Chapter 20
The Dragon.[a] 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, with the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and chained him up for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would not again deceive the nations until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released, but only for a short time.
The Reign of the Martyrs: Return and Destruction of Satan.[b] 4 Next, I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given the authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for bearing witness to Jesus and the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.[c]
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed[d] and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them. They will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
7 When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will emerge to lead astray the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—in order to gather them for battle. They are as numerous as the sands of the sea.[e]
9 They marched across the breadth of the earth[f] and laid siege to the camp of the saints and the beloved city. However, fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil who had led them astray was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been flung to be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11 Preparation for the Judgment.[g] Then I saw a great white throne, and the one who was seated upon it. The earth and the sky fled so far from his presence that they could no longer be found.
12 The Resurrection and Judgment.[h] And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the scrolls were opened. Then another scroll was opened, the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their deeds, as were recorded in the scrolls.
13 The sea gave up all the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. The dead were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were hurled into the fiery lake. This fiery lake is the second death.[i] 15 Anyone who was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the fiery lake.
Footnotes
- Revelation 20:1 The dragon is enchained for a thousand years in the abyss, the dwelling of the powers of evil (see Rev 9:2). This refers to Satan’s defeat when Jesus died and rose from the dead. The thousand year period means “for a long time.” Satan’s power is limited (as if he is imprisoned for a long time). Yet he still tempts the holy ones on the earth during this period.
- Revelation 20:4 While waiting for the History of Salvation to be completed, the witnesses to Christ’s love already reign with Jesus when they take up their crosses and follow Jesus. However, before the final triumph arrives—the great Judgment that one imagines must complete history—evil unleashes a last terrible assault on the Church, as envisaged by Ezekiel (chs. 36–39) and Paul (2 Thes 2). Then will be fulfilled the prophecy of Genesis (3:15) that in advance sketched the profound link of the drama of history and its end: the annihilation of the serpent, the personification of evil.
A reign of a thousand years? This passage has served as the basis of all the millenniarist interpretations, which await the coming of a political kingdom of Christ on earth. Must we at least imagine a first earthly accomplishment of the Kingdom of God before the final and eternal transformation? But the author does not speak of a return of Christ in earthly conditions. He wants to affirm above all that those who have died as witnesses of Jesus are not separated from him while awaiting the full resurrection (vv. 11-13); he also wishes to suggest that from now on believers have access to the tree of life in heaven—of which the figure “one thousand” may be a symbol—hence that they partake in the communion of God. In any case, the thousand-year reign is a symbolic representation, which thus prohibits all speculation. At best it evokes a length of time and a life of the Church beyond persecutions. But we must not forget that for God a thousand years are like one day (see Ps 90:4). - Revelation 20:4 A thousand years: early tradition took this verse literally: after a first real resurrection, that of the martyrs, Christ would return to earth and reign there for a thousand years. The Church has rejected this literal millenniarism.
- Revelation 20:6 Blessed: the fifth beatitude (see note on Rev 1:3). The second death: eternal death, or damnation, which cannot be followed by a resurrection.
- Revelation 20:8 Ezekiel speaks of “Gog, king of Magog.” Here the two names symbolize the pagan nations gathered together against the Church at the end of the world.
- Revelation 20:9 The earth is Palestine; the beloved city is Jerusalem, a symbol of the Church.
- Revelation 20:11 The earth and the sky disappear; the first creation is abolished. Human beings alone remain, responsible toward God.
- Revelation 20:12 This is a grandiose final sequence. As in Daniel (12:1-7) and Matthew (25:31-36), all human beings appear before the tribunal of God and are judged according to their choices and life commitments. (This principle of judgment according to one’s works is also found in Ps 62:12; Jer 17:10; Rom 2:6; 1 Pet 1:17 and elsewhere.) Everything is laid bare before the Lord—the same idea expressed in the symbol of books in Daniel (7:10). There is another book—that of Life; it contains the names of those who have resolutely chosen Christ in the face of idolatry and are now destined for glory (see Rev 13:8; 17:8). When one knows all that is represented by the concept of the netherworld, the sojourn of death and the power of death personified in the Bible, verse 14 announces the end of the anguish and fear that have weighed heavily on humankind throughout history.
- Revelation 20:14 The second death, in which death itself is swallowed up, is the definitive failure, the condemnation from which no resurrection can rescue (Rev 2:11; 20:6; 21:8).