Revelation 20:7–10

20:7–8 At the end of the thousand-year period, Satan is released from his prison to deceive the nations at the four corners of the world. In Ezekiel 38–39 the nations attacking Israel are called Gog and Magog; here the terms designate all the kingdoms of the world bent on attacking the people of God. Such an attack is due to Satan’s deception, for fighting against the people of God is futile. John echoes Ezekiel, who says that in the last days Gog and others will move against Israel like storm clouds, while the people of God will be secure and unconcerned (Ezek. 38:8–9, 11–12, 16; 39:2). According to John, these mysterious nations represent the anti-god forces conspiring against the people of God (cf. 1 Sam. 13:5). Satan gathers the nations, countless as the sand on the seashore, for the final battle against God’s people.

Premillennialists understand these verses to refer to a final battle near the end of Christ’s millennial reign on earth. The people of God have become accustomed to peace and hence are surprised by the sudden surge of force against them (Ezek. 38:8–11). Premillennialists typically argue that the evil breaking forth demonstrates the iniquity of the human heart, for even after a paradisiacal reign of nearly a thousand years, unbelievers still turn toward evil. Amillennialists maintain that this battle is another picture of the battle (polemos) described in 19:11–21 (cf. esp. Rev. 19:19; cf. also 16:14 and Zech. 14:2), in which the wicked turn against believers before Jesus returns. John regularly returns to the final battle and describes it from different angles. Evil will increase dramatically near the end of history before the end arrives. Amillennialists and premillennialists agree that evil will rear its ugly head at the end of history before the new creation dawns.

20:9 The plot against the saints spreads and widens (cf. Hab. 1:6) as the nations surround the camp of the saints and their beloved city to destroy the people of God. This city is not Jerusalem but the people of God as a whole (cf. Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22–23). As God’s enemies are poised to attack, fire descends from heaven, from God himself, annihilating them (cf. 2 Kings 1:10, 12). John again draws on Ezekiel, where the nations conspire to attack Israel but instead provoke God’s wrath and judgment (Ezek. 38:18–19) of fire and hail (Ezek. 38:22; 39:6). Once again premillennialists see this as taking place near the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign on earth, and amillennialists as taking place near the end of history, shortly before the second coming.

20:10 The unholy trinity (cf. 16:13) are together forever, but not in a place they would desire. The Devil, who incited the last battle and deceived the peoples of the world to participate in the battle against God and the Lamb, is cast into the lake of fire, along with the beast and the false prophet. They will be tormented there forever (cf. 14:9–11; Matt. 25:46). Premillennialists assign the punishment of the Devil to a period one thousand years after the beast and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire. Amillennialists contend that John pictures the final judgment from another angle, and hence the judgment of the Devil, beast, and false prophet took place at the same time. Part of the debate centers on the English verb “were,” which suggests the beast and false prophet were already in the lake of fire before the Devil arrived. Premillennialists thus argue that the Devil is cast into the lake of fire after the beast and false prophet. Amillennialists, on the other hand, point out there is no such Greek verb in the text. English translators have supplied the word “were,” but the verb “are” can just as easily be supplied; hence the verse is unclear about the timing of the Devil’s incarceration. John is not giving us a chronology but simply telling us that the Devil, beast, and false prophet are in the same place.