Revelation 20:1-6 Series

Revelation 20:1-6

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

There is a group of Christians who for the most part are fairly sound in what they believe except for in my opinion this 1,000yrs that we are discussing today.

Just briefly, they believe that the 1,000yrs is symbolic rather than an actual 1,000yrs. Now I don't have a problem with that if the thought is it's not exactly 1,000yrs but just a reference to a long amount of time.

The problem is though though they do believe it means a long amount of time, they also believe that the thousand years started at the point that Jesus rose from the dead. And what we are reading has been happening for the last 2,000yrs plus. That opinion creates a lot of biblical problems as far as I'm concerned.

The other thing is they don't believe in the the thousand year reign and that Satan will be locked up and they don't believe in the new Heaven and new Earth.

Now I understand that this book of Revelation is symbolic in many ways but it still follows a certain time frame and I am a firm believer that we have not arrived yet to the point Revelation starts.

Many would ask, why didn't God Bind up Satan and throw him into the pit right after Satan was cast out of heaven? God chose not to.

I also mentioned before why would God send Satan down to earth if He knew He was going to create mankind at put us here? That's what God chose to do?

So Satan is bound and thrown into the pit, and the next words we read are

“After that he must be released for a little while.”

After everything that has happened God is going to let Satan out knowing Satan is never going to change his ways. But God does this anyway, why? Because God chooses to.

It is none of our business to know why God does what he does, He has every right to do what He wants. And even if He did tell us why, we still probably wouldn't understand.

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

Now this verse is much explanation. In the book of Daniel we may get a little info on this.

Daniel 7:21-22 ~ As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.

Now again not a complete explanation but that's what we have and it does us no good to go round and round with this.

(4) Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

This is called the first resurrection of the dead. The reason why it's called the first is because we don't see the un-believers being raised up yet. The unbelievers will not be raised until The Great White Throne when they are to be judged. For now all those who have made it to heaven will reign with Christ for one thousand years.

Verses 5 explains what I just said, 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

6 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.

If we get to this point, if we are one of those who make it to reign with Christ for 1,000yrs what great joy there will be.