Free Bible Commentary
“Revelation 20:7-10”
Categories: Revelation“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
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After Christ’s literal reign for a figurative “thousand years,” “Satan will be released from his prison” (verse 7). Even though the Lord “bound” the devil by limiting his freedom and sphere of influence when He threw him into the bottomless pit (verses 3-4), mankind’s adversary still wields great power for wickedness in the world. It is likely that Satan’s “loosening” corresponds directly and proportionally with the world casting off its moral restraints, and especially when God’s people become less and less distinguishable from the evil world in which they live. Robert Harkrider commented: “This section is difficult to analyze because the details are brief. Perhaps it signifies a period of great wickedness just before the second coming of Christ, comparable to the days of Noah before the flood (Luke 17:26-27).”
At this future time, Satan “will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth” (verse 8). Instead of working through a single superpower like the Roman Empire of old, he will gather his evil forces from around the globe to do battle against what is left of God’s holy saints dwelling upon the earth. The old devil will use his greatest power for persuasion to achieve his purposes: deception. Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and if God’s people let their guard down, he can “show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
Robert Harkrider wrote the following about “God and Magog”: “Gog and Magog are mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39, where Gog was the king of the land of Magog and symbolically stood for the pagan forces which fought against the kingdom of God. Ezekiel wrote about a battle that involved the fleshly kingdom of God, the nation of Israel. Wicked forces came against it, destroyed the temple, and put them in bondage. Ezekiel assured them that God would keep his promise to Abraham and deliver a faithful remnant out of which the Savior would be born. Based on Ezekiel’s figurative use of God and Magog to symbolize the enemies who fought against God’s kingdom, Revelation employs these symbols again to represent all of the world’s spiritual pagan forces that Satan can marshal in one last attempt to overthrow God’s spiritual kingdom.”
But, no sooner than Satan can amass his forces against “the beloved city” (Christ’s church), “fire came down” at the command of God “and devoured them” (verse 9). As surely as God thwarted Satan’s advances against His people by destroying the Roman Empire at the “Battle of Armageddon,” any future attempts by the adversary to overthrow the kingdom of God will be met with equal, blunt, decisive force. The continuous battle of good versus evil, Satan versus the Lord and His people, rages on even to this day. “Evidences of Satan’s allies are abundant: secularism, materialism, atheism, astrology, false religion, fleshly lusts, drug cults, and all manner of evil. The Lord’s church is under attack from the paganistic advocates who tolerate every immorality secular humanism can conceive, from abortion and homosexual marriages to the abolition of any faith that advocates trust in God.” (Harkrider)
And the sinful assaults will continue unto, and even increase greatly at, the end of man’s time on earth. But Satan will lose. The forces that array themselves with the devil against God and His people will lose. The devil and all who reject the Lord’s offer of salvation will be “thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (verse 10). And God’s righteous, obedient servants who patiently and faithful endure to the end, will reign with Him “forever and ever” in heaven. This is THE main point and central moral and grand theme of the whole of Revelation.
Please read Revelation 20:11-14 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed Lord’s Day!
-Louie Taylor
