb or the angelic representatives of the church are enthroned, the scene is in heaven. Moreover, Jesus earlier gave a promise that is fulfilled in this scene, locating it in heaven (3:21).

The argument is made by premillennialists that the thrones have come to earth because of Christ’s earthly millennial reign after His return. But the text states that John saw “the souls of those who had been beheaded” seated on the thrones (v. 4). This verse clearly connects with an earlier vision of the souls of martyrs in heaven, who are described in nearly identical terms (6:9). Revelation 20:4 explains that these souls had been “beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.” These are evidently the same persons. Moreover, verse 5 contrasts these souls with “the rest of the dead,” making it clear that John is seeing a vision of the saints in glory, those believers who have died are translated into the presence of Christ in heaven.

The thousand years we studied in Revelation 20:1-3, giving the amillennial answer that John describes as the entirety of the church age. The millennium – the number one thousand symbolizing a lengthy and perfect duration of time – began with Christ’s ascension to His throne and will conclude with His return to usher in the new heaven and new earth. During this present millennial age, Christ is reigning in heaven, and since these souls are reigning with Him, the location can be only in heaven.

This means that Revelation 20:4-6 provides a heavenly counterpart to the events taking place on earth in verses 1-3. It describes what is known as the intermediate state: the state of believers’ souls after death and before Christ’s return and the resurrection of the body. John’s vision shows these souls seated on thrones above during the gospel age. When Jesus returns, these spirits will be rejoined to their bodies to reign with Christ not merely for a thousand years – “they will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 22:5).

So who is seated on these thrones? At the least, these are the souls of martyrs who suffered death for their faith in Christ (v. 4). Some premillennial scholars argue that this vision shows martyrs of the faith receiving the special reward of reigning with Christ on earth during the thousand years. Dispensational writers give a number of opinions, including the view that it is not martyrs but the saints who fought with Christ before His return (Rev. 19:14) who now exercise judgment with Him on earth. There can be no doubt however, that John sees a vision of martyrs reigning with Christ on thrones above. The question is asked of the entire church that boldly suffers for the gospel, a church typified by those who lost their lives for Christ: Have these believers lost everything by remaining loyal to Jesus? John reveals that all who remained faithful in their testimony “came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (v. 4).

We have seen that the vision of verses 4-6 describes thrones in heaven on which the souls of faithful Christians are seated during the intermediate state between their death on earth and the return of Jesus from heaven. Next John says that the saints “reign with Christ,” and called this reward “the first resurrection” (vv. 4-6). The premillennial view of history sees the statement that these souls “came to life” as requiring a physical resurrection. Premillennialists therefore teach that when Jesus returns, believers who died have their souls restored to their bodies in order to reign with Christ on earth. Only later, after the thousand years, are the bodies of unbelievers resurrected in order to stand in the final judgment.

The amillennial view, which teaches that the thousand years symbolically refers to the present church age, has a number of compelling responses to this argument. The first response is to note not only that the Bible nowhere else speaks of a thousand-year interval between the physical resurrection of believers and unbelievers, but also that the Bible positively rules out such doctrine. An example is Jesus’ teaching about His return to earth and the immediate judgment, for which all persons stand before Him in their resurrected bodies (Matt. 25:31-32). Not only is there no thousand-year interval between Christ’s return and the final judgment, but all persons – godly and ungodly – are resurrected at the same time for this event. In John 5:28-29, Jesus similarly placed the physical resurrection of all persons in a single event. By separating the return of Christ and the final judgment by a thousand years, and likewise separating the resurrection of believers and unbelievers by the millennium, the premillennial view contradicts these plain statements and must therefore be rejected.

How then, do Christians reign with Christ in heaven after their death? John answers: “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” (v. 6). The main point is that believers reign with Christ as priests who serve in God’s presence. John has emphasized this calling from the very beginning of Revelation, saying in the benediction of 1:6 that Christ freed us from sin by His blood to be “a kingdom, priests to his God the Father.” This indicates that believers in heaven have immediate access to the presence of God and enjoy the unimaginable blessing of perfect spiritual worship before the face of divine glory. Christians who die receive a glorious advance in their redemptive experience, reigning with Christ as priests above.

In verse 4, John also said that these enthroned souls “were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.” The manner in which the saints exercise judgment is not specified, but at a minimum they have the pleasure of approving and taking part with Christ in His judgment of sin. This emphasis reflects Revelation’s deep concern for God’s justice on behalf of His persecuted church, including many of John’s original readers, who would be martyred for their faith.

How do believers reign with Christ, as priests who sit on thrones to judge? John exclaims that they reign in blessing and holiness: “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!” (v. 6). Having been exhorted throughout Revelation to overcome by faith, the saints above are now seen to have overcome, entering the blessing of spiritual communion with God. Their bodies were destroyed on earth, but the souls reign with Christ in heaven. They are the holy ones whom God has set apart as His treasured possession forever and blessed to dwell before His glorious face.

John clinches the believers’ hope of life after death in verse 6: “Over such the second death has no power.” Christians suffer physical death, just as unbelievers do. The souls of believers are raised into heaven, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies, but with no fear of any further experience of death. How different is the fate of those who reject Christ! In death their souls do not go to heaven but to hell, and the resurrection of their bodies leads to the second death, which appears later in this chapter as eternal death in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 15). To believe in Christ is to experience the first resurrection but never the second death. But to reject Jesus is to be denied the first resurrection and be condemned to the second and final death.

Revelation 20:4-6 Study Questions:

For what period of time will Satan be bound and the faithful martyrs reign with Christ (vv. 2, 4)?

Why do those who share in the first resurrection become priests of God (v. 6)?

If we are already reigning with Christ, how do we serve as priests of God and Christ to those around us?