The Thousand Years and the Final Judgment

Summary

Revelation 20:1–3 sees an angel bind Satan and throw him into the Abyss (abussos, a pit that is bottomless or unbounded) for a thousand years, so he cannot deceive the nations. The slides trace other mentions of the Abyss: demons begged Jesus not to send them there (Luke 8:31), the locusts of Revelation 9 and the Antichrist of Revelation 11 and 17 rise from it. Verses 4–6 describe thrones and judges, the first resurrection, and those who reign with Christ, and the slides look at the Greek words for judge (krima) and reign (basileuo) and at Revelation 2:26, 3:21, 5:10, 1 Corinthians 6:2 and 2 Timothy 2:12.

The slides then picture the millennium: the Lord as the only king (Zechariah 14:9, Isaiah 2:2–3), the nations going up to worship him (Zechariah 14:16–17), and an earth transformed, with the peace of Isaiah 11:6–9 and the long lives of Isaiah 65:20–25, though not yet the new heaven and new earth. They note that premillennial theologians generally hold that people born during this time still need to repent and believe, and that the first resurrection (believers, at the rapture) is separate from the second (the rest, after the thousand years).

Verses 7–10 describe Satan’s release, his final deception of the nations (Gog and Magog), and fire from heaven; he joins the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire, as Matthew 25:41 foretells. Verses 11–15 show the Great White Throne: the books of works and the book of life, death and Hades thrown into the lake of fire (1 Corinthians 15:26). The slides stress that works cannot save (Ephesians 2:8–9, Titus 3:5, Romans 3:20, Galatians 2:16) and close with Psalm 22:27–28 and Philippians 2:9–11: every knee will bow, some in reverence and most in terror.

The chapter in four parts

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