Revelation #33 Revelation 20:1-6 The Dragon’s Demise
Revelation #33
Revelation 20:1-6 The Dragon’s Demise
The
thousand-year reign of Jesus, the thousand-year imprisonment of Satan, the
millennium. There are four classic ways
of understanding the millennium. The
classic four all are attempting to explain the timing of the Second Coming of
Christ. Premillennialism was the most common understanding of the early Church,
a literal thousand years of Jesus and His saints reigning following the second
coming. The understanding called
Amillennialism found popularity in the third century. The reign was considered a spiritual rather
than physical reality. Further, it was thought that the 1000 years began with
Jesus’ ascension and would end with his second coming. Postmillennialism looks
forward to Jesus coming again after 1000 years of the church defeating the
enemies of God. This view started to
gain support in the 18th century and lost traction after World War
I. Dispensational Premillennialism probably
the most parroted idea in our time is the renewal of a literal 1000 years of
Christ reigning on earth, and therefore it is more of a prophetic view of
things to come. Jesus returns and the millennium begins. Personally, I am a
pan-millennialist, it’s all going to pan out in the end.
Let’s
first consider verses 1-3 of Chapter 20 and see what we can figure out.
Revelation
20:1-3 (MSG)
I saw
an Angel descending out of Heaven. He carried the key to the Abyss and a
chain—a huge chain. He grabbed the Dragon, that old Snake—the very Devil, Satan
himself!—chained him up for a thousand years, dumped him into the Abyss,
slammed it shut, and sealed it tight. No more trouble out of him, deceiving the
nations—until the thousand years are up. After that, he has to be let loose
briefly.
John
has told us that nothing good comes out of the Abyss. In Revelation 9 out of the Abyss comes a
plague of demon locusts. In Revelation
11:7 even though the Beast is said to come out of the sea in chapter 13, John
sees it also ascending from the Abyss. The Abyss is the source of evil in
John’s vision (Ian Paul, TNTC Revelation, Vol 20, 1988, p. 176). Now the Abyss has become the Dragon’s prison,
from which that old Snake, the Devil called Satan can no longer influence the
nations. Babylon, the Beast, and the False Prophet are no more, they aren’t
even in prison they are gone, and now the mastermind of all this evil is taken
out of the picture.
In
John’s symmetry, his balancing the forces of good against the forces of evil,
the One Upon the Throne’s nemesis was the Dragon. Here is this vision of the
end, the Dragon doesn’t even seem to be a matter of great concern. God doesn’t
even show up in the scene, and Jesus doesn’t show up in the scene, it’s an
Angel that grabs the Dragon, chains it up, throws it into the Abyss, and locks
the door. We know why, it is because the Dragon was defeated at the
Resurrection that first Easter Sunday Morning. John gave us a glimpse of this
defeat back in chapter 12 in which the Arch Angel Michael and his team dislodge
Satan and its crew out of heaven. The mastermind behind the war that was waged
against God and his people is so defeated not even an archangel is required to
lock the Dragon away.
The
prison sentence is 1000 years. As with
all the numbers we have encountered in John’s vision this number is not to be
understood literally. The number 10 is
the number that indicates a time of transition into completeness. 1000 is 10 x
10 x 10, a 1000 years means the time it takes to get through the transition to
completeness, and not 365,000 days.
Let’s
look at this 1000 years from the perspective of the reign of Jesus. A poet by
the name Albius Tibullus is credited with nick-naming Rome as the Eternal City
sometime during the first century. Well, it seems that the rule of the Eternal
City symbolically only lasted three and a half years. Do you remember chapter
12 with its 1,260 days, 42 months, 3 ½ years? This “time” period represented
the intense tribulation the church battles symbolized by the two witnesses.
Paul wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed in us.” “For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all”
(Romans 8:18, 2 Corinthians 4:17 (NIV). The Eternal City falls in 3 ½ years but
Jesus reigns for 1000 years. “The age of glory far outweighs the passing age of
suffering” (Paul, p. 326).
Is this
age of glory before Jesus returns, after Jesus returns, or is this prophecy or
is this a present reality? Let’s look to
the witness of the scripture.
Ephesians
1:20-22 (MSG)
God
raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of
running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no
power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is
in charge of it all, has the final word on everything.
The
scripture testifies to the truth that Jesus is already reigning. This is the
present spiritual reality. If Jesus is
already reigning, when will Babylon, the Beast, the False Prophet, and the
Dragon be taken out? That question of when, immediately convinces us that John
is writing about future events, not present realities. The forces of evil arise out of the chaos of
the times, the forces of evil create untold suffering, the forces of evil are
vanquished, and we can expect the forces of evil to come again when the
majority turn their back on God. But because of what Jesus has already
accomplished evil can never be triumphant. John’s original readers lived in the
sure knowledge that this was exactly what was happening in their time. In the End, and according to John, his
readers were living in such times, Jesus sets all things in accordance with the
will of God. Not a future event, but a present reality.
Where
is this “set things right” world? It’s
in the person who has bent their knee to Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote: “God
chose to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). The present
spiritual reality is that Christ resides within believers, this is a way of
saying He reigns within. The hope of
glory is empowerment to face the ongoing forces of evil knowing that evil can
never be triumphant because of Jesus’ sacrifice, as believers expectantly wait
for the Return.
You are
living in the millennium right now. 1
year, 10, 100, 1000 literal years, no, until the time that the Father has set
for the Son to return and consummate the Kingdom, making the reality in you,
universal within the creation.
One of
the most difficult tasks for the Western Thinking mind is to understand that
John is not writing of the events of the future. John’s temporal distortions make it
impossible to anchor his vision to some sort of linear chronology. The scripture declares Jesus is currently
victorious. What John is telling us is the character of this present
spirituality. Babylon, the Beast, the
False Prophet, and the Dragon are all defeated right now for the believer. We
say at the incarnation, the birth of Christ, that Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom
of God. An inauguration formally inducts a person into office, it is an
observation of the beginning of something new. The Kingdom of God is fully
inaugurated with the resurrection. The
consummation occurs at the second coming of Jesus. This event has not happened on our timelines.
When it does what already exists in Christ becomes fully actualized for
everyone.
Revelation
20:4-6 (MSG)
I saw
thrones. Those put in charge of judgment sat on the thrones. I also saw the
souls of those beheaded because of their witness to Jesus and the Word of God,
who refused to worship either the Beast or his image, refused to take his mark
on forehead or hand—they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years!
The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were up. This is the
first resurrection—and those involved most blessed, most holy. No second death
for them! They're priests of God and Christ; they'll reign with him a thousand
years.
Thrones
always represent the right and authority to rule. John doesn’t tell us how many
thrones he sees nor who is sitting upon those thrones. My interpretive leap is
that the occupants of these thrones are believers. The gospel of Matthew
reports Jesus as telling his disciples that in the consummation of the Kingdom,
“those who have followed me” will rule (Matthew 19:27-30, see also Luke
22:29-30). The Apostle Paul wrote to
believers in Corinth: “The day is coming when the world is going to stand
before a jury made up of Christians” (1 Corinthians 6:2 (MSG).
John
also sees those who have been martyred for their refusal to compromise with
Evil. John is revealing that those who
were killed for the Kingdom are alive and well.
Some scholars see this as a special resurrection. Because of their sacrifice, the martyrs are
resurrected before the group of believers who were not executed for their
testimony. Leaping further, the problem
I have with this learned observation is that scripture indicates that there is
only one resurrection of believers.
1
Thessalonians 4:15 & 16-17 (MSG)
“…when
the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get
a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they'll be ahead of
us.” “He'll come down from heaven and
the dead in Christ will rise—they'll go first. Then the rest of us who are
still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the
Master.”
Believers
are resurrected at the beginning of the second coming. Resurrection and
transformation occur at the start of the 7th event.
John
6:40 (NIV)
For my
Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall
have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."
The
scholars will argue for a two-tiered resurrection. One for the martyrs and
another for everyone else, saints who were not executed and those who rejected
God. The scholars put a heavy emphasis on this being the first resurrection of
two. Verse 6 reveals that the
resurrected are blessed and holy. That the second death has no power over
them. Do we infer that the saints who
were not executed for their witness are blessed or holy and might be in danger
of the second death? That just seems
like an inference that should be immediately rejected.
So in
my speculative leap, John is encouraging his readers that those who have died
in Christ are not going to be left out.
This is very similar to what Paul wrote:
1 Thessalonians
4:13&14 (MSG)
And
regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those
already dead and buried, we don't want you in the dark any longer… God will
most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus.
My
position is that there is just one resurrection for all those who have bent
their knee to the Lordship of Christ.
There
is an incredibly powerful perspective that John presents to believers. Jesus
has risen, sitting at the right hand of the Father (1 Peter 3:22, Hebrews
10:12), and therefore Jesus reigns right now (Matthew 28:18). If you have bent your knee to the Lordship of
Jesus, then right now, you have authority over Babylon, the Beast, the False
Prophet, and the Dragon. This authority is exercised every time you say no to
the seductions of evil and yes to God.
If in
saying yes to God and no to evil, even if the forces of evil kill your physical
existence, your spiritual life is intact. God protects and keeps you safe
(Revelation 3:10). The martyrs are standing by the thrones, very much alive. This thought is an encouragement to those
believers who are tasked with dying for their testimony. It is also encouraging
for those who escape the executioner to know that they, along with their
brothers and sisters, are safe in Christ.
At the
second coming, all who have died and put their faith in Jesus are resurrected,
the physically alive believers are transformed, and the creation is freed from
the influence of Babylon, The Beast, the Beast’s False Prophet, these cease to
exist and the Dragon, satan itself, locked away. Until that time your current spiritual
reality becomes a universal reality, deal with all that the evil one can throw
your way, victoriously, and live your life abundantly knowing that right now you
have authority in Christ and can say no to the devil’s schemes and yes to God.
You
have authority. You choose to
overcome. You choose to be light and
salt. Jesus resides within, the Holy
Spirit, and can break every chain, the habits, attachments, and addictions that
hinder your transformation into the image of the One to whom you bent your
knee. It can be an epic battle to overcome, but overcoming is your choice. Exercise the authority that is yours in
Christ. Now is your time to reign with Jesus.
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