Revelation 20

KJV · Chapter 20/22

¹And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

²And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

³And 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.

⁴And 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.

⁵But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

⁶Blessed 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.

⁷And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

⁸And 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.

⁹And 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.

¹⁰And 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.

¹¹And 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.

¹²And 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.

¹³And 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.

¹⁴And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

¹⁵And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Satan is bound for a thousand years while the faithful reign with Christ, but after that period he is released briefly to deceive the nations before being permanently thrown into the lake of fire. The chapter culminates in the final judgment before the great white throne, where the dead are judged according to their deeds recorded in the books.

Explanation

The 'thousand years' period (often called the millennium) mentioned six times in this chapter is one of the most debated topics in all of Christian theology, with different traditions interpreting it literally or symbolically regarding its exact duration and nature. Satan's brief release after this period, followed by his final and definitive defeat, reinforces a pattern in the book: even when evil seems to get one last chance, it is decisively destroyed by God's power, without exception. The scene of the 'great white throne' and judgment by the open 'books,' including specifically 'the book of life,' emphasizes that God's final judgment is based both on recorded actions and on relationship (whether or not one's name is written in the book of life). Today's application is living with the awareness that history has a final purpose and a point of accountability, which gives moral meaning to present choices.

Fun facts

The different Christian interpretations of the 'millennium' (premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism) represent some of the most enduring theological divisions within Christianity, having been debated continuously for nearly two thousand years without universal consensus among denominations.

Verse-by-verse explanation

Revelation 20:1The number one thousand also appears elsewhere in the Bible, as in Deuteronomy, to express a long and complete period, not necessarily an exact count of calendar years. Christian traditions read this period in very different ways, and the text does not settle this discussion.
Revelation 20:2The angel seizes the dragon, already identified in chapter 12 as that old serpent, the Devil and Satan, binding him for a symbolic period of a thousand years.
Revelation 20:3The seal over the abyss keeps him from continuing to deceive the nations during this period; the mention of a future release already sets up the final confrontation that comes later in the chapter.
Revelation 20:4This same debated image continues here: different traditions place this reign at different points in the book's sequence of events, without any consensus among them.
Revelation 20:5The expression “the first resurrection” and the thousand-year period are read in very different ways by Christian traditions throughout history, without the text settling this discussion here.
Revelation 20:6This is the last of the seven blessings in the book, promising whoever shares in this “first resurrection” protection from the “second death” (a concept already introduced in chapter 2) and a priestly role alongside Christ.
Revelation 20:7After the appointed period, Satan is loosed again, resuming the activity that had been interrupted at the start of the chapter.
Revelation 20:8These names come straight from the prophecy of Ezekiel 38–39, about a great hostile coalition attacking God's people. Here they are reused as a symbol of a final, failed rebellion, not as a specific nation.
Revelation 20:9The final battle, using the biblical names Gog and Magog (drawn from the prophecy of Ezekiel 38–39) to describe a hostile coalition, ends abruptly with fire coming down from heaven, with no prolonged fight.
Revelation 20:10The devil receives the same fate already given to the beast and the false prophet in chapter 19, gathering the book's three great adversaries in the same place of eternal punishment.
Revelation 20:11Open books in a judgment scene also appear in Daniel 7, a courtroom image, like a formal record being read aloud for a final reckoning.
Revelation 20:12The final judgment scene uses the image of open books, a reference already used in Daniel 7, with one specific book, the “book of life,” determining who is spared.
Revelation 20:13Even those who died at sea, traditionally without a proper burial, are included in this final judgment, showing that no form of death escapes this reckoning.
Revelation 20:14The text itself defines the term here: the second death is explicitly the lake of fire, different from the ordinary physical death mentioned elsewhere in the book.
Revelation 20:15Closes the judgment scene with the decisive criterion: only a name written in the book of life avoids the final fate of the lake of fire.

Chapters

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