Think Wink.

This is the first post that will deal with the millennial passage of Revelation 20:1-6. I have broken the passage up into two sections of the text: 20:1-3 and 20:4-6. This post will deal with the first three verses of Revelation 20. In this post, and the next post, my arguments will follow that of amillennialist, Anthony Hoekema, even though I consider myself predominantly a postmillennialist. The question is why? It stems from the comments of noted postmillenialist, Loraine Boettner, when he writes of Hoekema’s treatment of Revelation 20:1-6, “Hoekema’s interpretation of the very important section, Revelation 20:1-6, is, I believe, essentially correct” (Millennium, 202). Again on page 47 of Millennium, Boettner refers the reader to Hoekema’s exegesis. Thus many of Hoekema’s exegetical arguments will be followed. With that bit of preface, I am ready to begin.

Now, knowing that the church has been vindicated from the Jews, we come to the text of Revelation 20:1-3, “1 Then I saw and angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.”

The scene of the vision changes here. John goes from seeing a great spiritual battle that ends in the defeat of Jerusalem and Rome at the hands of Christ to Satan. This text asserts that Satan has been bound for a thousand years to keep him from deceiving the nations. Now here are three questions we need to ask of this text: 1.) what does John mean by the word “bound;” 2.) how long is “a thousand years;” 3.) what does John mean when he writes “that he might not deceive the nations any longer.”

1.) What does “bound” mean here in Revelation? The Greek verb there is the Greek word deo which means to bind. It is used one other time in Revelation, “ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound (deo) at the great river Euphrates.’” The binding speaks of to be chained up so that one is unable to take action. These angels, when released, unleash an army of two hundred thousand chimera demons. Indeed, our text in 20:1-3 argues for this, “1 Then I saw and angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.” In that bottomless pit, Satan will be unable to continue his deception. More on the nature of the deception later.

Let me turn to other New Testament texts to see if this is a working hypothesis. Matthew 12:28-29, “It is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?” This was Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and critics of his exorcisms as demonic and a work of Satan. Jesus responds that not only is this not a work of the devil, but it is actually the kingdom of God breaking onto the scene to destroy the kingdom of Satan. Then Jesus says in v. 29, how can one break into someone’s home without first binding (deo) up the strong man first? To do so is dangerous and can foil your plans to plunder that home. Therefore, to attack Satan’s kingdom, his home, Jesus first binds him up.

Now to more closely bring a parallel to Revelation 20, notice Jesus says that his exorcising demons is the ushering in of the Kingdom of God. In ushering in the kingdom, Jesus binds Satan. In our text of Revelation 20:1-6, Satan is bound at the start of the chapter. Then Jesus reigns in his kingdom with his saints. Revelation 20 seems to be going back to the beginning of the New Covenant era and moving forward to the end of time and into eternity. With Satan bound, the kingdom of God can enter onto the scene.

Hear the heavenly proclamation of Revelation 12:10-12, “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the testimony of their testimony, for they loved not their live even unto death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’”

Turn to Luke 10:18, “And he [Jesus] said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.’” Satan has fallen from heaven as in Revelation 12. Or look in John 12:31-32, “Now is the judgment of the world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.” Here in John, Jesus uses the same word to say “be cast out” as John does to say in Revelation 20:3 “he threw him.” Satan has been cast out of heaven and defeated by Christ’s work on the cross and in the empty tomb. He no longer stands before God accusing the brethren whom Christ has redeemed. Indeed, Jesus said in John 12:32 that he would draw all people, namely those who would believe (no matter what kind of view you have of predestination, foreknowledge, and calling). Satan no longer stands in that path because Jesus has bound him by his death.

Now let us look at the “bottomless pit” here in Revelation 20. It is not the same word for “lake of burning sulfur.” The Greek for bottomless pit is abussos, which is simply a pit without an end, its depths are limitless. It is a word only used in Revelation in the New Covenant. Every time it is used in Revelation, it is a place for demons to wait until their time to be released has come. Abbaddon and his locust demons were kept here until the fallen angel unlocked them from the abyss. The beast we see in Revelation 11:7; 13; and 17 came from this pit.

Therefore, the abyss is not a punitive location, but rather a temporary holding place. John writes in 20:2-3, “and bound him…until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.” Here the thousand years in the bottomless pit is just to hold him over so that his deception might not continue. After that period, the thousand years, Satan will be released to deceive the nations once again. Thus Satan is hindered from deceiving the nations in his binding at the first coming of Christ to this world. He was dealt a death blow from the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

However, this does not mean that Satan is powerless during the New Covenant era. First Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” Do not underestimate his abilities in this world. Just because he cannot stop you from believing the gospel does not mean he cannot harm you. He might be cast out, but he has not yet been destroyed in the lake of fire. Therefore we must still watch out for the devil. That’s the binding spoken of in our text.

2.) How long is a thousand years in this text? John speaks of a period of a thousand years five times in this text. Much of the debate centers around how we define “a thousand years.” If we are literal in our reading, then the kingdom lasts for three hundred sixty-five thousand days. If our reading is symbolic, then the length is not determined.

Premillennialists, both historic and dispensational, understand the whole passage in a very similar way. Premillennialist Wayne Grudem says in his book Sytematic Theology, “One advantage to the premillennial position is that it understands Revelation in a straightforward sense” (Grudem, Systematic Theology, 1117). What he is saying is that he reads everything in this passage in their most natural reading. A thousand years is literally one thousand years.

John Calvin gives this rendering of the thousand years in Institutes of the Christian Religion, “The number ‘one thousand years’ does not apply to the eternal blessedness of the church but only to the various disturbances that awaited the church, while still toiling on earth (Institutes 3.25.5).” Calvin is right in his statement that the reign of Christ should not be limited to just one thousand years. Christ reigns with his church during this age and they conquer all that is in their way. The apostle seems to be thinking of something greater here in this passage.

In the Hebrew language, as John was a Hebrew, numbers took on more than just numerical value. They correlated with the alphabet to encode words. They had symbolic meaning, especially in apocalyptic literature. The “1” means unity. “2” means strength through confirmation. “3” is the triune God. “4” is the number of the world as a creation. “6” is the number that falls short of perfection and is thus the number of sin. “7” is the number for perfection; God created the world in seven days. Seven is the perfect number.

Ten is the number of completion and definite-ness. Whatever is described by “10″ in apocalyptic language is a complete and definite number and description. “1000″ is 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000; or 10^3 = 1000. That is a very complete and determined time frame. But because it is multiplied by itself three times, it is cubed, no one can see the end of this thousand years. Therefore, this thousand year period has an end that is not in sight by John, in terms of years. A thousand year dynasty is a long dynasty for any kingdom, by any culture’s standards. Amillennialist, Anthony Hoekema writes this in The Meaning of the Millennium,

The book of Revelation is full of symbolic numbers. Obviously the number “thousand” which is used here must not be interpreted in a literal sense. Since the number ten signifies completeness, and since a thousand years is ten to the third power, we may think of the expression “a thousand years” as standing for a complete period, a very long and indeterminate length (Millennium, 161).

Now, since it appears that the binding of Satan occurs at the onset of Christ’s kingdom, Christ’s ministry on earth ushered in the kingdom of God, then it stands to reason that the thousand year period is the church age. Revelation 20:7-15 shows a battle in which after Satan is released, he deceives the nations and brings them together for one last attack on God, Christ, and his church. There we have God bringing down fire from heaven to destroy Satan’s army, and then casts him and his followers into the lake of fire where the beast and false prophet already are located. This attack mirrors Peter’s description of the Parousia of Christ in 2 Peter 3. Hoekema puts this together like this, “We may conclude that this thousand-year period extends from Christ’s first coming to just before his Second Coming” (Millennium, 161).

3.) What is the purpose of this binding of Satan? The Greek word for deceive is the word planao which means to roam. It has in mind to be seduced away, off of the right path to follow one’s own desires. My question is, what is the path that we as God’s elect have wondered away from? The path of holiness found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It seems to reason that Satan has deceived the nations from believing the saving gospel. Is this biblical?

Indeed, Jesus uses this word several times in the Olivet discourse. In Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus says, “See that no one leads you astray (planao). For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray (planao).” In Matthew 24:11, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray (planao).” In Matthew 24:24, “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray (planao), if possible, even the elect.” This is echoed in Mark 13:5-6 and Luke 21:8. Satan tries to deceive everyone, including God’s chosen people, the church.

Second Corinthians 4:3-4 says, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The god of this world is Satan. He has veiled the gospel and blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the glory of Christ in its light. He has deceived us into believing that the gospel is not gospel, it is not good news. Unrepentant sinners see the facts and do not believe because they have been blinded by Satan and their sin has put a veil around the gospel so that they do not see its light.

Second Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” Again, Satan disguises himself to look like an angel of God bringing a message from the Lord. His servants appear as though they are righteousness. Satan’s deception is deep and rooted in power and reason. Acts 17:30 says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.”

Therefore it seems that the New Covenant supports a statement that Satan is trying to deceive the people of this world, even those whom God has chosen for salvation. But Christ’s death has purchased our redemption. His power no longer has any hold on us. He has lost our ear. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Through the actions and ministry of Christ, the glory of God has been revealed. God now shines forth that light into the hearts of his sheep that they might believe upon it and repent. Satan’s power is curbed by the power of the cross.

Bibliography
Calvin, John, ed. McNeill, trans. Battles. Institutes of the Christian Religion. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960)

Clouse, Robert, ed. The Meaning of The Millennium: Four Views. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1977).

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994).

My Millennial Views Pt. 1

Expositing Revelation Postmillennially

Nahum’s Literary Device and Translation