1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil,
and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
3. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
years should be fulfilled: and after that, he must be loosed a little
season.
Vs. 1-3.--"And I saw an angel." This angel is the Lord Christ, (ch. x.
1.) The key is the symbol of authority. (Is. xxii. 22; chs. i. 18; iii.
7.) The dragon had been previously cast down from heaven, (ch. xii. 9;)
by the Reformation, and during the "short time" of his liberty, he
persecuted the woman and the remnant of her seed, on the earth. Now,
however, his career is arrested. "Seizing, binding, casting into the
abyss, shutting up, and setting a seal upon that old serpent," (ch. xii.
9,) are strong figurative expressions, by which his secure confinement
is signified. Thus is the devil to be restrained from deceiving the
nations for a "thousand years." That this period is to be taken in a
proper, and not in a mystical sense, appears thus. If we multiply one
thousand by three hundred and sixty, as some fancifully do, the
resulting number of years, three hundred and sixty thousand, would be
out of all proportion to the past duration of the world, as well as the
well-defined period of 1260 years. Add to this, that when by Daniel and
John definite duration is symbolically mentioned, it is by "months,
days; time, times and a half a time," or "the dividing of time,"--never
by "years."
At the expiration of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed a "little
season,"--_little_, as compared with the thousand years; so little, as
not to be deemed worth estimating.
4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given
unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped
the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads, or in their hands: and they lived and reigned with Christ a
thousand years.
V. 4.--"And I saw thrones." Here there is no mention of _heaven being
opened_. Nothing henceforth obstructs John's vision. "The darkness is
past, and the true light now shineth."--"At evening time it shall be
light." (Zech. xiv. 7.)--"And they sat on them." Who?--There is here
what may be termed a remarkable chasm in the language of the text. There
is no visible or proximate antecedent. Who are they who "sit on
thrones?" Did Millenarians only put this question, and patiently search
for the solution in the context, agreeably to the _allegorical texture_
of this whole book, all their hallucinations might be easily and happily
obviated. The inspired writer assumes, of course, that the reader will
readily identify these persons, who are thus promoted to honour, now
that Antichrist is no more, and society is to be reorganized.--Daniel
furnishes a satisfactory answer to our question. "I beheld till the
thrones were cast down." (Dan. vii. 9.) The Roman imperial thrones of
_civil despotism_ were subverted. Again,--"But the judgment shall sit,
and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto
the end." (v. 26.) The Roman imperial _throne_ of ecclesiastical
domination shall be destroyed. Then when Messiah "shall have put down
all rule, and all authority and power," of both sorts of tyranny, "the
kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High,
whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions, (_rulers_)
shall serve and obey him," (v. 27.) The "saints of the Most High,"
according to Daniel, are to be exalted to civil rule, and these are the
same whom John saw "sitting on thrones." Now, the effect of the seventh
trumpet becomes a fact in history.--"The kingdoms of this world," which
had been controlled by the beast, and bewitched by the sorceries of the
lewd woman, "are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his
Christ."--For in the millennial state of the world, there will be a
_plurality_ of _kingdoms_.--Hence a very common petition of pious but
ignorant people,--"That the kingdoms of this world may soon become the
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," neither will, nor ever
can be answered.--Under the righteous and benign administration of the
saints, "kings shall be nursing-fathers, and their queens
nursing-mothers to the church:" for "the nations and kingdoms that would
not _serve her_, have perished; yea, those nations have been utterly
wasted." (Is. xlix. 23; lx. 12.)--The souls which the apostle saw under
the altar, whose cry for vengeance he heard, and who were directed to
rest for a little season, till the roll of their martyred brethren
should be completed, are here presented in quite a new position,
"sitting on thrones," (ch. vi. 9.) Although they are not the same
identical persons _physically_, they are the same _morally_; for the
life of the two witnesses is commensurate with the reign of
Antichrist,--twelve hundred and sixty years. These "lived and reigned
with Christ a thousand years; that is, in their successive generations:
for otherwise they would over-live the age of Methuselah!--Souls are
here evidently persons, and not souls as distinct from bodies, as some
needlessly argue against Millenarians: for "foreheads" and "hands" are
attributed to them: but foreheads cannot be literally ascribed to those
who had been "beheaded." Their living is to be understood of their
succeeding to the same scriptural position occupied by their
predecessors, as well as succeeding them in the order of natural
generation. The Holy Spirit says, "Levi, who receiveth tithes, paid
tithes in Abraham." (Heb. vii. 9, 10.) Elijah reappeared in the person
of John the Baptist. (Matt. xi. 14.) Jezebel and Balaam were recognised
in their wicked successors, (ch. ii. 14, 20.) But this is the very
structure of the Apocalypse, being composed of hieroglyphics, that the
free agency of the wicked might be left untrammelled, and the diligence
of God's people might be tested in "searching the Scriptures."
5. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first resurrection.
V. 5.--"The rest of the dead" supposes two classes of the dead. These
are the witnesses, who died a violent and cruel death, and the wicked,
who died a natural death,--there "were no bands in their death." As
there are _two kinds_ of death, so are there two kinds of
resurrection,--a _first_ and _second_ of each. Those who had been
"beheaded for the witness of Jesus," etc., lived in their
successors,--sat on thrones, reigned with Christ a thousand years. Of
course those who were slain by Christ and his army at the battle of
Armageddon, and whose flesh was given to the fowls of heaven, "lived not
again" in their successors, "until the thousand years were finished."
Consequently, "this is the first resurrection," with which the true
disciples of Christ shall be honoured. They must, however, die as all
others, and await the _second_ resurrection: but "on them the second
death shall have no power."
6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on
such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God
and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
V. 6.--"Blessed and holy,"--and blessed, because _holy_; for sin is the
procuring cause of misery. This is a summary description of the
millennial period. The dragon being bound by the almighty power of
Christ, and not permitted to deceive the nations, wars shall cease unto
the ends of all the earth: the population of the globe must be rapidly
and greatly multiplied beyond all precedent. (Ps. xlvi. 9; lxxii. 16,)
the life of man will be prolonged; (Isa. lxv. 20-25,) holiness,
righteousness and praise shall spring forth before all the nations,
(lxi. 11.)
That condition of our globe, which divines call the _millennium_,--a
state of holiness and happiness, second only to the enjoyment of
heavenly felicity, is as clearly and frequently promised to God's
people, as the promise of the Messiah was under the former economy. But
as many were "in expectation that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear," who then entertained unwarrantable and carnal conceptions of
the Messiah's person and reign, just such groundless and gross
expectations and aspirations are cherished now. A literal resurrection
of _all_ the righteous, who shall have died before the millennium is
supposed to take place at the personal appearance of Christ; and this,
too, before the general judgment. By _personal_, they mean _corporeal_:
for the Lord Christ promised his gracious _personal_ presence with his
people _all days_, when he was about to disappear from their bodily
vision. (Matt. xxviii. 20.) "To them that look for him shall he appear
the _second_ time, (not a _third_,) without sin unto salvation." (Heb.
ix. 28; Rev. i. 7.) Besides, is it for a moment supposable that saints
who have passed into glory, are to be brought upon earth to conflict
once more with enemies, when Gog and Magog shall surround the "camp of
the saints?" Such is a specimen of questions suggested by the
_Millenarian system_, which have failed of either scriptural or rational
solution by all the learning and ingenuity of its fanciful advocates.
The whole series of the Apocalypse proves that the _two witnesses_ live
and prophesy throughout the 1260 years of Antichrist's reign. Their
lives and their testimony end together, (ch. xi. 7.) But the beast that
slays them is himself with his ally, the false prophet, at the close of
the contest, cast alive into the lake of fire, (ch. xix. 20.)
After three and a half prophetical days, the witnesses are raised, and
ascend up to heaven, (ch. xi. 12;) and this is the identical fact which
is more fully presented here in the 20th chapter. The resurrection of
the witnesses in the 11th chapter is a spiritual and mystical
resurrection in the persons of their successors; the heaven to which
they were exalted is a mystical heaven: and just so of those beheaded
and advanced, after their resurrection, to positions of civil and
ecclesiastic power as in this 20th chapter. Thus exalted, and ruling in
the fear of God, they become a terror to evil doers, and a praise to
them that do well. (Rom. xiii. 3.) Then shall be realized the glorious
predictions of Isaiah and the Sweet Psalmist of Israel. (Isa. xi. 1-9;
Ps. lxxii. 1)
7. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall
be loosed out of his prison.
8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle:
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp
of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God
out of heaven, and devoured them.
Vs. 7-9.--"Satan shall be loosed out of his prison."--The Lord Christ
will remove the restraint which had repressed the chief enemy during the
thousand years, that the Faithful and True Witness may give a final
testimony to the moral universe, that neither the philosophy of proud
man, nor the law of Moses,--no, nor the ordinances of the gospel, will
ever change the nature of a sinner:--That neither judgments nor mercies
have any efficacy to subdue the stubborn will, or renew the desperately
wicked heart of man; and that it is a righteous thing with God to render
tribulation to them that trouble his saints and insult his Majesty.
Thus released "for a little season," the prime enemy goes out as before
to "deceive the nations." He is successful. "The rest of the dead," who
lived not again during the 1000 years, at once re-appear in the persons
of their genuine successors. They are the children of them that killed
the witnesses;--the seed of the serpent aiming a last fatal stroke at
the seed of the woman.--They are called "Gog and Magog;" and because of
the identity of names, many have supposed them to be the same as those
enemies of the people of God described by Ezekiel, (chs. xxxviii.,
xxxix.) This view is, however, without sanction in the Scriptures. The
characters are mystical according to the uniform structure of the
Apocalypse. Ezekiel's Gog and Magog come from the "north quarters;"
those of John from the "four quarters or corners of the earth." It is
also probable, if not absolutely certain, that the enemies predicted by
Ezekiel are to appear before, while those of John are to arise after the
millennium. The overthrow of Gog and Magog, foretold by Ezekiel, is
evidently connected with the conversion of the Jews, (ch. xxxix. 22,
29;) but that event must precede the millennial period. (Rom. xi.
26.)--Magog is reckoned with Meshech and Tubal among the sons of
Japheth, (Gen. x. 2;) and those nations called in history Scythians and
Tartars, in the "north quarters" of Europe and Asia, as well as the
"isles of the Gentiles," are supposed to be their descendants. By the
"three unclean spirits," (ch. xvi. 13,) a confederacy was effected under
the sixth vial to the battle of Armageddon; and the same is again
presented in ch. xix. 20, as the final attempt against the saints
previously to the millennium, when two of the prime instigators, the
beast and the false prophet, are cast into the lake of fire. Thus we may
suppose _eastern_ and _western_ Antichrist finally destroyed.
Ezekiel's Gog and Magog being slain in the battle of Armageddon, how or
where shall we find those of John? They are to be found precisely on the
same principle on which we find the witnesses of Christ in this chapter.
Satan is loosed "a little season,"--_little_ as compared with the
thousand years of Messiah's reign; or rather, as compared with the 1260
years of the dragon's successful enterprises against the saints through
the beast and false prophet as agents. These being now cast into the
lake of fire, Satan is for ever deprived of their agency. During the
millennial period people will be born in sin as at other times; and at
the close of that happy period, Almighty God will display his
sovereignty by withholding his grace, that a last demonstration may be
given to all the world of the necessity and efficacy of that grace in
changing the heart of a sinner. Without the intervention of the beast or
the false prophet, Satan will prevail by more direct temptations to
gather together to battle a multitude of the _same spirit_ as Ezekiel's
Gog and Magog displayed against the saints before the millennium. These
are the "rest of the dead that lived not again till the one thousand
years were finished." As the "deadly wound" of the civil beast "was
healed," and he received a new life, to the astonishment of spectators,
(ch. xiii. 3,) as the witnesses received "the Spirit of life from God,"
to the dismay of their enemies; (chs. xi. 11; xx. 4,) so Gog and Magog
re-appear in the persons and bloody cruelties of their genuine
successors. And in language similar to that in the context we may
warrantably say,--this is the _second resurrection_; for when it is
declared that the "rest of the dead lived not again," it is manifest
that two classes of dead are intended. All are said to be dead; the
witnesses, slain by the beast; their enemies, slain by the Lord. The
witnesses rise, and "this is the first resurrection." A _first_ implies
a _second of the same kind_. Well, "the rest lived not again till the
thousand years were finished." What then? Why, simply this,--that the
other remaining class of the dead _lived again_; and this appears to be
the obvious scope and meaning of these terms, so vexing to many critics.
By deception Satan prevails to assemble the nations in vast multitudes,
"as the sand of the sea,"--a proverbial form of expression applied to
Abraham's seed. (Gen. xxii. 17.) "They went up on the breadth of the
earth." Coming from the "four quarters of the earth," they "compassed
the camp of the saints." The allusion here is twofold: to Israel in the
wilderness, in the time of Moses; and to the holy city Jerusalem, in the
days of David; (Ps. cxviii. 10-12,) for often did the enemy with "joint
heart" attempt to "cut off the name of Israel." (Ps. lxxxiii. 4-8.)
Never was Pharaoh or Sennacherib more confident of a sure and easy
victory over the saints. (Exod. xv. 9; Isa. xxxvi. 20.) As in the days
of Noah, most of the generation of the righteous had been taken home to
glory before the ungodly were destroyed by the deluge, so we may suppose
the "camp of the saints" to be but a "little flock," when assailed for
the last time, while they are in a militant state.--The issue in this
case, however, will be more decisive and glorious than any other battle
with the powers of darkness. We may adopt and apply the words of the
prophet to God's people in the time of Jehoshaphat:--"Thus saith the
Lord,--Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for
the battle is not yours, but God's. Ye shall not need to fight in this
battle." (2 Chron. xx. 15, 17.)--"Fire came down from God out of heaven,
and devoured" this great multitude. This most dreadful of all elements
in the material universe, is that which is commonly employed to
represent the wrath of God. By it Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed,
Corah and his rebellious company, the captains and their fifties; fire
proceeded out of the mouth of the two witnesses and devoured their
enemies; Gog and Magog are consumed by this element; the heavens and the
earth which are now, are reserved unto fire; the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven ... in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
know not God, and that obey not the gospel,--most probably _these very
enemies_; and all such are to be consigned to "the fire that never shall
be quenched." Awful thought! Tremendous destiny! Who would not fear
thee, O Lord; who art a consuming fire to all thy impenitent enemies?
10. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day and night for ever and ever.
V. 10.--The _first_ rebel against the righteous authority of the Lord
and his Anointed, and the ceaseless instigator of all rebellions of
individual and social man, is the _last_ to be consigned to adequate
punishment. When the Lord first called sinners to account, the same
order is noticeable: First, Adam, then Eve, and last the serpent. The
beast and the false prophet are already in the lake of fire; (ch. xix.
20;) and now, Satan, who is here called the devil, is dismissed after
them, that they may all be tormented "for ever and ever,"--words, as
already noticed, which are the strongest in the Greek language, to
convey to the human mind the idea of _endless duration_.
11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place
for them.
12. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books
were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books
according to their works.
13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works.
14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death.
15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire.
Vs. 11-15.--Nothing now remains to bring to a close the moral
administration of Messiah, but the raising of the dead and pronouncing
final sentence on all the subjects of his government. There is no
intimation that any events shall intervene between the casting of the
devil into the burning lake, and the appearing of the Judge.
The "great white throne" is suitable to the majesty and holiness of the
Judge. He is not at first called by any name, for "every eye shall see,"
and seeing, recognise his divine dignity. In the next verse he is styled
God, not to identify him, but as a matter of course in the
narrative.--No sooner did the Judge take his seat, than "the earth and
the heaven fled away." The simplicity and sublimity of this language are
inimitable by human genius; and rarely if at all equalled, even by those
who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The first inspired
writer uses language very similar. (Gen. i. 3.) We are frequently and
sufficiently taught that the Lord Christ in person is to be the judge of
quick and dead. (Acts xvii. 31.) "All must appear before the judgment
seat of Christ." (2 Cor. v. 10.) No person is competent to this work of
judgment but one who is omniscient and omnipotent, not to speak of other
divine perfections. The "Judge of all the earth" is a divine person,
possessed of all the attributes of deity; and as there is not _now_
among apostate angels, so there will not _then_ be a child of Adam, to
_deny the supreme deity of Jesus Christ_. (Matt. viii. 29.) Of this he
gave intimation at the beginning of the Apocalypse:--"Every eye shall
see him, and they also which pierced him," (ch. i. 7;) yes, they pierced
him for _blasphemy_, "because that he, being a man, made himself God."
(John x. 33.) Here the Judge on the throne demonstrates to an assembled
universe, the scriptural warrant for the language of the Reformers when
they say he is "very God, and very man." "God is judge himself," (Ps. l.
6,) in the person of the Father; but "he hath appointed a day in the
which _he_ will judge the world in righteousness, by that _man_ whom he
hath ordained."--(Acts xvii. 31.)
Before the righteous Judge "shall be gathered all nations," (Matt. xxv.
32,) all that have ever lived upon the earth, from the creation till the
end of time, all ranks and degrees, however diversified by sex, age, or
social position; righteous and wicked, Jews and Gentiles, Herod and
Pontius Pilate, Cain and Abel, Judas, etc.
In order to this general assize, "the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God," (John v. 25, 28, 29;) "and many of them that sleep in the
dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan. xii. 2.) The "sea, death and
hell," or the grave, (or rather, the place of souls as separated by
death from their bodies,) which are thus awfully, but beautifully
personified, shall surrender their respective tenants, that they may
stand before the Son of man in judgment.--Only such as have died are
mentioned here: but some will not die, but "remain alive unto the coming
of the Lord," the judge; and these, it is probable, will be the "camp of
the saints" which have been miraculously delivered from the rage of Gog
and Magog, (vs. 8, 9.) There is a beautiful order in the final
resurrection. "The dead in Christ shall rise first." (1 Thess. iv. 16; 1
Cor. xv. 23.) Next will be raised the wicked; for "like sheep they are
laid in the grave; death shall feed on them, and the upright shall have
dominion over them in the morning." (Ps. xlix. 14.) The dead, being all
raised, those who shall be alive will undergo a change equivalent to
death,--"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye;" for these "shall not
prevent (anticipate) them which were asleep;" that is, they will not be
_changed_ until their companions are called from the grave, etc. All
being now "before the judgment seat of Christ,"--the "books are opened!"
Oh, what emotions will swell and heave the bosoms of the
righteous!--"joy unspeakable and full of glory:" for before the sentence
of acquittal is publicly pronounced, their position on the Judge's right
hand indicates the sentence. And next what terror insupportable will now
seize the wicked! What "fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery
indignation," when in breathless suspense, they await the just
sentence,--"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels!" (Matt. xxv. 41; Heb. x. 27.) The
righteousness of this sentence will be attested by the "opened
books,"--of the divine omniscience, the human conscience, and in the
case of gospel-rejecters, the Bible. (2 Thess. i. 7, 8.) And the like
condemnation would pass upon the righteous, but that "another book is
opened," in which are inscribed the names of all the objects of God's
electing love: and this will be the key-note in their songs of praise to
all eternity. (Jer. xxxi. 3; Rev. i. 5.) All are "judged according to
their works," as these are witnessed by the books,--for "their works do
follow them," (ch. xiv. 13.)
"Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." Death, or the grave;
hell, or the separate state, will never again be needed, as prisons to
keep their inmates for trial. "The lake of fire" is the place of
ceaseless and endless torment for all who are not "found written in the
book of life;" and this place seems to be distinct from the "bottomless
pit," Satan's "prison," out of which he had been loosed, (v. 7.)--Of the
beast it was said, he "ascendeth out of the bottomless pit," but not
that he was remanded thither again: he is said to "go into perdition,"
which must be "the lake of fire." (Compare ch. xvii. 8, with xix. 20;
and xx. 1-3 with v. 10.)--The plain and obvious meaning of these closing
verses of the 20th chapter, as delineated in its general import by
appropriate and familiar symbols and intelligible words, for ever
excludes, and emphatically condemns the conscience-stupifying heresies
and blasphemies of Unitarians and Universalists. The God-man Mediator,
seated upon the "throne of his glory," before whose face the "earth and
the heaven fled away," is thus evidenced to be the Son of God, Jehovah's
Fellow. And we may here adopt the assertion and caution of the "beloved
disciple,"--"This is the true God and eternal life.--Little children,
keep yourselves from idols." (1 John v. 20, 21.)--Moreover, these verses
reveal a place or state, more to be dreaded than the "killing of the
body,"--"the lake of fire, which is the second death," "where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Matt. x. 28; 2 Thess. i.
8-10; Heb. x. 26-31.)
With the 20th chapter of the Apocalypse terminate the events of time, in
which the divine Author demonstrates, that "known unto him are all his
works, from the beginning of the world." (Acts xv. 18.) Many, indeed, of
the learned and pious have supposed the remaining chapters of the
Apocalypse, to be a description of the church on earth during the
millennial period. But besides the series, coherence and dependence of
the several parts of the book, precluding such _retrogression_, this
interpretation overthrows the scriptural distinction between the
militant and triumphant state of the church. And it is not to be thought
out of place, that the inspired prophet should describe, by suitable
emblems, the outline of the heavenly state; for this he has done briefly
already in a number of instances. (See chs. ii. and iii., also ch. vii.
15, 17.)--Those who consider the last two chapters as a delineation of
the church on earth, have first formed in their minds ideas of a
corporeal or bodily presence of Christ, and of a literal and visible
reign on the earth. Such views we have already shown to be without
scripture warrant, yea against plain declarations of the Holy Spirit,
(as Acts iii. 21; Matt. xvii. 11, 12; Heb. ix. 28.) Hence we shall
contemplate the symbols of the following chapters,--except as incidents
or allusions may render this incompatible,--as shadowing forth the
glories of the church's heavenly state.