Revelation 20

Satan’s thousand-year prison. Jews at the time taught that the abyss was the underworld—the place of the dead (Romans 10:7). Luke 8:31 also presents it as “home of the demons.” Scholars sometimes translate the word abyss as “bottomless pit.” It’s in Revelation 20:1-3. It’s also linked to the depths of the sea, something Luke may have had in mind when he reported the story of demons ending up in the Sea of Galilee after Jesus cast them into a herd of pigs (Luke 8:33).

The more literal words are “bound” and “sealed.” In ancient exorcism rituals, exorcists would recite incantations and then sometimes finish by telling the demon it was “bound” and “sealed,” leaving it powerless and unable to hurt its previous host. Readers in John’s day probably got the message that God had conquered the devil.

Some say an Antichrist will run the world for three and a half years. They base it in part on prophecies such as Daniel 7:25.

Followers of the beast worshiped a statue of the beast and wore the number representing the beast’s name on their hands or foreheads. The number, 666, is reached by assigning numbers to the Hebrew letters that are equivalent to the letters in Neron Caesar, Nero’s name and title in Greek, and adding them up. (Revelation is written in Greek.) If the letters in the Hebrew equivalent of the Latin (Roman) form of the name are used, Nero Caesar, the number turns out to be 616, a number found in some ancient copies of Revelation.

Some students of the Bible say Christians will face a time of persecution commonly called the Tribulation, and that afterward Jesus will come and rule the world for a thousand years before Judgment Day. Others say Jesus will come after a thousand years of peace on earth. Others say the thousand years symbolizes a stretch of peace, after which Jesus will come and Judgment Day will follow.

Literally, “the first resurrection.” John reports a second resurrection in Revelation 20:12-13.

Second death is the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). John mentioned it in Revelation 2:11.

“Gog and Magog” are words that Bible writers used in different ways. Here, many scholars say, it’s a way for John to repeat and emphasize what he had just said. It means “nations all over the world.” It would be a bit like someone today saying, “nations everywhere, high and low, from the Antarctic to the North Pole.” But these nations unite in their hostility toward God’s people. The prophet Ezekiel used these names as a phrase to predict that northern invaders would attack the Jewish homeland (Ezekiel 38). Ezekiel identifies Gog as a prince over territories that seem to have been in what is now Turkey. First-century Jewish historian Josephus was writing history books at the same time many scholars say John wrote Revelation. Josephus said Gog was the Galatians, a territory in what is now central Turkey. He said Magog was the Scythians, a nomadic people living in parts of the Eurasian Steppe, which includes a wide strip of many countries north of Israel, from Ukraine and Russia along the Black Sea and stretching to China in the East (Antiquities of the Jews 1.123). Jewish writers in ancient times used the phrase “Gog and Magog” to refer to a coalition of non-Jewish countries attacking Israel in the end times (3 Enoch 45:5).

Fire fell from the sky and destroyed people several times in the Bible stories—most famous: cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24). But the fire John may have had in mind was the combo of fire, sulfur, hail, and rain that the prophet Ezekiel predicted would fall on Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38:22). Elijah also called down fire to wipe out soldiers coming to arrest him (2 Kings 19:10, 12).

“Lake of fire” is a place of eternal punishment. Some say it’s eternal because souls burn there in pain forever. Others say it’s eternal because they are burned up and annihilated, gone forever. Some students of the Bible say they see this as a literal place. Others say it’s a metaphor about people getting punished for sin. The Jewish Bible, which Christians call the Old Testament, talks about the earth swallowing a group of sinners who rebelled against Moses (Numbers 16:32). But none of the Bible writers talks about a lake of fire until John. Some scholars say he borrowed the metaphor from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. That book was written at least by about 1800 BC, several hundred years before Moses. John also wrote about “the second death,” another idea that surfaced first in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Greek philosopher Plato (about 428-348 BC), wrote in Gorgias about a lake of fire where souls are tortured forever or until they get another chance and are reborn.

Some students of the Bible call them the Unholy Trinity or Evil Trinity. Some Bible scholars identify the trio formed by Satan, the beast from the sea (which they say is the Antichrist), and the beast from the land (which they identify as the fake prophet) as the Evil Trinity, a counterpoint to the divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

More literally, “there was no place for them anymore.” It sounds like the physical universe won’t be needed in God’s world.

Most Bible experts seem to agree that the Book of Life isn’t a celestial book. It’s a metaphor, a way of identifying people devoted to God. This word picture may have begun centuries earlier, when palace scribes kept records of the king’s enemies and his loyal servants. Kings generally rewarded the loyal souls with life and other perks. People who betrayed the king weren’t so lucky.

Literally, “Hades.” Many people in ancient times came to speak of Hades as an incredibly inhospitable waiting room for the inevitable judgment that was coming. In the Hebrew language, Jews called this place Sheol, a place where the shadowy dead live and don’t return (Job 7:9).