Revelation – Thousand Year Rest and a New Beginning

(Revelation 20)

Revelation 20:1-15 “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.[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.[5] But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.[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.[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.[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.[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.”

The beginning of chapter 20 it starts out with the one that has the key to the Bottomless Pit, showing that he already was given it. I am just making reference back to Abaddon showing that he isn’t the Devil or someone bad, because it is he that is binding up the Devil and not himself. Verse 3 and skipping to verse 7 we get a glimpse of a time period that is a short season of time that is overlooked by many.

Matthew 25:41 “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

Isaiah 65:20 “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.”

Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Skipping ahead passed the Thousand Years of rest for the Righteous we come to a short season that has a large impact on the outcome of many lives. This season last for one hundred years and during this time there is a struggle taking place between three groups of people. You have the Righteous that have followed the Word of God faithfully and in truth on one hand, while on the other hand you have the Wicked who have been brought back to life at the beginning of this season and they are fully on Lucifer’s side. What you have not been told by others is that there is a third group and they are called the Unrighteous. These are not truly wicked nor are they righteous for they have not heard the truth and had not had the chance to choose between living for The Almighty and living for Lucifer. Both sides will struggle to make their cases to draw as many Unrighteous as possible to their own side. The Unrighteous as you can imagine are those that have died young and had not grown to the age of accountability or those that have died during or even before birth. The Unrighteous also have among their numbers those that have lived out in the middle of nowhere and did not have chance to hear the truth. The Almighty does not “wink” at them nor do they receive a free pass. They will like everyone else be given a chance to choose for themselves whom they will serve, either The Almighty or Lucifer. That is why it is mentioned that Lucifer goes out to deceive the nations in verse 8. The Righteous have no fear of being deceived and the Wicked are already deceived so who do you think he is going out to deceive? It is the undecided, the unrighteous that he desires to go out and deceive. While the Righteous will be sharing the truth with the Unrighteous making their case to come and follow The Almighty, the Wicked will be sharing their lies of the benefits of serving Lucifer and enticing them with those lies. The Wicked could claim that Lucifer is God and that it is he that resurrected them and not The Almighty. This is but one lie that the Wicked could use to persuade the Unrighteous.

Now getting back to verses 4 thru 6 we see a few things that are interesting. First are the ones sitting on thrones and the power to judge is given them, but who are they? They aren’t believers because they aren’t mentioned of coming back to life until after those on the thrones. Also, they are different from the 24 elders because they do not sit on thrones. Outside the mentioning of kings and their thrones there are only three individuals that are mentioned of having thrones beyond this Earth. You have The Almighty, Jesus and Lucifer. Lucifer can be taken out of the equation and The Almighty doesn’t need to be given the power to judge and Jesus is just one individual. Here we see that there is more than one given the power to judge. The uniqueness of this account is that they all seem to sit on thrones. So, it comes down to who these individuals are that are sitting on these thrones. For me knowing that these are thrones and the implication of what requirements are needed to have such an honorable position and lineage I believe these thrones are occupied by the Sons of The Almighty. In this case He has given His sons the power to judge the inhabitants of Earth in the end.

Revelation 1:6 “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

The rest of verse 4 and verse 6 shows two different people that take part in the First resurrection. Verse 4 speaks of “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.” Out of these are ones chosen to be Kings and reign with Christ for these people fit the criteria, while out of the remaining people that are resurrected in the First Resurrection they will be priests as mentioned in verse 6.

Verses 8 and 9 has an interesting tidbit in it, for we see after the Thousand Year Reign and the Short Season that Satan gathers together all those that have sided with him and he marches his people against the Righteous. What I found interesting is that not everyone is in the city New Jerusalem. Satan and his Wicked have surrounded not only the Beloved City but also the Camp of the Saints. I had originally pictured this event happening with everyone in the city and no one on the outside. It just paints a different picture and found it interesting.

Within verses 10-15 we see both what is expected such as Satan being cast into the Lake of Fire where the Beast and the False Prophet are already and the Books being opened up for judgement. What many overlook is when some of this takes place and why it even takes place. The Great White Throne judgement doesn’t take place until after the Heaven and Earth are remade. In verse 11 “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away” corresponds with Chapter 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” At this point Heaven and Earth are remade before the opening of the books. Now why does this judgement take place and for who is it for? We know that by the end of the Short Season you only have two groups remaining, the Righteous and the Wicked. You would figure by this time everyone is already judged, it’s not like there is any questions left to who is on what side anymore. The books are opened up not for the benefit of Mankind but for Heaven. This judgement is showing all of Heaven the evidence of everything that has ever happened down here to once and for all settle the case of which Lucifer brought up when he challenged The Almighty’s authority. It is also at this time that the Wicked are cast into the Lake of Fire, not until this moment does any of them receive the punishment for their wickedness.