Revelation 20

Day 306: Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

The dragon’s human representatives are destroyed. Babylon has fallen; the realm of the anti-Christ is destroyed. The anti-Christ in person and the false prophet have been cast into the ‘lake of fire and burning sulphur’ and their armies have been totally eliminated.

Day 307: He threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

This will be a colossal event: the devil is finally bound! What a terrible trail of destruction he has left in the history of mankind and the world. He has cunningly deflected the love of man’s heart towards narcissism, love of self, egoism.

Day 308: Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The expression ‘a thousand years’ is repeated no less than six times in this chapter. It refers to a completed, definite period, and we see no reason not to take this number literally, even though others have said that because 1000 = 10 x 10 x 10, or ten to the third power…

Day 309: The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

The word ‘souls’ often refers to ‘people’ in the Bible. When Jacob went down to Egypt with his family, they were seventy-five souls. Three thousand souls were converted in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.

Day 310: Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

The final battle (which turned out to be not a ‘battle’ at all) of Armageddon has left nations behind, still in existence. The devil has been locked up so that he can no longer deceive the nations. Christ does not come to rule over a planet that has been emptied.

Day 311: And 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

A well-known New Testament expert once said: ”When, in a certain passage where two resurrections are mentioned, where certain “psychai edzesan” (souls become alive), and the rest of the “nekroi edzesan”…

Day 312: 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.

The city God loves is Jerusalem. ‘Camp’ is indeed a correct translation in itself, but refers rather to the abode of the saints in and near Jerusalem—indeed, a residence on earth for the people of the first resurrection who rule over ‘cities’ and over sectors of the earth on behalf of Christ.

Day 313: 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.

In Ezekiel 38 and 39, Gog, from Magog, suffered a terrible defeat on the mountains of Israel in an event that lies in the future as of now, but that could take place in the Middle East within the near future.

Day 314: And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and Heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

Following the victory over the principal enemy, the dragon, the devil, who has been despatched to hell, John sees the judgment of the dead before the great white throne. The old order is about to disappear.

Day 315: and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

Some commentators say that the judgment meted out here can only be a negative judgment. These dead people who are resurrected now did not share in the first resurrection. Those who did were blessed and holy.

Day 316: And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

It happened during the WWII, World War II. He told it to me himself. He was a Jewish boy who belonged to a group of Jewish children to be slaughtered by Nazi executioners in the woods of Poland.

Day 317: And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

Dead is dead. So it is said. Then it is definitely finished. Over and out. It is not so, however. People may think that death is the end of the story for a human being but it isn’t so. When the body dies, the soul and the spirit go to a destination in eternity.

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