Revelation
Chapter 20
The Great Millennium
Then, an angel came down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a large chain.
He seized the monster, the ancient serpent, specifically Satan or the Devil, and tied it up for a thousand years.
He threw it into the abyss and closed its gate with the key, then secured it with locks, so it might not deceive the nations in the future until the thousand years are over. Afterward, it will be released for a short time.
There were thrones, and those seated on them were the ones with the authority to judge. I then saw the spirits of those who had been beheaded because they held the teachings of Jesus and the word of God. I saw all those who refused to worship the beast, its image, or receive its mark on their forehead or hand. They came back to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
The rest of the dead will not come back to life until the thousand years are over. This is the first resurrection.
Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection, for the second death has no power over them; they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
At the end of these thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison;
then, he will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, namely Gog and Magog, and gather them for war. What a multitude, so numerous, like the sand on the seashore!
They invaded the land and surrounded the camp of the saints, the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
And the Devil, the deceiver, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet already are. Their torment will last day and night, forever and ever.
The Judgment
After that, I saw a magnificent throne and the one seated upon it. Suddenly, heaven and earth vanished, leaving no trace.
I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne, while books were opened. Another book, the book of life, was also opened. Then the dead were judged based on the records of these books, each according to their deeds.
The sea gave up the dead it had kept, along with death and the netherworld, so that everyone could be judged by their actions.
Then death and the netherworld were cast into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is called the second death.
All those not recorded in the book of life were thrown into the fiery pit.
Commentaries
The Great Millennium.
The expression “a thousand years” is mentioned frequently (2:3.4.5), a figure that has sparked many unnecessary speculations over the centuries and has led to the well-known millenarianism, which the Church has repeatedly condemned. It has been viewed as a period of great prosperity for humanity. Even in the whole union between Church and state… ‘A thousand years,’ in John’s intent, is a symbolic figure; it is ‘God’s time’ (cf. 2 Pt 3:8). It signifies our current age, begun by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and definitively marked by his victory over the Devil. This victory over the still-present forces of evil is being fulfilled day by day until the second coming of the Lord, which will bring about the end of time.
The Judgment.
The sobriety of the description of the last judgment is striking, especially compared to the detailed, sometimes terrifying visions found in Jewish apocalyptic writings and their echoes in some passages of the New Testament (remember 1 Cor 15:22). The entire sequence is concise and subtly influenced by Daniel 7. A great white throne appears, but nothing is said about God directly. However, we, the readers of Revelation, understand that God is the one seated on it, since only he is “seated on the throne” (4:2.9; 5:1.7). God is the judge in this universal judgment. The narrative concludes with a mention of the book of life. In Revelation, there is only one book: “the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” (3:5; 21:27). His blood cleanses and saves us. God’s love and mercy ultimately triumph over all our sins and sufferings. Now that all signs and remnants of evil—such as the great dragon, the first and second beasts, the great prostitute, the great Babylon, death, and hell—have vanished, even the sea, symbolizing hostility, has disappeared. Nothing obstructs the long-awaited renewal.