Revelation · Chapter 20
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
John Wesley
V. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon-With whom undoubtedly his angels were now cast into the bottomless pit, as well as finally "into everlasting fire," Matthew 25:41.
And bound him a thousand years-That these thousand do not precede, or run parallel with, but wholly follow, the times of the beast, may manifestly appear, 1. From the series of the whole book, representing one continued chain of events. 2. From the circumstances which precede. The woman's bringing forth is followed by the casting of the dragon out of heaven to the earth. With this is connected the third woe, whereby the dragon through, and with, the beast, rages horribly. At the conclusion of the third woe the beast is overthrown and cast into "the lake of fire." At the same time the other grand enemy, the dragon, shall be bound and shut up.
Adam Clarke
Verse 2. The dragon] See Clarke’s notes on “Revelation 12:9”. That old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan] He who is called the old serpent is the DEVIL-the calumniator, and SATAN-the opposer. He who supposes that the term old serpent here plainly proves that the creature that tempted our first parents was actually a snake, must enjoy his opinion; and those who can receive such a saying, why let them receive it. Selah. A thousand years] In what this binding of Satan consists, who can tell? How many visions have been seen on this subject both in ancient and modern times! This, and what is said Revelation 20:3-5, no doubt refers to a time in which the influence of Satan will be greatly restrained, and the true Church of God enjoy great prosperity, which shall endure for a long time. But it is not likely that the number, a thousand years, is to be taken literally here, and year symbolically and figuratively in all the book beside. The doctrine of the millennium, or of the saints reigning on earth a thousand years, with Christ for their head, has been illustrated and defended by many Christian writers, both among the ancients and moderns. Were I to give a collection of the conceits of the primitive fathers on this subject, my readers would have little reason to applaud my pains. It has long been the idle expectation of many persons that the millennium, in their sense, was at hand; and its commencement has been expected in every century since the Christian era. It has been fixed for several different years, during the short period of my own life! I believed those predictions to be vain, and I have lived to see them such. Yet there is no doubt that the earth is in a state of progressive moral improvement; and that the light of true religion is shining more copiously everywhere, and will shine more and more to the perfect day. But when the religion of Christ will be at its meridian of light and heat, we know not. In each believer this may speedily take place; but probably no such time shall ever appear, in which evil shall be wholly banished from the earth, till after the day of judgment, when the earth having been burnt up, a new heaven and a new earth shall be produced out of the ruins of the old, by the mighty power of God: righteousness alone shall dwell in them. The phraseology of the apostle here seems partly taken from the ancient prophets, and partly rabbinical; and it is from the Jewish use of those terms that we are to look for their interpretation.
Joseph Benson
Verses 1-3. And I saw an angel — An especial minister of Providence; come down from heaven — With a commission from God; having the key of the bottomless pit — Invested with power to open or to shut it; see on Revelation 9:1; and a great chain in his hand — Emblematical of his power to perform the work here assigned him. And he laid hold on the dragon — Who, after the destruction of the beast and of the false prophet, (to whom he had delegated his power,) still remained; that old serpent — That ancient enemy of the human race, who, in the form of a subtle serpent, deceived the first parents of mankind, and brought sin and death into the world, with an incalculable train of evils attendant on them; who is the Devil — The malicious and false accuser of God’s saints, as the word diabolov, so rendered, signifies; and Satan — The grand adversary both of God and man; and bound him a thousand years — That is, at least one thousand literal years; during which the light of the gospel shall be diffused through all the world, and the reign of truth and righteousness be established universally among men. “I think,” says Doddridge, “we must despair of being able to interpret any passage of Scripture upon the plainest principle of reason, if this do not signify that there shall be such a period as this, in which Satan shall be remarkably restrained, and the Christian interest shall prevail. But whether the one thousand years are here to be taken literally, as is most probable; or whether here [as elsewhere in this book] each day is put for a year, and consequently the whole period be three hundred and sixty thousand years, I will not pretend to determine. This thought has been very lately started by an ingenious and worthy person, who, I doubt not, hath intended the service of Christianity; though I am very apprehensive he has failed in some of the mediums by which he has endeavoured to prove this point.” And cast him into the bottomless pit — His infernal prison; afterward he is cast into the lake of fire; and shut him up therein, and set a seal upon him — These are strong figures, to show the certain, strict, and severe restraint which he shall be laid under; that he might deceive the nations no more — During this whole period. One benefit only is here expressed as resulting from the confinement of Satan; but how many and great blessings are implied! For the grand enemy and opposer of truth and righteousness being removed, the kingdom of God holds on its uninterrupted course among the nations; and the great mystery of God, so long foretold, is at length fulfilled — Namely, when the beast and false prophet are destroyed, and Satan bound. This fulfilment approaches nearer and nearer, and contains things of the utmost importance, the knowledge of which becomes every day more distinct and easy. In the mean time, it is highly necessary to guard against the present rage and subtlety of the devil; remembering that the events which are to precede the binding of him, and the commencing of these one thousand years, are awful, and shortly to be expected, one after another, namely, the calamities implied in the vintage, (Revelation 14:18,) the pouring out of the last three vials, the judgment of Babylon, the last raging of the beast and false prophet, and their destruction. How great things are these! and how short the time! What is needful for us? Wisdom, patience, faithfulness, watchfulness. Surely this is not a time for us to settle upon our lees. This, if it be rightly understood, will not be an acceptable message to the wise, the mighty, the honourable of this world. Yet that which is to be done shall be done: there is no counsel against the Lord. After that he must be loosed — So does the mysterious wisdom of God permit; for a little season — For a small time, comparatively: though, upon the whole, it cannot be very short, because the things that are to be transacted therein (see verses 8, 9) must take up a considerable space.
Daniel Whedon
2. Laid hold on—Doubtless a true restraining force on the very person of Satan. Dragon… Satan—Same accumulation of epithets to identify the world’s great villain as in Revelation 12:9. Bound him—A release of men from all demoniac temptation or instigation.
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
John Wesley
3. These thousand years bring a new, full, and lasting immunity from all outward and inward evils, the authors of which are now removed, and an affluence of all blessings. But such time the church has never yet seen. Therefore it is still to come. 4. These thousand years are followed by the last times of the world, the letting loose of Satan, who gathers together Gog and Magog, and is thrown to the beast and false prophet "in the lake of fire." Now Satan's accusing the saints in heaven, his rage on earth, his imprisonment in the abyss, his seducing Gog and Magog, and being cast into the lake of fire, evidently succeed each other. 5. What occurs from Revelation 20:11-22:5, manifestly follows the things related in the nineteenth chapter. The thousand years came between; whereas if they were past, neither the beginning nor the end of them would fall within this period. In a short time those who assert that they are now at hand will appear to have spoken the truth. Meantime let every man consider what kind of happiness he expects therein. The danger does not lie in maintaining that the thousand years are yet to come; but in interpreting them, whether past or to come, in a gross and carnal sense. The doctrine of the Son of God is a mystery. So is his cross; and so is his glory. In all these he is a sign that is spoken against. Happy they who believe and confess him in all!
V. 3. And set a seal upon him-How far these expressions are to be taken literally, how far figuratively only, who can tell?
That he might deceive the nations no more-One benefit only is here expressed, as resulting from the confinement of Satan. But how many and great blessings are implied! For the grand enemy being removed, the kingdom of God holds on its uninterrupted course among the nations; and the great mystery of God, so long foretold, is at length fulfilled; namely, when the beast is destroyed and Satan bound. This fulfilment approaches nearer and nearer; and contains things of the utmost importance, the knowledge of which becomes every day more distinct and easy. In the mean time it is highly necessary to guard against the present rage and subtilty of the devil. Quickly he will be bound: when he is loosed again, the martyrs will live and reign with Christ. Then follow his coming in glory, the new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem. The bottomless pit is properly the devil's prison; afterwards he is cast into the lake of fire. He can deceive the nations no more till the "thousand years," mentioned before, Revelation 20:2, are fulfilled.
Then he must be loosed-So does the mysterious wisdom of God permit. For a small time-Small comparatively: though upon the whole it cannot be very short, because the things to be transacted therein, Revelation 20:8, 9, must take up a considerable space. We are very shortly to expect, one after another, the calamities occasioned by the second beast, the harvest and the vintage, the pouring out of the phials, the judgment of Babylon, the last raging of the beast and his destruction, the imprisonment of Satan. How great things these! and how short the time! What is needful for us? Wisdom, patience, faithfulness, watchfulness. It is no time to settle upon our lees. This is not, if it be rightly understood, an acceptable message to the wise, the mighty, the honourable, of this world. Yet that which is to be done, shall be done: there is no counsel against the Lord.
Adam Clarke
Verse 3. He should deceive the nations no more] Be unable to blind men with superstition and idolatry as he had formerly done.
Joseph Benson
Verses 1-3. And I saw an angel — An especial minister of Providence; come down from heaven — With a commission from God; having the key of the bottomless pit — Invested with power to open or to shut it; see on Revelation 9:1; and a great chain in his hand — Emblematical of his power to perform the work here assigned him. And he laid hold on the dragon — Who, after the destruction of the beast and of the false prophet, (to whom he had delegated his power,) still remained; that old serpent — That ancient enemy of the human race, who, in the form of a subtle serpent, deceived the first parents of mankind, and brought sin and death into the world, with an incalculable train of evils attendant on them; who is the Devil — The malicious and false accuser of God’s saints, as the word diabolov, so rendered, signifies; and Satan — The grand adversary both of God and man; and bound him a thousand years — That is, at least one thousand literal years; during which the light of the gospel shall be diffused through all the world, and the reign of truth and righteousness be established universally among men. “I think,” says Doddridge, “we must despair of being able to interpret any passage of Scripture upon the plainest principle of reason, if this do not signify that there shall be such a period as this, in which Satan shall be remarkably restrained, and the Christian interest shall prevail. But whether the one thousand years are here to be taken literally, as is most probable; or whether here [as elsewhere in this book] each day is put for a year, and consequently the whole period be three hundred and sixty thousand years, I will not pretend to determine. This thought has been very lately started by an ingenious and worthy person, who, I doubt not, hath intended the service of Christianity; though I am very apprehensive he has failed in some of the mediums by which he has endeavoured to prove this point.” And cast him into the bottomless pit — His infernal prison; afterward he is cast into the lake of fire; and shut him up therein, and set a seal upon him — These are strong figures, to show the certain, strict, and severe restraint which he shall be laid under; that he might deceive the nations no more — During this whole period. One benefit only is here expressed as resulting from the confinement of Satan; but how many and great blessings are implied! For the grand enemy and opposer of truth and righteousness being removed, the kingdom of God holds on its uninterrupted course among the nations; and the great mystery of God, so long foretold, is at length fulfilled — Namely, when the beast and false prophet are destroyed, and Satan bound. This fulfilment approaches nearer and nearer, and contains things of the utmost importance, the knowledge of which becomes every day more distinct and easy. In the mean time, it is highly necessary to guard against the present rage and subtlety of the devil; remembering that the events which are to precede the binding of him, and the commencing of these one thousand years, are awful, and shortly to be expected, one after another, namely, the calamities implied in the vintage, (Revelation 14:18,) the pouring out of the last three vials, the judgment of Babylon, the last raging of the beast and false prophet, and their destruction. How great things are these! and how short the time! What is needful for us? Wisdom, patience, faithfulness, watchfulness. Surely this is not a time for us to settle upon our lees. This, if it be rightly understood, will not be an acceptable message to the wise, the mighty, the honourable of this world. Yet that which is to be done shall be done: there is no counsel against the Lord. After that he must be loosed — So does the mysterious wisdom of God permit; for a little season — For a small time, comparatively: though, upon the whole, it cannot be very short, because the things that are to be transacted therein (see verses 8, 9) must take up a considerable space.
Daniel Whedon
3. Bottomless pit—See note on Revelation 9:1. Why are the beast and false prophet (Revelation 19:20) said to be cast into the lake of fire, the final doom of all the wicked, and Satan only into the “bottomless pit?” The reason we would suggest is this: The former two are not real personages, but only principles or organisms which arise in human history, (really originating from that bottomless pit, see notes on chap. ix,) and so are consigned to their finality; whereas, the latter is a real being, whose life-history commences before the creation of man, who procures the human fall, and is, therefore, destined by the divine order to receive his finality when the period of human history is closed at the final judgment. Set a seal upon—So that he cannot break out without breaking the seal. Deceive the nations no more—Hence, the nations are still in existence, and blessedly exempt from all infernal influences. The bottomless pit of chapter 9 is closed up, and the demon-locusts fly no more. The prince of the power of the air no longer works in the hearts of men, rendering them children of disobedience. A blessed negation of evil forces—an abolition of depraving influences—is now established. So that whereas a Christian civilization of an impure kind has heretofore been extending itself over the world, that Christian civilization is itself now becoming purer and far holier. This is, however, to a great degree of a negative character. Great oppressions, injustices, impurities, falsities, and corruptions, are disappearing. But there are needed yet the positive blessed influences of the reign of Jesus and his paradise over the earth to kindle the heart of the world with the glow of a sublime piety. Those come in the next paragraph. Must be loosed—It is the divine order that he be permitted to show himself worthy of his final doom.
RESULT OF OVERTHROWS—THE THOUSAND-YEAR REPOSE OF VICTORY AND
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
John Wesley
V. 4. And I saw thrones-Such as are promised the apostles, Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30.
And they-Namely, the saints, whom St. John saw at the same time, Daniel 7:22, sat upon them;
And Judgment was given to them. 1 Corinthians 6:2. Who, and how many, these are, is not said. But they are distinguished from the souls, or persons, mentioned immediately after; and from the saints already raised.
And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded-With the axe: so the original word signifies. One kind of death, which was particularly inflicted at Rome, is mentioned for all.
For the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God-The martyrs were sometimes killed for the word of God in general; sometimes particularly for the testimony of Jesus: the one, while they refused to worship idols; the other, while they confessed the name of Christ.
And those who had not worshipped the wild beast, nor his
image-These seem to be a company distinct from those who appeared, Revelation 15:2. Those overcame, probably, in such contests as these had not. Before the number of the beast was expired, the people were compelled to worship him, by the most dreadful violence. But when the beast "was not," they were only seduced into it by the craft of the false prophet.
And they lived-Their souls and bodies being re-united.
And reigned with Christ-Not on earth, but in heaven. The "reigning on earth" mentioned, Revelation 11:15, is quite different from this. A thousand years-It must be observed, that two distinct thousand years are mentioned throughout this whole passage. Each is mentioned thrice; the thousand wherein Satan is bound, Revelation 20:2, 3, 7; the thousand wherein the saints shall reign, Revelation 20:4-6. The former end before the end of the world; the latter reach to the general resurrection. So that the beginning and end of the former thousand is before the beginning and end of the latter. Therefore as in Revelation 20:2, at the first mention of the former; so in Revelation 20:4, at the first mention of the latter, it is only said, a thousand years; in the other places, "the thousand," Revelation 20:3, 5, 7, that is, the thousand mentioned before. During the former, the promises concerning the flourishing state of the church, Revelation 10:7, shall be fulfilled; during the latter, while the saints reign with Christ in heaven, men on earth will be careless and secure.
Adam Clarke
Verse 4. I saw thrones] Christianity established in the earth, the kings and governors being all Christians.
Reigned with Christ a thousand years.] I am satisfied that this period should not be taken literally. It may signify that there shall be a long and undisturbed state of Christianity; and so universally shall the Gospel spirit prevail, that it will appear as if Christ reigned upon earth; which will in effect be the case, because his Spirit shall rule in the hearts of men; and in this time the martyrs are represented as living again; their testimony being revived, and the truth for which they died, and which was confirmed by their blood, being now everywhere prevalent. As to the term thousand years, it is a mystic number among the Jews. Midrash Tillin, in Psalm 90:15, Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, adds, “by Babylon, Greece, and the Romans; and in the days of the Messiah. How many are the days of the Messiah? Rab. Elieser, the son of R. Jose, of Galilee, said, The days of the Messiah are a thousand years.” Sanhedrin, fol. 92, 1, cited by the Aruch, under the word qrya says: “There is a tradition in the house of Elias, that the righteous, whom the holy blessed God shall raise from the dead, shall not return again to the dust; but for the space of a thousand years, in which the holy blessed God shall renew the world, they shall have wings like the wings of eagles, and shall fly above the waters.” It appears therefore that this phraseology is purely rabbinical. Both the Greeks and Latins have the same form of speech in speaking on the state of the righteous and wicked after death. There is something like this in the Republic of Plato, book x., p. 322, edit. Bip., where, speaking of Erus, the son of Armenius, who came to life after having been dead twelve days, and who described the states of departed souls, asserting “that some were obliged to make a long peregrination under the earth before they arose to a state of happiness, einai de thn poreian cilieth, for it was a journey of a thousand years,” he adds, “that, as the life of man is rated at a hundred years, those who have been wicked suffer in the other world a ten-fold punishment, and therefore their punishment lasts a thousand years.”
A similar doctrine prevailed among the Romans; whether they borrowed it from the Greeks, or from the rabbinical Jews, we cannot tell. Thus Virgil, speaking of the punishment of the wicked in the infernal regions, says:—
Has omnes, ubi MILLE rotam volvere per annos,
Lethæum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno:
Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,
Rursus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti
ÆN., lib. vi., 748.
“But when a thousand rolling years are past,
So long their dreary punishment shall last,
Whole droves of spirits, by the driving god,
Are led to drink the deep Lethean flood
In large, forgetful draughts, to sleep the cares
Of their past labours and their irksome years;
That, unremembering of its former pain,
The soul may clothe itself with flesh again.”
How the apostle applies this general tradition, or in what sense he may use it, who can tell?
Joseph Benson
Verses 4-6. And I saw thrones — Such as were promised to the apostles, Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; and they — Namely, the saints, whom St. John saw at the same time; sat upon them, and judgment was given to them — 1 Corinthians 6:2. Error and sin being restrained, the reign of righteousness succeeds, and the administration of justice and judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, Daniel 7:22. And I saw the souls — That is, the persons; of them that were beheaded — Namely, with the axe, as the word pepelekismenwn properly signifies: one kind of death, however, which was particularly inflicted at Rome, is mentioned for all kinds thereof: for the witness, or testimony, of Jesus — For testifying that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour, Lawgiver, and final Judge of the world, and especially of those who believe in him; and for the word of God — In general, or for some particular and peculiarly important truth of it; or for bearing witness to the great truths of the everlasting gospel; and who had not worshipped the beast — Had not made any acknowledgment of subjection to the antichristian power of the beast, nor yielded to the prevailing corruptions; nor his image — The pope and his corrupt hierarchy; but had persevered in the true Christian faith against all opposition. See on Revelation 13:4-8, 11-17. Neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or on their hands — Had neither made an open profession of his corrupt religion, nor had secretly complied with its idolatries or superstitions. And they lived — Their souls and bodies being reunited; and reigned with Christ — It is not said, on earth. Doubtless the meaning is, that they ascended and reigned with him in heaven; a thousand years — Namely, before the rest of the dead, even the one thousand years during which Satan is bound, and truth and righteousness prevail over all the earth. Although the martyrs, when thus raised from the dead, shall not continue on earth, it is highly probable that, in proof of their resurrection, they will appear to pious individuals, in the places where they were so cruelly martyred, and where they are raised: as those saints who, at Jerusalem, rose with Christ, went into the city, and appeared to many, Matthew 27:52, 53. And if so, it is likely this circumstance will tend greatly to confirm the faith and hope of believers respecting the resurrection of the dead, and will check vice and profaneness, and contribute much to the spread of the gospel. “The martyrs and confessors of Jesus,” says Bishop Newton, “who are here represented as being raised from the dead, at least one thousand years before others, are not only those who were beheaded, or suffered any kind of death, under the heathen Roman emperors, but also those who refused to comply with the idolatrous worship of the beast and his image. All these have this peculiar prerogative above the rest of mankind: they all share in this first resurrection. And all of them the apostle here pronounces, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection — He is holy in all senses of the word: holy, as separated from the common lot of mankind; holy, as endowed with all virtuous qualifications; and none but such are admitted to partake of this blessed state. On such the second death has no power — The second death is a Jewish phrase for the punishment of the wicked after death. The Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos, and the other paraphrases of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, and of Jerusalem, on Deuteronomy 33:6, Let Reuben live, and not die, say, Let him not die the second death, by which the wicked die in the world to come. The sons of the resurrection, therefore, shall not die again, but shall live in eternal bliss, and be priests of God and Christ, and reign with him a thousand years” — Before any others. For the Lord Jesus will not suffer any of his disciples to be, in the end, losers for their fidelity to him and his cause. These loved not their lives unto death, but voluntarily sacrificed them out of love to him; and he thus amply recompenses them. He gives each of them an infinitely better life than that given up for his sake — and this a thousand years before the other pious dead receive theirs. “Nothing is more evident,” says Bishop Newton, “than that this prophecy of the millennium, and of the first resurrection, hath not yet been fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken in a figurative sense. For reckon the thousand years from the time of Christ, or reckon them from the time of Constantine, yet neither of these periods, nor indeed any other, will answer the description and character of the millennium, the purity and peace, the holiness and happiness of that blessed state. Before Constantine, indeed, the church was in greater purity; but was groaning under the persecutions of the heathen emperors. After Constantine, the church was in greater prosperity, but was soon shaken and disturbed by heresies and schisms, by the incursions and devastations of the northern nations, by the conquering arms and prevailing imposture of the Saracens, and afterward of the Turks; by the corruption, idolatry, and wickedness — the usurpation, tyranny, and cruelty, of the Church of Rome. If Satan was then bound, when can he be said to be loosed? Or how could the saints and the beast, Christ and antichrist, reign at the same period? This prophecy therefore remains to be fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken only for an allegory, which yet the text cannot admit without the greatest torture and violence. For with what propriety can it be said, that some of the dead, who were beheaded, lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, unless the dying and living again be the same in both places, a proper death and resurrection? Indeed the death and resurrection of the witnesses before mentioned, chap. 11., appears, from the concurrent circumstances of the vision, to be figurative; but the death and resurrection here mentioned must, for the very same reasons, be concluded to be real. If the martyrs rise only in a spiritual sense, then the rest of the dead rise only in a spiritual sense; but if the rest of the dead really rise, the martyrs rise in the same manner. There is no difference between them: and we should be cautious and tender of making the first resurrection an allegory, lest others should reduce the second into an allegory too, like those whom St. Paul mentions 2 Timothy 2:17, 18. In the general, that there shall be such a happy period is the plain and express doctrine of Daniel 7:27; Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 11:9; Romans 11:25, 26, and of all the prophets, as well as of St. John; and we daily pray for the accomplishment of it in saying, Thy kingdom come. But, of all the prophets, St. John is the only one who hath declared particularly, and in express terms, that the martyrs shall rise at the commencement of it, though, as has been observed, probably not to remain on earth, but to ascend and be with Christ in heaven; and that this happy state of the church shall continue for one thousand years. And the Jewish Church before him, and the Christian Church after him, have further believed and taught, that these thousand years will be the seventh millenary of the world. A pompous heap of quotations might be produced to this purpose, both from Jewish and Christian writers; but to enumerate only a few of both sorts: among the Jewish writers are, Rabbi Ketina, and the house of Elias; among the Christian writers are, St. Barnabas in the first century, Justin Martyr in the second century, Tertullian in the beginning of the third, and Lactantius in the beginning of the fourth century. In short, the doctrine of the millennium was generally believed in the first three and purest ages of the church: and this belief was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive Christians: they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs in the first resurrection. Afterward, this doctrine grew into disrepute, for various reasons. Some, both Jewish and Christian writers, have debased it with a mixture of fables. It hath suffered by the misrepresentations of its enemies, as well as by the indiscretions of its friends; it hath been abused to the worst purposes: it hath been made an engine of faction. Besides, wherever the influence and authority of the Church of Rome have extended, she hath endeavoured by all means to discredit this doctrine; and, indeed, not without sufficient reason, this kingdom of Christ being founded on the ruins of antichrist. No wonder, therefore, that this doctrine lay depressed for many ages; but it sprang up again at the Reformation, and will flourish together with the study of the Revelation. All the danger is, on the one side, of pruning and lopping it too short; and, on the other, of suffering it to grow too wild and luxuriant. Great caution and judgment are required to keep in the middle way. We should neither, with some, interpret into an allegory; nor, with others, indulge an extravagant fancy, nor explain too curiously the manner and circumstances of this future state. We must not imagine, as Fleming observes, that the appearance of Christ, to introduce this glorious state of the church, will be a personal one, any more than his appearance to destroy Jerusalem, and punish the Jewish nation by Titus, was such; for the heavens must retain him until the time of the restitution of all things. Nor are we to imagine that, in this prosperous state of the church, it shall be free from all mixture of hypocrisy, error, and sin, seeing that the sudden and general apostacy which will follow that period shows that all were not Israel that feigned themselves to be of it; otherwise it is not likely that God, in his equity and goodness, would suffer the enemies of his people so dreadfully to assault them as they are here represented to do. It is safest and best faithfully to adhere to the words of Scripture, and to rest contented with the general account, till time shall accomplish and eclaircise all the particulars.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 4. I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, to judge and consider the ways of providence, and the diversified works of God. The promise of our Saviour to the apostles is to the same effect. Matthew 19:28. But the thrones and the glory of the first resurrection are assigned to characters the most illustrious in the church of God; characters who have followed the Saviour in the regeneration, who have loved their Master more than life, and who scorned to worship the beast.
Neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands. The Ninevites are said to have branded their slaves in the forehead. It was a practice among many gentile nations to tattoo some part of a slave’s body with the name of his master, the soldier with the name of his commander, and the child of an idolater with the name of the idol to which his parents had devoted him. Our sailors often work anchors and other figures in their hands, by punctures which cause soot or gunpowder to enter the skin.
They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Here the righteousness of God appears; the lives of the martyrs were shortened on earth, and now they are requited with an earlier resurrection.
Daniel Whedon
REIGN—THE MILLENNIUM, 4-6.
4. I saw thrones—An inauguration of a new and better regimen over the world. The infernals being cast out, the celestials, with benign influences, are crowned as kings. Where John saw the thrones he does not say; but, apparently, they should be in the firmamental heaven, where once (chap. xii) the dragon reigned. And this would represent the place of spiritual natures. Notes on Ephesians 2:2; 4:9. And they sat upon them— Namely, those who reigned in the latter part of the verse, the souls of the martyred in the battles with antichrist. Judgment—The authority to judge, or, according to Scripture sense, to rule, was given them. Herein is more completely fulfilled the symbolic promise to the twelve that they should sit on twelve thrones, judging, that is, ruling, the twelve tribes of Israel. Matthew 19:28. But we see no judging of angels (1 Corinthians 6:2, 3, where see note) here. The souls—Not bodies. As it was antichristic spiritual beings who have been dethroned, so it is Christic spiritual beings who are now enthroned. Satan and his angels have heretofore ruled; Christ and his saints shall rule now. In both cases the rulers are spiritual, in the spiritual region, that is, in the spiritual atmosphere overlying the earth, and ruling its populations with spiritual influences and sway. It was these same martyred souls whom the seer beheld, under the fifth seal, (Revelation 6:9,) lying under the altar, in sad suppression beneath the despotism of the persecutor, calling for retribution and bidden to wait awhile. They have waited; their number is fulfilled, and their regal time has come. This exaltation is the glorious reversal of that humiliation. They were victims then—they are kings now. The order of strata is reversed; those who were then underlying are now overlying. But in both cases they are souls, not bodies. In other cases, where the soul signifies the whole person, the idea of disembodied soul is excluded by the narrative, as in Acts 27:37. But here, and in Revelation 6:9, they are the souls of dead men; of persons beheaded with the axe. And the Greek word for beheaded is not in the aorist tense, which would imply that the fact was transient, but the perfect, which implies the continuance of the dead condition of the body. Whatever the soul of a living man may be, the soul of a dead man must be a disembodied soul.
We trace the souls under the altar of Revelation 6. 9, through their history to this verse. We find them among the hosts on Mount Zion with the Lamb, in Revelation 14:1-4, where they are in the Lamb’s retinue, following him wherever he goeth, chanting a future victory over Babylon, but not yet reigning. We find them in the armies of heaven, Revelation 19:14, (where see note,) who fight the great battle. We find them here, the exalted, inaugurated trophy of that victory, reigning with the Great Victor. They lived—They were endowed with the element of glorified vitality; by which they surmount and overcome the power of the second death, verse 6. This is the true resurrection of souls. What is the nature of this life? It is the same life as occurs constantly in these last chapters of Revelation in the phrases book of life, tree of life, water of life, river of life, word of life, eternal life, life. It is the paradisiac life; by which, over and above the mere conscious existence of the soul, or even its regenerate life in this world, it glows with bliss, and expands into an immortal growth and beauty; the principle of celestial life implanted by Christ in the glorified spirit.
The primal sentence, thou shall surely die, included the fulness of death upon the whole man, and upon his everlasting being. That “die” manifests itself, indeed, in the body, by decay and dissolution, which is the first death; it manifests itself in the soul by spiritual depravity and eternal destruction in the world to come, which is the second death. By Christ both these deaths may be reversed; first, by a revival of the soul to a prospective celestial life here, to be exalted and continued in a glorified spiritual state hereafter, which is the first resurrection; and by a revival and reorganization of the body to an eternal union with the soul, which is the second resurrection. Thus, the first resurrection is a resurrection of souls, the second a resurrection of bodies.
Nor are we quite alone in this interpretation. Grotius, in his commentary upon the passage, says, “The souls which are in hades are not all said (zhn) to live; but those only which are translated to beneath the throne of glory, as the Jews say; for so they call the perfected state of souls before the universal resurrection.” Upon the words ouk ezhsan, they lived not, he remarks, “That is, they remained in hades in that state which was according to the life which they had lived on earth.”
That the blessed souls were said by the Jews to live this paradisiac life in this intermediate state (located by them as under the throne of glory) the following beautiful passages from eminent doctors of the Jewish Church will show, for which we are indebted to Schoettgen’s Horae Hebraicae. Midrasch Coheleth, (fol. 90:4,) commenting upon the biblical words, “for the living know that they must die,” says: “They are meant who, even in death, are called living. ‘But the dead know not any thing.’ The impious are meant, who, even while active in life, are called dead. Whence we prove this: that the just, even in death, are called living.” Jalkut Simeoni, (part ii, fol. 109:3:) “No difference is there between the just, living or dead, except that they differ in name.” Synopsis Sohar, (p. 138, n. vii:) “Jacob our father, and Moses our teacher, upon whom be peace, are not dead; and so all who are in their perfected state, because the true life consists of this. Although it is written of them that they are dead, this is to be understood in respect to us, not to them.”
That the blessed intermediate state is called under the throne of glory appears as follows: Schoettgen, upon Revelation 6:9, “Souls under the Altar,” quotes Sohar Chadasch, (fol. 22, 1.) Said Rabbi Jacob, “All the souls are taken from under the throne of the glory of God, that they may (at the resurrection) resume their body, as a father takes his child.” The same upon Sol. Song 8:1: “By vine is meant the righteous soul, which in heaven is planted under the throne of glory.” In another place, “How loved by God is that soul which is taken from under the throne of God’s glory—from the holy place—the land of the living.”
Schoettgen also shows that the same throne of glory was the place of the Messiah in his exaltation. “Messiah was to be descended from the fathers, and in human flesh to redeem us; then he was in the same to occupy the throne of glory.”—Vol. ii, p. 439.
From these extracts the meaning of this language from an ancient Jew is plain. The disembodied spirits of the saints, being in the perfected state, are said, in contradistinction to the wicked, to LIVE, and to live with the glorified (Christ) Messiah. This is the same with the abode of Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom; the same as the “being absent from the body” and the “being present with the Lord” of St. Paul; the same as the being in paradise with Christ of the penitent thief; and the same as the life and reign of souls of St. John.
Reigned—Became the overlying, controlling, spiritual power over the nations of the earth, as Satan and his angels once were. With Christ— Yet all their victory and reign is in unification with the Redeemer. As they fought his last battle through his one sword, so they reign through his one sceptre.
This picture of living and reigning souls, however, is given (like the mountains of Revelation 17:9) as a double symbol, or more properly, as a symbol and a specimen. As a symbol the souls stand to represent the victory over antichrist. Hence only those who are martyred in that war seem to be made visible. As a specimen they serve to show the true nature of the first resurrection; that is, the glorified triumphant state of the imparadised disembodied spirits, in the glorified side of hades, who have won the battle of life, and await in bliss, incomplete yet wonderful, for the second resurrection. Hence, as a specimen of the nature of the first resurrection, though these alone are in the foreground and visible, yet all the spirits of the departed just, though in the background, are by right and just implication there. Hence, we look to this passage as describing the blessedness of all our departed brethren who have passed through the portals of death to the land of blessed spirits. It is to this blood-washed throng that we hope to go from our death-bed in Christ. See our article, on “The Millennium of Revelation 20,” in the “Methodist Quarterly Review” for January, 1843, for a full discussion of this whole subject.
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
John Wesley
V. 5. The rest of the dead lived not till the thousand years-Mentioned, Revelation 20:4.
Were ended-The thousand years during which Satan is bound both begin and end much sooner.
The small time, and the second thousand years, begin at the same point, immediately after the first thousand. But neither the beginning of the first nor of the second thousand will be known to the men upon earth, as both the imprisonment of Satan and his loosing are transacted in the invisible world.
By observing these two distinct thousand years, many difficulties are avoided. There is room enough for the fulfilling of all the prophecies, and those which before seemed to clash are reconciled; particularly those which speak, on the one hand, of a most flourishing state of the church as yet to come; and, on the other, of the fatal security of men in the last days of the world.
Adam Clarke
Verse 5. The rest of the dead lived not again] It is generally supposed from these passages that all who have been martyred for the truth of God shall be raised a thousand years before the other dead, and reign on earth with Christ during that time, after which the dead in general shall be raised; but this also is very doubtful.
Joseph Benson
Verses 4-6. And I saw thrones — Such as were promised to the apostles, Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; and they — Namely, the saints, whom St. John saw at the same time; sat upon them, and judgment was given to them — 1 Corinthians 6:2. Error and sin being restrained, the reign of righteousness succeeds, and the administration of justice and judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, Daniel 7:22. And I saw the souls — That is, the persons; of them that were beheaded — Namely, with the axe, as the word pepelekismenwn properly signifies: one kind of death, however, which was particularly inflicted at Rome, is mentioned for all kinds thereof: for the witness, or testimony, of Jesus — For testifying that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour, Lawgiver, and final Judge of the world, and especially of those who believe in him; and for the word of God — In general, or for some particular and peculiarly important truth of it; or for bearing witness to the great truths of the everlasting gospel; and who had not worshipped the beast — Had not made any acknowledgment of subjection to the antichristian power of the beast, nor yielded to the prevailing corruptions; nor his image — The pope and his corrupt hierarchy; but had persevered in the true Christian faith against all opposition. See on Revelation 13:4-8, 11-17. Neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or on their hands — Had neither made an open profession of his corrupt religion, nor had secretly complied with its idolatries or superstitions. And they lived — Their souls and bodies being reunited; and reigned with Christ — It is not said, on earth. Doubtless the meaning is, that they ascended and reigned with him in heaven; a thousand years — Namely, before the rest of the dead, even the one thousand years during which Satan is bound, and truth and righteousness prevail over all the earth. Although the martyrs, when thus raised from the dead, shall not continue on earth, it is highly probable that, in proof of their resurrection, they will appear to pious individuals, in the places where they were so cruelly martyred, and where they are raised: as those saints who, at Jerusalem, rose with Christ, went into the city, and appeared to many, Matthew 27:52, 53. And if so, it is likely this circumstance will tend greatly to confirm the faith and hope of believers respecting the resurrection of the dead, and will check vice and profaneness, and contribute much to the spread of the gospel. “The martyrs and confessors of Jesus,” says Bishop Newton, “who are here represented as being raised from the dead, at least one thousand years before others, are not only those who were beheaded, or suffered any kind of death, under the heathen Roman emperors, but also those who refused to comply with the idolatrous worship of the beast and his image. All these have this peculiar prerogative above the rest of mankind: they all share in this first resurrection. And all of them the apostle here pronounces, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection — He is holy in all senses of the word: holy, as separated from the common lot of mankind; holy, as endowed with all virtuous qualifications; and none but such are admitted to partake of this blessed state. On such the second death has no power — The second death is a Jewish phrase for the punishment of the wicked after death. The Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos, and the other paraphrases of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, and of Jerusalem, on Deuteronomy 33:6, Let Reuben live, and not die, say, Let him not die the second death, by which the wicked die in the world to come. The sons of the resurrection, therefore, shall not die again, but shall live in eternal bliss, and be priests of God and Christ, and reign with him a thousand years” — Before any others. For the Lord Jesus will not suffer any of his disciples to be, in the end, losers for their fidelity to him and his cause. These loved not their lives unto death, but voluntarily sacrificed them out of love to him; and he thus amply recompenses them. He gives each of them an infinitely better life than that given up for his sake — and this a thousand years before the other pious dead receive theirs. “Nothing is more evident,” says Bishop Newton, “than that this prophecy of the millennium, and of the first resurrection, hath not yet been fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken in a figurative sense. For reckon the thousand years from the time of Christ, or reckon them from the time of Constantine, yet neither of these periods, nor indeed any other, will answer the description and character of the millennium, the purity and peace, the holiness and happiness of that blessed state. Before Constantine, indeed, the church was in greater purity; but was groaning under the persecutions of the heathen emperors. After Constantine, the church was in greater prosperity, but was soon shaken and disturbed by heresies and schisms, by the incursions and devastations of the northern nations, by the conquering arms and prevailing imposture of the Saracens, and afterward of the Turks; by the corruption, idolatry, and wickedness — the usurpation, tyranny, and cruelty, of the Church of Rome. If Satan was then bound, when can he be said to be loosed? Or how could the saints and the beast, Christ and antichrist, reign at the same period? This prophecy therefore remains to be fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken only for an allegory, which yet the text cannot admit without the greatest torture and violence. For with what propriety can it be said, that some of the dead, who were beheaded, lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, unless the dying and living again be the same in both places, a proper death and resurrection? Indeed the death and resurrection of the witnesses before mentioned, chap. 11., appears, from the concurrent circumstances of the vision, to be figurative; but the death and resurrection here mentioned must, for the very same reasons, be concluded to be real. If the martyrs rise only in a spiritual sense, then the rest of the dead rise only in a spiritual sense; but if the rest of the dead really rise, the martyrs rise in the same manner. There is no difference between them: and we should be cautious and tender of making the first resurrection an allegory, lest others should reduce the second into an allegory too, like those whom St. Paul mentions 2 Timothy 2:17, 18. In the general, that there shall be such a happy period is the plain and express doctrine of Daniel 7:27; Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 11:9; Romans 11:25, 26, and of all the prophets, as well as of St. John; and we daily pray for the accomplishment of it in saying, Thy kingdom come. But, of all the prophets, St. John is the only one who hath declared particularly, and in express terms, that the martyrs shall rise at the commencement of it, though, as has been observed, probably not to remain on earth, but to ascend and be with Christ in heaven; and that this happy state of the church shall continue for one thousand years. And the Jewish Church before him, and the Christian Church after him, have further believed and taught, that these thousand years will be the seventh millenary of the world. A pompous heap of quotations might be produced to this purpose, both from Jewish and Christian writers; but to enumerate only a few of both sorts: among the Jewish writers are, Rabbi Ketina, and the house of Elias; among the Christian writers are, St. Barnabas in the first century, Justin Martyr in the second century, Tertullian in the beginning of the third, and Lactantius in the beginning of the fourth century. In short, the doctrine of the millennium was generally believed in the first three and purest ages of the church: and this belief was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive Christians: they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs in the first resurrection. Afterward, this doctrine grew into disrepute, for various reasons. Some, both Jewish and Christian writers, have debased it with a mixture of fables. It hath suffered by the misrepresentations of its enemies, as well as by the indiscretions of its friends; it hath been abused to the worst purposes: it hath been made an engine of faction. Besides, wherever the influence and authority of the Church of Rome have extended, she hath endeavoured by all means to discredit this doctrine; and, indeed, not without sufficient reason, this kingdom of Christ being founded on the ruins of antichrist. No wonder, therefore, that this doctrine lay depressed for many ages; but it sprang up again at the Reformation, and will flourish together with the study of the Revelation. All the danger is, on the one side, of pruning and lopping it too short; and, on the other, of suffering it to grow too wild and luxuriant. Great caution and judgment are required to keep in the middle way. We should neither, with some, interpret into an allegory; nor, with others, indulge an extravagant fancy, nor explain too curiously the manner and circumstances of this future state. We must not imagine, as Fleming observes, that the appearance of Christ, to introduce this glorious state of the church, will be a personal one, any more than his appearance to destroy Jerusalem, and punish the Jewish nation by Titus, was such; for the heavens must retain him until the time of the restitution of all things. Nor are we to imagine that, in this prosperous state of the church, it shall be free from all mixture of hypocrisy, error, and sin, seeing that the sudden and general apostacy which will follow that period shows that all were not Israel that feigned themselves to be of it; otherwise it is not likely that God, in his equity and goodness, would suffer the enemies of his people so dreadfully to assault them as they are here represented to do. It is safest and best faithfully to adhere to the words of Scripture, and to rest contented with the general account, till time shall accomplish and eclaircise all the particulars.
Daniel Whedon
5. The rest of the dead—The rest are those who live not in this first resurrection life. Lived not again—The word again must be stricken out as a false reading. It is unquestionably spurious. We have then only the rest of the dead lived not. This—The Greek for this grammatically agrees with resurrection. So that, literally, we have: this (resurrection) is the first resurrection. Or, (as Alford,) making this the predicate, the first resurrection is this (resurrection.) In either case this resurrection refers to the living of the souls. This imparadised life is the life of the first resurrection. This circumscribes and fixes the meaning of the word lived. It was not merely the soul’s regenerate life in this world, or the soul’s life of the dead, who are not in this first resurrection. It is the soul’s first-resurrection life. The life of souls is the first resurrection; the added life of bodies is the second. Until the thousand years were finished— This does not imply that the rest of the dead did live after the close of the thousand years. The Greek words acri and mecri both signify until, but with a difference. The latter would determine that the not living (or any other affirmed condition) ceased at the end of the period. The former only affirms that the said condition lasted for so long, without affirming whether it lasted longer or not. It is the former that is used here. The not living of the rest lasted for a thousand years; and then—he will tell us what happened. Namely, they were put into a condition by which they never could attain the first resurrection life, but did remain under the power, and finally sink into the condition of, the second death.
There are numerous instances of this use of the word until. Psalm 90:1: “Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool,” and then sit there forever. 1 Samuel 15:35: “Samuel came no more until the day of his death,” and no more after that. Romans 15:13: “Until the law sin was in the world,” and after the law also. And so, the rest lived not until the millennium ended; nor then either. Our note here thus far assumes the genuineness of the sentence. But the rest… finished; but Glasgow shows that the entire sentence is spurious. For, 1. It is wanting in the oldest New Testament manuscript, the Sinaitic, and in the Syrian version, dated from commencement of sixth century. 2. There is a suspicious number of variations in copies containing the sentence. There are three variations in the Greek of the words but the rest; three variations of the word for lived; two for until. These indicate that the words were interpolated in the copies containing the sentence, not wrongly omitted in those not containing it. 3. The sentence, like an interpolation, interrupts the current of the style. It breaks in between the next word, this, and the antecedent to which its affirmation refers. The sentence reads like an explanatory note by some copyist, which has been wrought into the text, and that in a very awkward position. We may add, that until the discovery of the Sinaitic Codex, this sentence has been considered by the corporeal interpreters of the lived of verse 5, as their stronghold. But no sound biblical scholar will now consider it worthy reliance as a main proof of so stupendous a theory.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
John Wesley
V. 6. They shall be priests of God and of Christ-Therefore Christ is God.
And shall reign with him-With Christ, a thousand years.
Adam Clarke
Verse 6. Blessed] makariov. Happy. And holy; he was holy, and therefore he suffered for the testimony of Jesus in the time when nothing but holiness was called to such a trial.
The first resurrection] Supposed to be that of the martyrs, mentioned above.
The second death] Punishment in the eternal world; such is the acceptation of the phrase among the ancient Jews.
Hath no power] ouk ecei exousian. Hath no authority-no dominion over him. This is also a rabbinical mode of speech. In Erubin, fol. 19, 1; Chagiga, fol. 27, 1: “Res Lakish said, The fire of hell hath no power over an Israelite who sins. Rab. Elieser says; The fire of hell hath no power over the disciples of the wise men.”
Joseph Benson
Verses 4-6. And I saw thrones — Such as were promised to the apostles, Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30; and they — Namely, the saints, whom St. John saw at the same time; sat upon them, and judgment was given to them — 1 Corinthians 6:2. Error and sin being restrained, the reign of righteousness succeeds, and the administration of justice and judgment is given to the saints of the Most High, Daniel 7:22. And I saw the souls — That is, the persons; of them that were beheaded — Namely, with the axe, as the word pepelekismenwn properly signifies: one kind of death, however, which was particularly inflicted at Rome, is mentioned for all kinds thereof: for the witness, or testimony, of Jesus — For testifying that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour, Lawgiver, and final Judge of the world, and especially of those who believe in him; and for the word of God — In general, or for some particular and peculiarly important truth of it; or for bearing witness to the great truths of the everlasting gospel; and who had not worshipped the beast — Had not made any acknowledgment of subjection to the antichristian power of the beast, nor yielded to the prevailing corruptions; nor his image — The pope and his corrupt hierarchy; but had persevered in the true Christian faith against all opposition. See on Revelation 13:4-8, 11-17. Neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or on their hands — Had neither made an open profession of his corrupt religion, nor had secretly complied with its idolatries or superstitions. And they lived — Their souls and bodies being reunited; and reigned with Christ — It is not said, on earth. Doubtless the meaning is, that they ascended and reigned with him in heaven; a thousand years — Namely, before the rest of the dead, even the one thousand years during which Satan is bound, and truth and righteousness prevail over all the earth. Although the martyrs, when thus raised from the dead, shall not continue on earth, it is highly probable that, in proof of their resurrection, they will appear to pious individuals, in the places where they were so cruelly martyred, and where they are raised: as those saints who, at Jerusalem, rose with Christ, went into the city, and appeared to many, Matthew 27:52, 53. And if so, it is likely this circumstance will tend greatly to confirm the faith and hope of believers respecting the resurrection of the dead, and will check vice and profaneness, and contribute much to the spread of the gospel. “The martyrs and confessors of Jesus,” says Bishop Newton, “who are here represented as being raised from the dead, at least one thousand years before others, are not only those who were beheaded, or suffered any kind of death, under the heathen Roman emperors, but also those who refused to comply with the idolatrous worship of the beast and his image. All these have this peculiar prerogative above the rest of mankind: they all share in this first resurrection. And all of them the apostle here pronounces, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection — He is holy in all senses of the word: holy, as separated from the common lot of mankind; holy, as endowed with all virtuous qualifications; and none but such are admitted to partake of this blessed state. On such the second death has no power — The second death is a Jewish phrase for the punishment of the wicked after death. The Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos, and the other paraphrases of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, and of Jerusalem, on Deuteronomy 33:6, Let Reuben live, and not die, say, Let him not die the second death, by which the wicked die in the world to come. The sons of the resurrection, therefore, shall not die again, but shall live in eternal bliss, and be priests of God and Christ, and reign with him a thousand years” — Before any others. For the Lord Jesus will not suffer any of his disciples to be, in the end, losers for their fidelity to him and his cause. These loved not their lives unto death, but voluntarily sacrificed them out of love to him; and he thus amply recompenses them. He gives each of them an infinitely better life than that given up for his sake — and this a thousand years before the other pious dead receive theirs. “Nothing is more evident,” says Bishop Newton, “than that this prophecy of the millennium, and of the first resurrection, hath not yet been fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken in a figurative sense. For reckon the thousand years from the time of Christ, or reckon them from the time of Constantine, yet neither of these periods, nor indeed any other, will answer the description and character of the millennium, the purity and peace, the holiness and happiness of that blessed state. Before Constantine, indeed, the church was in greater purity; but was groaning under the persecutions of the heathen emperors. After Constantine, the church was in greater prosperity, but was soon shaken and disturbed by heresies and schisms, by the incursions and devastations of the northern nations, by the conquering arms and prevailing imposture of the Saracens, and afterward of the Turks; by the corruption, idolatry, and wickedness — the usurpation, tyranny, and cruelty, of the Church of Rome. If Satan was then bound, when can he be said to be loosed? Or how could the saints and the beast, Christ and antichrist, reign at the same period? This prophecy therefore remains to be fulfilled, even though the resurrection be taken only for an allegory, which yet the text cannot admit without the greatest torture and violence. For with what propriety can it be said, that some of the dead, who were beheaded, lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, unless the dying and living again be the same in both places, a proper death and resurrection? Indeed the death and resurrection of the witnesses before mentioned, chap. 11., appears, from the concurrent circumstances of the vision, to be figurative; but the death and resurrection here mentioned must, for the very same reasons, be concluded to be real. If the martyrs rise only in a spiritual sense, then the rest of the dead rise only in a spiritual sense; but if the rest of the dead really rise, the martyrs rise in the same manner. There is no difference between them: and we should be cautious and tender of making the first resurrection an allegory, lest others should reduce the second into an allegory too, like those whom St. Paul mentions 2 Timothy 2:17, 18. In the general, that there shall be such a happy period is the plain and express doctrine of Daniel 7:27; Psalm 2:8; Isaiah 11:9; Romans 11:25, 26, and of all the prophets, as well as of St. John; and we daily pray for the accomplishment of it in saying, Thy kingdom come. But, of all the prophets, St. John is the only one who hath declared particularly, and in express terms, that the martyrs shall rise at the commencement of it, though, as has been observed, probably not to remain on earth, but to ascend and be with Christ in heaven; and that this happy state of the church shall continue for one thousand years. And the Jewish Church before him, and the Christian Church after him, have further believed and taught, that these thousand years will be the seventh millenary of the world. A pompous heap of quotations might be produced to this purpose, both from Jewish and Christian writers; but to enumerate only a few of both sorts: among the Jewish writers are, Rabbi Ketina, and the house of Elias; among the Christian writers are, St. Barnabas in the first century, Justin Martyr in the second century, Tertullian in the beginning of the third, and Lactantius in the beginning of the fourth century. In short, the doctrine of the millennium was generally believed in the first three and purest ages of the church: and this belief was one principal cause of the fortitude of the primitive Christians: they even coveted martyrdom, in hopes of being partakers of the privileges and glories of the martyrs in the first resurrection. Afterward, this doctrine grew into disrepute, for various reasons. Some, both Jewish and Christian writers, have debased it with a mixture of fables. It hath suffered by the misrepresentations of its enemies, as well as by the indiscretions of its friends; it hath been abused to the worst purposes: it hath been made an engine of faction. Besides, wherever the influence and authority of the Church of Rome have extended, she hath endeavoured by all means to discredit this doctrine; and, indeed, not without sufficient reason, this kingdom of Christ being founded on the ruins of antichrist. No wonder, therefore, that this doctrine lay depressed for many ages; but it sprang up again at the Reformation, and will flourish together with the study of the Revelation. All the danger is, on the one side, of pruning and lopping it too short; and, on the other, of suffering it to grow too wild and luxuriant. Great caution and judgment are required to keep in the middle way. We should neither, with some, interpret into an allegory; nor, with others, indulge an extravagant fancy, nor explain too curiously the manner and circumstances of this future state. We must not imagine, as Fleming observes, that the appearance of Christ, to introduce this glorious state of the church, will be a personal one, any more than his appearance to destroy Jerusalem, and punish the Jewish nation by Titus, was such; for the heavens must retain him until the time of the restitution of all things. Nor are we to imagine that, in this prosperous state of the church, it shall be free from all mixture of hypocrisy, error, and sin, seeing that the sudden and general apostacy which will follow that period shows that all were not Israel that feigned themselves to be of it; otherwise it is not likely that God, in his equity and goodness, would suffer the enemies of his people so dreadfully to assault them as they are here represented to do. It is safest and best faithfully to adhere to the words of Scripture, and to rest contented with the general account, till time shall accomplish and eclaircise all the particulars.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 6. On such the second death hath no power. The jewish targums expound this of the punishment of the wicked after death.
Daniel Whedon
6. Our seer now specifies the nature of the life of this first resurrection. Over that high and unique vitality the second death hath no power. By the first resurrection we are raised from beneath the power of the second death to above the power of the second death. This is initiated at our earthly regeneration, but it is not completed until the glorification of our spirits. Our souls pass through as true and literal a resurrection as our bodies; and it is by that resurrection of our souls that they become a fitting unity with our resurrection bodies. We might, perhaps, more truly say that it is by the resurrection and glorification of the body that it becomes fit for unification with the resurrect soul. Or, stronger still, it is by its own first resurrection that the blessed soul brings the raised body to a fitting unity with itself. It is the soul that glorifies the body. And thus soul and body both pass through each its literal resurrection to the final glorious unification. The first resurrection is, therefore, a resurrection of souls; the second, of bodies.
A thousand years—As we are here still in the land of symbol, there is ample reason for applying the symbolic interpretation to this number. We have the number of universality, ten, raised to a cube, and producing, on the year-day principle, 360,000 years. The 1260 years of antichristic rule dwindle thereby to an insignificant extent in comparison with the earthly reign of Christ. Glasgow well says, “Against the hypothesis of the contracted millennium there lies this startling objection: that it assigns to antichrist a more extended reign than to Christ. But, if the reign of Jesus be 360,000 years, and the end of antichrist or heathenism be speedily approaching, their duration is of no moment, being, at most, about 7,000 out of 360,000, or one-five-hundredth part.” We are then only in the morning dawn of human history. Progress is the law, not only in nature and in history but in the Messianic kingdom. It is not only the few that are finally saved. Entirely correct is the inference drawn from the doctrine of the millennium by Dr. Bellamy, that the number of the lost in comparison to the saved may finally be as the number of malefactors now hung to the rest of society. See our work on The Will, p. 359.
Alford, on the passage, in insisting that this resurrection of souls is a bodily resurrection, makes two points. 1. If the first resurrection is “spiritual,” so must be the second. To which we answer, If the first is not a “spiritual” resurrection, it certainly is a soul-resurrection: and a soul-resurrection is not a body-resurrection. It does not follow that if a soul-resurrection is spiritual, therefore a body-resurrection must, also, be spiritual. Professed “literalists” must render souls literally, and not figuratively, as bodies. 2. “Those who lived next to the apostles,” says Alford, “and the whole Church for 300 years understood them in the plain, literal sense;” that is, forsooth, understood souls to mean bodies! And that is a very queer “literal sense!” This argument, based on the authority of the post-apostolic Church, comes with a bad grace from Alford, who persistently maintains, in his Commentary, that the apostles themselves, even in their inspired writings, made the sad mistake of expecting the second advent to take place in their own day. And we call the attention of our readers to this special point: That this very mistake of expecting the advent in their own day is identical with the mistake of placing the advent before the millenium. Many of “those who lived next the apostles” did make this mistake. Bringing the advent into their own day, they, of course, thereby cut off the millennium, and placed it beyond the advent, and hence arose the errors of ancient Chiliasm, or pre-millennialism. This error was not held by “the whole Church for 300 years;” but, probably, by a decided majority of the post-apostolic Church. See the whole question of ancient Chiliasm discussed in our article on “Millennial Traditions,” in the Methodist Quarterly Review for July, 1843.
In his commentary on the Apocalypse, Mr. Glasgow has some ingenious methods of disproving the danger of millennial over-population. The fear of some is, that in 360,000 years of peace and prosperity the earth would be over-stocked with inhabitants. Glasgow first quotes many beautiful texts to prove the future increased fertility of the earth. “The wilderness shall be a fruitful field.” “I will plant in the wilderness the shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree.” “He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her deserts like the garden of the Lord.” “Break forth into joy, ye waste places.” “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.”
The mountains, deserts, and morasses, may be, he thinks, rendered a fertile plain, and the earth become a garden by geological changes, by a better distribution of waters, and a diffusion, truly possible, of warmth over the Arctic regions. Nay, there are supposable methods by which the orb of the earth may be enlarged and furnish a larger area of life. In all which, he professedly and carefully states what may, and, for aught science can show can, be; not what certainly will be. The latest conclusion of science seems to be that the area of land is continually gaining upon the ocean. But the most valid solution of this difficulty lies in what are now the known laws of population. In the animal creation it is found, largely, that low life is enormously prolific, and high life chary of over-population. The fishes spawn and the insects breed in trillions while the lion and elephant are generating a score. So also among mankind the poor, ignorant, and miserable are prolific, while the higher classes, the rich, the aristocratic, and the intellectually and morally cultured classes tend to sterility. The nobility of England would die out were it not replenished from the commons. People who have few resources for enjoyment fall back upon the animal and domestic gratifications within their reach. As the higher faculties find full play in a variety of directions, these enjoyments are often deserted. As the passions of mankind become regulated, fecundity becomes moderate, and a perfectly balanced race would never over-populate the earth.
The new rebellion of Satan—closed by his destruction, 7-10.
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
John Wesley
V. 7. And when the former thousand years are fulfilled, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison-At the same time that the first resurrection begins. There is a great resemblance between this passage and Revelation 12:12. At the casting out of the dragon, there was joy in heaven, but there was woe upon earth: so at the loosing of Satan, the saints begin to reign with Christ; but the nations on earth are deceived.
Adam Clarke
Verse 7. Satan shall be loosed] How can this bear any kind of literal interpretation? Satan is bound a thousand years, and the earth is in peace; righteousness flourishes, and Jesus Christ alone reigns. This state of things may continue for ever if the imprisonment of Satan be continued. Satan, however, is loosed at the end of the thousand years, and goes out and deceives the nations, and peace is banished from the face of the earth, and a most dreadful war takes place, &c., &c. These can be only symbolical representations, utterly incapable of the sense generally put upon them.
Joseph Benson
Verses 7-10. The following verses of this chapter to verse 11 inform us that the happy days of the church, prophesied of in the foregoing vision, will at length have their period, though they are to continue for a long time, and are not to expire till after one thousand years: yet then there shall be one attempt more against the purity of religion, and against the peace and prosperity of the church. Satan will be released for a little season, but in that little season he shall deceive many, and so far seduce them as to prevail upon them to join with him in his apostacy. This new attempt against truth and righteousness shall end in the utter ruin of the enemies of Christ and his religion; they shall be totally defeated, and their obstinate wickedness punished with everlasting destruction. This state of the church and world, so different from the preceding, deserves to be considered as a new period, which will therefore be the fifth in order. — Lowman. And when the thousand years are expired, &c. — “At the expiration of the thousand years the restraint shall be taken off from wickedness; Satan shall be loosed out of his prison — And make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in the paradisiacal state, so he shall have the artifice to deceive the nations in this millennium kingdom, to show that no state or condition on earth is exempted or secured from sinning. The nations whom he shall deceive are described as living in the remotest parts of the world; in the four quarters — En taiv tessarsi gwniaiv thv ghv, in the four angles, or corners, of the earth; and they are distinguished by the name of Gog and Magog, and are said to be as numerous as the sands of the sea. Gog and Magog seem to have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event, but it appears more probable that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take place before, but the other will not take place till after, the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are said expressly (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2) to come from the north quarters and the north parts; but in St. John they came from the four quarters, or corners, of the earth. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, bend their forces against the Jews resettled in their own land; but in St. John they march up against the saints and church of God in general. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian Church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they shall be, we cannot pretend to say with any degree of certainty: but whoever they shall be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city — The new Jerusalem, with the saints encamped around it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they shall not succeed in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven: and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished together with the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in before him, and shall be tormented for ever and ever.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 7. When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. That age shall then have its state of probation, as all other ages have had. In the millenium, Isaiah says, “as the days of a tree, so are the days of my people, and they shall long enjoy the work of their hands.” We have oaks in England, which have braved the winters of seven hundred years.
Daniel Whedon
7. Are expired—It is interesting to note how the seer bridges us over the period of the thousand years in less than an hour. His own position remains the same as in Revelation 19:4, in presence of the royal state of Revelation 4:11. In describing the millennium, he repeatedly changes the tense; sometimes predicting in the future, and sometimes describing or narrating as in the past. Shall be—Will be; the simple future, as also in next verse. Why is Satan loosed? We might, also, ask, Why was he first permitted to enter Eden? Which resolves itself into the general question, Why is evil allowed in the universe? Why the possibility of, or the agent’s freedom to, sin? Why allow free agency, tried virtue, penalty for guilt, or reward for virtue? Because a system of free-agents, a moral system, a probationary system, is superior to and better than a system of pure moral machines. But, in the present case, doubtless, an age had arrived when the free tendencies to apostasy called for Satan, as apostate Israel called for a king, whom God granted in his wrath. And if it be asked how so pure an age could apostatize, we may ask in reply, How could the first angels rebel? and how could our first parents fall? The most perfect free-agent in a scene of temptation is one with whom it is easy to keep right with care. Hence we cannot be sure that in the millennium there will be no exceptions to the general rule of holiness.
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
John Wesley
V. 8. And shall go forth to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth-(That is, in all the earth)-the more diligently, as he hath been so long restrained, and knoweth he hath but a small time.
Gog and Magog-Magog, the second son of Japhet, is the father of the innumerable northern nations toward the east. The prince of these nations, of which the bulk of that army will consist, is termed Gog by Ezekiel also, Ezekiel 38:2. Both Gog and Magog signify high or lifted up; a name well suiting both the prince and people. When that fierce leader of many nations shall appear, then will his own name be known.
To gather them-Both Gog and his armies. Of Gog, little more is said, as being soon mingled with the rest in the common slaughter. The Revelation speaks of this the more briefly, because it had been so particularly described by Ezekiel.
Whose number is as the sand of the sea-Immensely numerous: a proverbial expression.
Adam Clarke
Verse 8. Gog and Magog] This seems to be almost literally taken from the Jerusalem Targum, and that of Jonathan ben Uzziel, on Numbers 11:26. I shall give the words at length: “And there were two men left in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, the name of the other was Medad, and on them the spirit of prophecy rested. Eldad prophesied and said, ‘Behold, Moses the prophet, the scribe of Israel, shall be taken from this world; and Joshua the son of Nun, captain of the host, shall succeed him.’ Medad prophesied and said, ‘Behold quails shall arise out of the sea, and be a stumbling block to Israel.’ Then they both prophesied together, and said, ‘In the very end of time Gog and Magog and their army shall come up against Jerusalem, and they shall fall by the hand of the King Messiah; and for seven whole years shall the children of Israel light their fires with the wood of their warlike engines, and they shall not go to the wood nor cut down any tree.’“ In the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, on the same place, the same account is given; only the latter part, that is, the conjoint prophecy of Eldad and Medad, is given more circumstantially, thus: “And they both prophesied together, and said, ‘Behold, a king shall come up from the land of Magog in the last days, and shall gather the kings together, and leaders clothed with armour, and all people shall obey them; and they shall wage war in the land of Israel against the children of the captivity, but the hour of lamentation has been long prepared for them, for they shall be slain by the flame of fire which shall proceed from under the throne of glory, and their dead carcasses shall fall on the mountains of the land of Israel; and all the wild beasts of the field, and the wild fowl of heaven, shall come and devour their carcasses; and afterwards all the dead of Israel shall rise again to life, and shall enjoy the delights prepared for them from the beginning, and shall receive the reward of their worlds.’“ This account seems most evidently to have been copied by St. John, but how he intended it to be applied is a question too difficult to be solved by the skill of man; yet both the account in the rabbins and in St. John is founded on Ezekiel, Ezekiel 38:1-39:29. The rabbinical writings are full of accounts concerning Gog and Magog, of which Wetstein has made a pretty large collection in his notes on this place. Under these names the enemies of God’s truth are generally intended.
Joseph Benson
Verses 7-10. The following verses of this chapter to verse 11 inform us that the happy days of the church, prophesied of in the foregoing vision, will at length have their period, though they are to continue for a long time, and are not to expire till after one thousand years: yet then there shall be one attempt more against the purity of religion, and against the peace and prosperity of the church. Satan will be released for a little season, but in that little season he shall deceive many, and so far seduce them as to prevail upon them to join with him in his apostacy. This new attempt against truth and righteousness shall end in the utter ruin of the enemies of Christ and his religion; they shall be totally defeated, and their obstinate wickedness punished with everlasting destruction. This state of the church and world, so different from the preceding, deserves to be considered as a new period, which will therefore be the fifth in order. — Lowman. And when the thousand years are expired, &c. — “At the expiration of the thousand years the restraint shall be taken off from wickedness; Satan shall be loosed out of his prison — And make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in the paradisiacal state, so he shall have the artifice to deceive the nations in this millennium kingdom, to show that no state or condition on earth is exempted or secured from sinning. The nations whom he shall deceive are described as living in the remotest parts of the world; in the four quarters — En taiv tessarsi gwniaiv thv ghv, in the four angles, or corners, of the earth; and they are distinguished by the name of Gog and Magog, and are said to be as numerous as the sands of the sea. Gog and Magog seem to have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event, but it appears more probable that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take place before, but the other will not take place till after, the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are said expressly (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2) to come from the north quarters and the north parts; but in St. John they came from the four quarters, or corners, of the earth. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, bend their forces against the Jews resettled in their own land; but in St. John they march up against the saints and church of God in general. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian Church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they shall be, we cannot pretend to say with any degree of certainty: but whoever they shall be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city — The new Jerusalem, with the saints encamped around it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they shall not succeed in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven: and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished together with the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in before him, and shall be tormented for ever and ever.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 8. Gog and Magog. This seems not to be the Gog of Ezekiel, but the Gog of the latter day, more severely punished than the others, having sinned against greater light.
Daniel Whedon
8. Go out—The last revelation of antichrist. It is the revelation that precedes the second advent. Deceive the nations—Note on Revelation 14:5. Probably by taking a religious form, and erecting a hierarchy and becoming a pontiff, thus reviving the pre-millennial POPERY. Yet, as we are informed in 2 Peter 3, one form of the deception will be a denial of the reality of a second advent, based on an infidel scepticism. And yet, while infidel to Christ and his second advent, the nations may be faithful to the renewed pontificate and spiritual empire of the dragon, who emphatically deceives them into a belief of his Messiahship. And here it may be noted, that the prefix anti signifies not only opposition but instead of; so that antichrist signifies not merely an opponent to Christ, but a substitute Christ; just as anti-pope signifies a false claimant to be pope. The result will be apostasy, persecution, irreligion, vice, and misery. Four quarters of the earth—The symbolic Jerusalem—the beloved city of next verse—is assumed as the centre; and from all the four points of the compass the hostile forces are seen advancing. That is, the true Church of the period will find itself in the midst of a growing scepticism, vice, and persecution, rising in all parts of the world, and bearing down upon herself. Gog and Magog—An invasion shadowed by that described by Ezekiel xxxviii and
39. That invasion was led by Gog and Magog from the north countries, but it received cooperation from all quarters; from Persia on the east, from Ethiopia and Libya south, and from Gomer, west. In the tenth chapter of Genesis Magog is classed among the sons of Japhet, and, therefore, represents here the Japhetites, (Caucasians,) or Gentiles. And as in the apocalypse the Jews represent true Christians—as Jerusalem here represents the true Church—so Gentiles are antichristic, and assailants of the righteous cause. Gog, according to Ezekiel, is “prince” of Magog. St. John here uses imagery known to the old Jewish doctors. Thus the Jerusalem Targum upon Numbers 11:27, says: “At the close of the last days Gog and Magog and their armies shall go up to Jerusalem, and shall fall by the hands of Messiah, and seven years shall the children of Israel burn their arms.” And Avoda Sara, i: “When they shall see the war of Gog and Magog, the Messiah shall say unto them, For what have you come hither? They will reply, Against the Lord and his Messiah.” Sand of the sea—Wonderful it is how numerous are the devotees of infidelity in trying times.
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
John Wesley
V. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, or the land-Filling the whole breadth of it.
And surrounded the camp of the saints-Perhaps the Gentile church, dwelling round about Jerusalem.
And the beloved city-So termed, likewise, Ecclesiastes 24:11.
Adam Clarke
Verse 9. The beloved city] Primarily, Jerusalem, typically, the Christian Church.
Joseph Benson
Verses 7-10. The following verses of this chapter to verse 11 inform us that the happy days of the church, prophesied of in the foregoing vision, will at length have their period, though they are to continue for a long time, and are not to expire till after one thousand years: yet then there shall be one attempt more against the purity of religion, and against the peace and prosperity of the church. Satan will be released for a little season, but in that little season he shall deceive many, and so far seduce them as to prevail upon them to join with him in his apostacy. This new attempt against truth and righteousness shall end in the utter ruin of the enemies of Christ and his religion; they shall be totally defeated, and their obstinate wickedness punished with everlasting destruction. This state of the church and world, so different from the preceding, deserves to be considered as a new period, which will therefore be the fifth in order. — Lowman. And when the thousand years are expired, &c. — “At the expiration of the thousand years the restraint shall be taken off from wickedness; Satan shall be loosed out of his prison — And make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in the paradisiacal state, so he shall have the artifice to deceive the nations in this millennium kingdom, to show that no state or condition on earth is exempted or secured from sinning. The nations whom he shall deceive are described as living in the remotest parts of the world; in the four quarters — En taiv tessarsi gwniaiv thv ghv, in the four angles, or corners, of the earth; and they are distinguished by the name of Gog and Magog, and are said to be as numerous as the sands of the sea. Gog and Magog seem to have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event, but it appears more probable that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take place before, but the other will not take place till after, the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are said expressly (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2) to come from the north quarters and the north parts; but in St. John they came from the four quarters, or corners, of the earth. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, bend their forces against the Jews resettled in their own land; but in St. John they march up against the saints and church of God in general. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian Church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they shall be, we cannot pretend to say with any degree of certainty: but whoever they shall be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city — The new Jerusalem, with the saints encamped around it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they shall not succeed in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven: and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished together with the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in before him, and shall be tormented for ever and ever.
Daniel Whedon
9. Went up—These hosts from all parts of the earth are concentrating upon Jerusalem. Breadth of the earth—The earth visible to the seer is a vast surface, with four corners, or compass points, and over the plain the armies from every point are making themselves visible. Camp—The heroic body of champions and defenders of the faith. The beloved city—Not the “New Jerusalem,” for that is yet to come down “out of heaven,” Revelation 21:2; nor the old Hebrew capital; but the mystic Jerusalem, the true Church, the antithesis of the mystic Babylon. She is at this period the earth’s centre, and upon her are gathering from all the horizon the hosts of Satan. Fire… devoured them—As it once did Sodom. And now is fulfilled St. Paul’s wonderful prediction of the Man of Sin. See our notes on 2 Thessalonians 2:6-9. This is the final parousia of Satan preceding the second advent. As before the millennium antichrist was consumed “by the breath of his mouth,” so here he is destroyed by “the brightness of his coming”—blazing forth in devouring fire. Even Romanistic interpreters admit this future antichrist. Just before the great white throne appears antichrist is consigned to gehenna. There was no need of trial and sentence for him.
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
John Wesley
V. 10. And they-All these.
Shall be tormented day and night-That is, without any intermission. Strictly speaking, there is only night there: no day, no sun, no hope!
Adam Clarke
Verse 10. And the devil-was cast onto the lake] Before Satan was bound, that is, his power was curtailed and restrained; now, he is cast into the lake of fire, his power being totally taken away.
Joseph Benson
Verses 7-10. The following verses of this chapter to verse 11 inform us that the happy days of the church, prophesied of in the foregoing vision, will at length have their period, though they are to continue for a long time, and are not to expire till after one thousand years: yet then there shall be one attempt more against the purity of religion, and against the peace and prosperity of the church. Satan will be released for a little season, but in that little season he shall deceive many, and so far seduce them as to prevail upon them to join with him in his apostacy. This new attempt against truth and righteousness shall end in the utter ruin of the enemies of Christ and his religion; they shall be totally defeated, and their obstinate wickedness punished with everlasting destruction. This state of the church and world, so different from the preceding, deserves to be considered as a new period, which will therefore be the fifth in order. — Lowman. And when the thousand years are expired, &c. — “At the expiration of the thousand years the restraint shall be taken off from wickedness; Satan shall be loosed out of his prison — And make one effort more to re-establish his kingdom. As he deceived our first parents in the paradisiacal state, so he shall have the artifice to deceive the nations in this millennium kingdom, to show that no state or condition on earth is exempted or secured from sinning. The nations whom he shall deceive are described as living in the remotest parts of the world; in the four quarters — En taiv tessarsi gwniaiv thv ghv, in the four angles, or corners, of the earth; and they are distinguished by the name of Gog and Magog, and are said to be as numerous as the sands of the sea. Gog and Magog seem to have been formerly the general name of the northern nations of Europe and Asia, as the Scythians have been since, and the Tartars are at present. In Ezekiel there is a famous prophecy concerning Gog and Magog, and this prophecy alludes to that in many particulars. Both that of Ezekiel and this of St. John remain yet to be fulfilled; and therefore we cannot be absolutely certain that they may not both relate to the same event, but it appears more probable that they relate to different events. The one is expected to take place before, but the other will not take place till after, the millennium. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, are said expressly (Ezekiel 38:6, 15; 39:2) to come from the north quarters and the north parts; but in St. John they came from the four quarters, or corners, of the earth. Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel, bend their forces against the Jews resettled in their own land; but in St. John they march up against the saints and church of God in general. It may therefore be concluded that Gog and Magog, as well as Sodom, and Egypt, and Babylon, are mystic names in this book; and the last enemies of the Christian Church are so denominated, because Gog and Magog appear to be the last enemies of the Jewish nation. Who they shall be, we cannot pretend to say with any degree of certainty: but whoever they shall be, they shall come up from the four corners of the earth, on the breadth of the earth, and shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city — The new Jerusalem, with the saints encamped around it, as the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. But they shall not succeed in their attempts; they shall not be able to hurt the church and city of God, but shall be destroyed in an extraordinary manner, by fire from heaven: and the devil himself, the promoter and leader of this new apostacy and rebellion against God and his Christ, shall not only be confined as before, but shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where he shall be punished together with the beast and the false prophet, who were cast in before him, and shall be tormented for ever and ever.
Daniel Whedon
10. Beast and false prophet—Of this antichristic triad two are allegorical persons, and the third only a literal. It might seem that their fate must be literal cessation of existence, and no consciousness of torment. The for ever and ever, literally taken, can only signify that for them there should never be reversal of their doom. Yet, as figurative persons, they are figuratively held to suffer, as truly as to be slain, in the last chapter; and so their doom is ideally held to be eternal. Day and night—Figuratively representing ceaselessness, even after day and night have forever ceased. THE FINAL JUDGMENT AND AWARDS, 11-22:5.
1. The throne, the resurrection, and vanishing earth, 11, 12. As we approach the great finalities a change seems to be made in the mode of representation from the symbolical to the more exactly pictorial. Truths are exhibited less by representative images and more by literal presentation. But, 1. This is rather a difference of degree than of kind. A symbol is selected, usually, for some resemblance by which it suggests the symbolized object. A picture, therefore, is only a symbol with an increased amount of resemblance, even until it becomes an exact pictorial likeness of the object. 2. When we come to the last events, symbols grow difficult to comprehend, and direct picture becomes necessary. Even then the picture becomes the best representation of the fact for us, in our present earthly state. What obliges the interpreter to view this exhibition of last things as approaching so near to an exact likeness as to be essentially a literal description of supernal events and objects is the correspondence with other passages of Scripture, which are to be held literal, unless we would lose all certainty of interpretation. John’s pictures of the finality, while more symmetrically pictorial, agree with those of Christ, (John 5:25-29; Matthew 25:31-46;) Paul, (1 Corinthians 15:22-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10;) Peter, (2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12, 13;) John, (Revelation 6:12-17;) and James (James 5:3, 7).
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
John Wesley
V. 11. And I saw-A representation of that great day of the Lord. A great white throne-How great, who can say? White with the glory of God, of him that sat upon it,-Jesus Christ. The apostle does not attempt to describe him here; only adds that circumstance, far above all description, From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away-Probably both the aerial and the starry heaven; which "shall pass away with a great noise." And there was found no place for them-But they were wholly dissolved, the very "elements melting with fervent heat." It is not said, they were thrown into great commotions, but they fled entirely away; not, they started from their foundations, but they " fell into dissolution;" not, they removed to a distant place, but there was found no place for them; they ceased to exist; they were no more. And all this, not at the strict command of the Lord Jesus; not at his awful presence, or before his fiery indignation; but at the bare presence of his Majesty, sitting with severe but adorable dignity on his throne.
Adam Clarke
Verse 11. A great white throne] Refulgent with glorious majesty. Him that sat on it] The indescribable Jehovah.
From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away] Even the brightness of his countenance dissolved the universe, and annihilated the laws by which it was governed. This is a very majestic figure, and finely expressed.
There was found no place for them.] The glorious majesty of God filling all things, and being all in all.
Joseph Benson
Verse 11. The course of these prophecies, after many important visions describing the state of the church and world in this present life, brings us at last to the great and final judgment, when the whole scene and mystery of Providence shall be finished. Then the great doctrine which runs through the whole of these prophecies will be fully verified, namely, that truth and righteousness shall surely prevail in the end, against error and all iniquity; eternal happiness shall be the reward of the faithful, and everlasting destruction the punishment of the wicked. This is represented as a sixth period of Providence, after which there will be in the seventh period an everlasting sabbath; a state of eternal rest and happiness for all the righteous, and of the most perfect worship of God, in the praises and devotions of the heavenly church. — Lowman. And I saw — A representation of the great day of the Lord; a great white throne — How great who can say? White — With the glory of God, and to show the holiness, justice, and equity of him that sits on it, the Lord Jesus. The apostle does not attempt to describe him here; he only adds that circumstance, far above all description; from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away — At least the aerial, if not also the starry heaven; and there was found no place for them — But they were wholly dissolved; the very elements melting with fervent heat. It is not said they were thrown into great commotions, but they fell into dissolution; not they removed to a distant place, but there was found no place for them: at least as to their present state; they ceased to exist, they were no more. See on 2 Peter 3:7-13. And all this, not at the strict command of the Lord Jesus, not at his awful presence, or before his fiery indignation, but at the bare presence of his Majesty, sitting with severe, but adorable dignity, on his throne.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 11. I saw a great white throne, of which Solomon’s was but a faint emblem. And him that sat on it, Jehovah, the Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead. There must be a day of final scrutiny; the relation of kings and subjects, of parents and children, of masters and servants, require it. How else can the apparent inequalities of the ways of God be justified to men.
Daniel Whedon
11. I saw—From what standpoint did the seer behold the throne? See note Revelation 21:5. Great white throne—”Great,” says Bishop Newton, “to show the largeness and extent, and white to show the justice and equity, of the judgment.” Him that sat on it—”None other,” says Newton, “than the Son of God, for (John 5:22) the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” And this entire passage is to be identified with Matthew 25:31-46. The great white throne here, is the throne of his glory there. And each entire passage supplements the other. This excludes the great pre-millennial error of imagining Revelation 19:11-21, to be the judgment-advent. From whose face—Homer’s image of Jupiter sitting upon his throne, nodding with his ambrosial curls, and shaking all Olympus with his nod, has been admired for its sublimity. But how small its imagery compared with this enthroned One, from before whose face creation flees! Earth… fled—Hence, a new heaven and a new earth appears at Revelation 21:1. No place for them—The apparent meaning is, not that the face of the earth is changed and renewed; but that the very solid globe itself vacates its place and disappears. This implies not annihilation, but removal and departure of the old, and substitution of the new. And this seems to coincide with 2 Peter 3:10, “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise.” See note there.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
John Wesley
V. 12. And I saw the dead, great and small-Of every age and condition. This includes, also, those who undergo a change equivalent to death, 1 Corinthians 15:51.
And the books-Human judges have their books written with pen and ink: how different is the nature of these books!
Were opened-O how many hidden things will then come to light; and how many will have quite another appearance than they had before in the sight of men! With the book of God's omniscience, that of conscience will then exactly tally. The book of natural law, as well as of revealed, will then also be displayed. It is not said, The books will be read: the light of that day will make them visible to all. Then, particularly, shall every man know himself, and that with the last exactness This will be the first true, full, impartial, universal history.
And another book-Wherein are enrolled all that are accepted through the Beloved; all who lived and died in the faith that worketh by love. Which is the book of life, was opened-What manner of expectation will then be, with regard to the issue of the whole! Malachi 3:16, &c.
Adam Clarke
Verse 12. The dead, small and great] All ranks, degrees, and conditions of men. This description seems to refer to Daniel 7:9, 10. And the books were opened] See Daniel 12:1. “Rab. Jehuda said: All the actions of men, whether good or bad, are written in a book, and of all they shall give account.”-Sohar Gen., fol. 79, col. 298. “How careful should men be to shun vice, and to act uprightly before the holy blessed God, seeing there are so many which go throughout the earth, see the works of men, testify of them, and write them in a book!”-Ibid., fol. 105, col. 417.
“In the first day of the new year the holy blessed God sits that he may judge the world; and all men, without exception, give an account of themselves; and the books of the living and the dead are opened.” Sohar Chadash, fol. 19, 1.
The books mentioned here were the books of the living and the dead, or the book of life and the book of death: that is, the account of the good and evil actions of men; the former leading to life, the latter to death. St. John evidently alludes here to Daniel 7:10, on which the rabbinical account of the books appears to be founded. The expressions are figurative in both. According to their works.] And according to their faith also, for their works would be the proof whether their faith were true or false; but faith exclusively could be no rule in such a procedure.
Joseph Benson
Verse 12. And I saw the dead, small and great — Of every age and condition, rank and degree; as well those who perished at sea, and were buried in the waters, as those who died on land, and were buried in graves: all are raised, and stand before the judgment-seat of God, as also those who are found alive at Christ’s second coming, and undergo a change equivalent to death, 1 Corinthians 15:51. All these stand before their Judge, whether they had been rich or poor, kings or subjects, in one grand assembly, waiting to receive their final doom from him who once stood at the bar of a weak and sinful mortal, by whom he was condemned to suffer the ignominious and painful death of crucifixion, but now, how unlike: — The babe of Bethlehem! how unlike the man
That groan’d on Calvary! Yet he it is;
That Man of sorrows! O how changed!
And the books were opened — The records of the Divine Omniscience on the one hand, and those of the sinners’ consciences on the other; and the book of the natural law, the rule by which those shall be judged who had not been favoured with the Holy Scriptures, and the book of the revealed law, including the Old Testament and the New: by which they shall be judged who were favoured, and as far as they were favoured, with these divine oracles. Human judges have their books written with pen and ink; but how different is the nature of these books, and how many hidden things will be brought to light when they are opened! And how many will have a quite different appearance, in the sight of men, from what they had before? With the book of God’s omniscience that of conscience will exactly tally. It is not said the books will be read; the light of that day will make them visible to all: then particularly shall every man know himself, and that with the utmost exactness. This will be the first true, full, impartial, universal history that was ever published. And now, if these were the only books that will be opened, no flesh could be saved: for all heathen will be found to have violated the law of nature, or to have fallen short of its demands: all Jews to have transgressed the law of Moses, and to have contracted guilt thereby, though in different degrees; and all Christians, so called, to have deviated, more or less, from the spirituality and strictness of the law of Christ, at one time or another. But another book was opened — Wherein were enrolled all that had turned to God in true repentance and living faith, and had been accepted in the Beloved; had been both justified and sanctified through the mediation and grace of Christ, and had lived and died in the possession of that faith in God and his truth, which worketh by love. Which is the book of life — That is, without a figure, that divine wisdom or remembrance, whereby the Lord knows them that are his, namely, them that, in the days of their flesh, had been truly pardoned and renewed in the spirit of their minds; had been taken into God’s favour, stamped with his image, possessed of communion with him, and had brought forth the genuine fruits of righteousness, by a patient continuance in well-doing. All these shall be acquitted at the bar of Christ, and acknowledged as his genuine followers. Nevertheless even these shall be judged out of those things which were written in the books — That is, in a manner agreeable to the tenor of them; according to their works — That is, according as their spirit and conduct, their intentions and affections, their tempers, words, and actions, had been agreeable or disagreeable to the discoveries which God had made to them of his will. In other words their reward shall be greater or less in proportion to the degrees of holiness which they had attained, the endeavours they had used to glorify God, and do good to mankind in their generation, and to the patience and resignation wherewith they had endured the various sufferings which, in the course of Divine Providence, they had been called to sustain for the trial of their grace, and to render them examples of patience to others. On the other hand, those who are not found written in the book of life, (verse 15,) who in the days of their flesh did not turn to God in repentance, faith, and new obedience, and therefore were not accepted of him through the mediation of his Son, are cast into the lake of fire, where they are punished in different degrees, according to their evil works; that is, according to the unholiness and unrighteousness of their tempers, words, and actions; their internal enmity against, or unlikeness to God, the dishonour they had done to him, and the evil they had done to their fellow-creatures by their iniquitous conduct, including their abuse of their time and talents, of the privileges afforded them, and the various means used in vain to reclaim and bring them to repentance.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 12. I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. Numerous as the vesicles of vapour which compose the clouds, irradiated by the sun. What a bar, what a tribunal, and what a Judge! And the books were opened. Biography here is written with a partial hand: there it is written with the finger of God. As a man walking over soft ground leaves the print of his feet behind, so our steps shall be traced there, and the portrait be presented to the naked soul. Alas, we have erred and strayed like lost sheep. But another book was opened, which is the book of life, the record of regeneration. May our names be found there, and the fair copy in our own heart.
Daniel Whedon
12. Dead… stand—Not that they were dead and standing at the same time. Just so it is said, Matthew 11:5, “the lame walk, the deaf hear;” not that they were deaf and hearing at the same time: but the previously deaf now hear; and so the previously dead now stand. This presupposes the one universal resurrection (see ver. 13) declared by the Lord’s mouth, as related by this same John in his Gospel, John 5:28, 29. The dead implies the universal dead; small and great implies every individual. Before God—True reading before the throne; identical with “the throne of glory” of the “Son of man,” in Matthew 25:31. But the received reading God would not contradict the idea that it was visibly God the Son, to whom, indeed, the office of judging is committed. The books—The volumes both of the human and of the divine memory. These form a perfect universal human history, read by the eye of omniscience by the light of a blazing world, in the ears of the human race. Physiological facts render it probable that the human soul never truly forgets any idea once impressed upon its memory. So Byron:—
“Each fainter trace that memory holds
So darkly of departed years,
In one broad glance the soul beholds,
And all that was, at once appears.”
Besides the record-books of the facts of human histories—the universal particular biographies—there is another book. There is a “double-entry;” one of facts condemning or justifying; the other a register of the true citizens of the New Jerusalem. The record of the name in the book of life decides the case, but that record is verified and sustained by the books of memory. Judged—Their eternal destiny decided. Works—The deeds done in the body. For there is a truth in the doctrine that we are justified by works.
2. The final penal award—the lake of fire, 13-15.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
John Wesley
V. 13. Death and hades gave up the dead that were in them-Death gave up all the bodies of men; and hades, the receptacle of separate souls, gave them up, to be re-united to their bodies.
Adam Clarke
Verse 13. The sea gave up the dead] Those who had been drowned in it, and those millions slain in naval contests, who had no other grave. And death] All who died by any kind of disease. Death is here personified, and represented as a keeper of defunct human beings; probably no more than earth or the grave is meant, as properly belonging to the empire of death.
And hell] aiJdhv, Hades, the place of separate spirits. The sea and death have the bodies of all human beings; hades has their spirits. That they may be judged, and punished or rewarded according to their works, their bodies and souls must be reunited; hades, therefore, gives up the spirits; and the sea and the earth give up the bodies.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13-15. And — That none might be exempt from being brought to judgment, the resurrection extended even to the waters; the sea — The lakes and rivers; gave up the dead which were in them, and, o qanatov kai o adhv, death and hades — Or, the state of separate souls, delivered up the dead which were in them — Death gave up all the bodies of men, and hades their souls, to be united to their bodies. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire — That is, were abolished for ever. For neither the righteous nor the wicked were to die any more; their souls and bodies were to be no more separated. Consequently neither death nor hades could any more have a being. Such is the awful end of the whole human race: they are plunged into that flaming and eternal ruin signified by the lake of fire, or are received into those abodes of glory, which are described in the next two chapters under the figures of a new heaven and a new earth.
Here then we have before us a most affecting view of those important events in which we are all most intimately, yea, infinitely concerned; even the illustrious day of the passing away of the heaven and earth, and the final judgment of all mankind, whether small or great. Therefore let all the living, both small and great, seriously weigh these things; let them often look forward to the awful period when the glorious throne shall be set, the important volumes opened, and our whole lives, all our tempers, words, and works, which are now perfectly known to God, shall be exhibited to the view of men, angels, and devils. Let us, therefore, judge ourselves impartially, that we be not condemned of the Lord; and, conscious how unable we shall be to stand in that judgment if he were to lay justice to the line, let us humbly and penitently apply to the throne of mercy, to the grace of the gospel covenant, through the blood of the Redeemer. So shall we find mercy of the Lord in that day, and reign with him, not a thousand years only, but for everlasting ages. In the mean time, let those who have no reverence for his majesty, nor esteem for his gospel, and who have never taken this awful alarm, have never fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, tremble at these awakening views. Let them all, of every condition, both small and great, say in their hearts, Who shall dwell with devouring flames, with everlasting burnings? Shall we have our portion in this lake of fire, into which every one who is not found written in the book of life shall be cast? and shall we be those wretched victims of the divine justice, who shall be tormented for ever and ever? Nay, rather let us turn to God in sincerity and truth that our souls may live, and an entrance be administered unto us into his everlasting kingdom!
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 13. The sea gave up the dead, the countless bodies which were in it; and death, the grave, and hell, or hades, delivered up the dead which were in them. The rabbins say, In hades there are two roads, the one for good men, and the other for the bad. Virgil, respecting tartarus, has precisely the same thought, but he adds, that good men take the right hand road, and bad men the left. Isaiah 14. It must however be noted, that death here signifies more than the grave, as stated on Psalm 9:17.
Daniel Whedon
13. The sea gave up—Even while the heaven and earth are fleeing in flames before the throne, the sea surrenders the myriads who have perished in its waves. Death and hell (hades)—From three sources do the dead, body and soul, come forth. From the sea and from death (by land) come their bodies; from hell or hades, (the intermediate state of disembodied spirits,) come their souls. How unhappy here the term hell is for hades is illustrated by the fact that it was the abode of the blessed as well as of the unholy souls. It included Paradise as well as Tartarus. Judged—Solemn and emphatic repetition of closing clause of last verse.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
John Wesley
V. 14. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire-That is, were abolished for ever; for neither the righteous nor the wicked were to die any more: their souls and bodies were no more to be separated. Consequently, neither death nor hades could any more have a being.
Adam Clarke
Verse 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake] Death himself is now abolished, and the place for separate spirits no longer needful. All dead bodies and separated souls being rejoined, and no more separation of bodies and souls by death to take place, consequently the existence of these things is no farther necessary.
This is the second death.] The first death consisted in the separation of the soul from the body for a season; the second death in the separation of body and soul from God for ever. The first death is that from which there may be a resurrection; the second death is that from which there can be no recovery. By the first the body is destroyed during time; by the second, body and soul are destroyed through eternity.
Joseph Benson
Verses 13-15. And — That none might be exempt from being brought to judgment, the resurrection extended even to the waters; the sea — The lakes and rivers; gave up the dead which were in them, and, o qanatov kai o adhv, death and hades — Or, the state of separate souls, delivered up the dead which were in them — Death gave up all the bodies of men, and hades their souls, to be united to their bodies. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire — That is, were abolished for ever. For neither the righteous nor the wicked were to die any more; their souls and bodies were to be no more separated. Consequently neither death nor hades could any more have a being. Such is the awful end of the whole human race: they are plunged into that flaming and eternal ruin signified by the lake of fire, or are received into those abodes of glory, which are described in the next two chapters under the figures of a new heaven and a new earth.
Here then we have before us a most affecting view of those important events in which we are all most intimately, yea, infinitely concerned; even the illustrious day of the passing away of the heaven and earth, and the final judgment of all mankind, whether small or great. Therefore let all the living, both small and great, seriously weigh these things; let them often look forward to the awful period when the glorious throne shall be set, the important volumes opened, and our whole lives, all our tempers, words, and works, which are now perfectly known to God, shall be exhibited to the view of men, angels, and devils. Let us, therefore, judge ourselves impartially, that we be not condemned of the Lord; and, conscious how unable we shall be to stand in that judgment if he were to lay justice to the line, let us humbly and penitently apply to the throne of mercy, to the grace of the gospel covenant, through the blood of the Redeemer. So shall we find mercy of the Lord in that day, and reign with him, not a thousand years only, but for everlasting ages. In the mean time, let those who have no reverence for his majesty, nor esteem for his gospel, and who have never taken this awful alarm, have never fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, tremble at these awakening views. Let them all, of every condition, both small and great, say in their hearts, Who shall dwell with devouring flames, with everlasting burnings? Shall we have our portion in this lake of fire, into which every one who is not found written in the book of life shall be cast? and shall we be those wretched victims of the divine justice, who shall be tormented for ever and ever? Nay, rather let us turn to God in sincerity and truth that our souls may live, and an entrance be administered unto us into his everlasting kingdom!
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 14, 15. And death and hell, the spirits or dæmons, and the souls of men not registered in the book of life, were cast into the lake of fire. Awful figure, from the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah. No hope that God will overlook a single crime, or spare a single culprit dying in his sins. — Sinner, escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither linger in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Genesis 19:17.
Daniel Whedon
14. Death and hades—Not personification, but the submergence of the two conditions in the dark finality is expressed. Condemnation of both is implied; for both are the results of the fall; since without the fall man would have passed into the glorified state without death or an intermediate state. Death is a disorganization of the man into two parts; and hades is a continuation of that separation and a detention from full final bliss. Lake of fire—The most awful thought that can occupy the human mind. This is the second death—Alford well says, “As there is a second and higher life, so there is also a second and deeper death. And as after that life there is no more death, (Revelation 21:4,) so after that death there is no more life. Verse 10; Matthew 25:41.” There is a deathless life, and a resurrectionless death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Adam Clarke
Verse 15. Written in the book of life] Only those who had continued faithful unto death were taken to heaven. All whose names were not found in the public registers, who either were not citizens, or whose names had been erased from those registers because of crimes against the state, could claim none of those emoluments or privileges which belong to the citizens; so those who either did not belong to the new and spiritual Jerusalem, or who had forfeited their rights and privileges by sin, and had died in that state, were cast into the lake of fire.
THIS is the way in which God, at the day of judgment, will proceed with sinners and apostates. Reader, see that thy name be written in the sacred register; and, if written in, see that it never be blotted out. REVELATION
Joseph Benson
Verses 13-15. And — That none might be exempt from being brought to judgment, the resurrection extended even to the waters; the sea — The lakes and rivers; gave up the dead which were in them, and, o qanatov kai o adhv, death and hades — Or, the state of separate souls, delivered up the dead which were in them — Death gave up all the bodies of men, and hades their souls, to be united to their bodies. And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire — That is, were abolished for ever. For neither the righteous nor the wicked were to die any more; their souls and bodies were to be no more separated. Consequently neither death nor hades could any more have a being. Such is the awful end of the whole human race: they are plunged into that flaming and eternal ruin signified by the lake of fire, or are received into those abodes of glory, which are described in the next two chapters under the figures of a new heaven and a new earth.
Here then we have before us a most affecting view of those important events in which we are all most intimately, yea, infinitely concerned; even the illustrious day of the passing away of the heaven and earth, and the final judgment of all mankind, whether small or great. Therefore let all the living, both small and great, seriously weigh these things; let them often look forward to the awful period when the glorious throne shall be set, the important volumes opened, and our whole lives, all our tempers, words, and works, which are now perfectly known to God, shall be exhibited to the view of men, angels, and devils. Let us, therefore, judge ourselves impartially, that we be not condemned of the Lord; and, conscious how unable we shall be to stand in that judgment if he were to lay justice to the line, let us humbly and penitently apply to the throne of mercy, to the grace of the gospel covenant, through the blood of the Redeemer. So shall we find mercy of the Lord in that day, and reign with him, not a thousand years only, but for everlasting ages. In the mean time, let those who have no reverence for his majesty, nor esteem for his gospel, and who have never taken this awful alarm, have never fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them, tremble at these awakening views. Let them all, of every condition, both small and great, say in their hearts, Who shall dwell with devouring flames, with everlasting burnings? Shall we have our portion in this lake of fire, into which every one who is not found written in the book of life shall be cast? and shall we be those wretched victims of the divine justice, who shall be tormented for ever and ever? Nay, rather let us turn to God in sincerity and truth that our souls may live, and an entrance be administered unto us into his everlasting kingdom!
Joseph Sutcliffe
Ver. 14, 15. And death and hell, the spirits or dæmons, and the souls of men not registered in the book of life, were cast into the lake of fire. Awful figure, from the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah. No hope that God will overlook a single crime, or spare a single culprit dying in his sins. — Sinner, escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither linger in all the plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. Genesis 19:17.
Daniel Whedon
15. Book of life—There was no book of death. Heaven has a glorious citizenship, and a glorious census-book of its citizens. But gehenna is an anarchy, without record and without citizenship.
John Wesley
V. 1. And I saw an angel decending out of heaven-Coming down with a commission from God. Jesus Christ himself overthrew the beast: the proud dragon shall be bound by an angel; even as he and his angels were cast out of heaven by Michael and his angels.
Having the key of the bottomless pit-Mentioned before, Revelation 9:1.
And a great chain in his hand-The angel of the bottomless pit was shut up therein before the beginning of the first woe. But it is now first that Satan, after he had occasioned the third woe, is both chained and shut up.
Adam Clarke
Verse 1. An angel came down from heaven] One of the executors of the Divine justice, who receives criminals, and keeps them in prison, and delivers them up only to be tried and executed.
The key of the prison and the chain show who he is; and as the chain was great, it shows that the culprit was impeached of no ordinary crimes.
Joseph Benson
Verses 1-3. And I saw an angel — An especial minister of Providence; come down from heaven — With a commission from God; having the key of the bottomless pit — Invested with power to open or to shut it; see on Revelation 9:1; and a great chain in his hand — Emblematical of his power to perform the work here assigned him. And he laid hold on the dragon — Who, after the destruction of the beast and of the false prophet, (to whom he had delegated his power,) still remained; that old serpent — That ancient enemy of the human race, who, in the form of a subtle serpent, deceived the first parents of mankind, and brought sin and death into the world, with an incalculable train of evils attendant on them; who is the Devil — The malicious and false accuser of God’s saints, as the word diabolov, so rendered, signifies; and Satan — The grand adversary both of God and man; and bound him a thousand years — That is, at least one thousand literal years; during which the light of the gospel shall be diffused through all the world, and the reign of truth and righteousness be established universally among men. “I think,” says Doddridge, “we must despair of being able to interpret any passage of Scripture upon the plainest principle of reason, if this do not signify that there shall be such a period as this, in which Satan shall be remarkably restrained, and the Christian interest shall prevail. But whether the one thousand years are here to be taken literally, as is most probable; or whether here [as elsewhere in this book] each day is put for a year, and consequently the whole period be three hundred and sixty thousand years, I will not pretend to determine. This thought has been very lately started by an ingenious and worthy person, who, I doubt not, hath intended the service of Christianity; though I am very apprehensive he has failed in some of the mediums by which he has endeavoured to prove this point.” And cast him into the bottomless pit — His infernal prison; afterward he is cast into the lake of fire; and shut him up therein, and set a seal upon him — These are strong figures, to show the certain, strict, and severe restraint which he shall be laid under; that he might deceive the nations no more — During this whole period. One benefit only is here expressed as resulting from the confinement of Satan; but how many and great blessings are implied! For the grand enemy and opposer of truth and righteousness being removed, the kingdom of God holds on its uninterrupted course among the nations; and the great mystery of God, so long foretold, is at length fulfilled — Namely, when the beast and false prophet are destroyed, and Satan bound. This fulfilment approaches nearer and nearer, and contains things of the utmost importance, the knowledge of which becomes every day more distinct and easy. In the mean time, it is highly necessary to guard against the present rage and subtlety of the devil; remembering that the events which are to precede the binding of him, and the commencing of these one thousand years, are awful, and shortly to be expected, one after another, namely, the calamities implied in the vintage, (Revelation 14:18,) the pouring out of the last three vials, the judgment of Babylon, the last raging of the beast and false prophet, and their destruction. How great things are these! and how short the time! What is needful for us? Wisdom, patience, faithfulness, watchfulness. Surely this is not a time for us to settle upon our lees. This, if it be rightly understood, will not be an acceptable message to the wise, the mighty, the honourable of this world. Yet that which is to be done shall be done: there is no counsel against the Lord. After that he must be loosed — So does the mysterious wisdom of God permit; for a little season — For a small time, comparatively: though, upon the whole, it cannot be very short, because the things that are to be transacted therein (see verses 8, 9) must take up a considerable space.
Joseph Sutcliffe
Verse 1. I saw an angel come down from heaven, the high sheriff, as it were, with a divine commission, probably the same angel who had descended with glory like a morning star, and unlocked the abyss, out of which a smoke ascended, instigating the Turks to universal war and conquest: chap. 9. Now, he that opened, is sent with plenary powers to shut up, and seal the prison of hell. And if the binding of Satan be better for earth, it will be worse for hell. The kings which have lent their power to support the beast, and burn the martyrs, must bear their punishment there. Archbishop Fenelon says, in his Telemaque, Dans l’abyme de tenebres on traitè surtout avec rigueur les rois, &c. “In the abyss of darkness, they treat severely the kings who, instead of being good and vigilant shepherds of the people, have dreamed of nothing but to fleece the flock as devouring wolves.”
The mythology of the gentiles, referred to in Job 26:4, 5, with one consent fixes hell in the subterranean abodes of darkness. Virgil, who closely follows Homer, says, that in the side of the vast Euboicean rock is cut a cave, where a hundred paths lead to a hundred gates, or caves, whence resound so many voices, which are the responses of the Sibyl. Excisum Euboïcæ latus ingens rupis in antrum;
Quò lati ducunt aditus centum, ostia centum:
Unde ruunt totidem voces, responsa Sibyllæ.
Æneid. 6:42-44.
Daniel Whedon
1. And—See last note. Of course, no intelligent reader imagines that an angel with real metallic chain lays corporeal hand upon Satan’s body. The angel is the going forth of divine power energizing the moral and spiritual forces repressive of sin and Satan. Chain—The decisive check upon infernal agencies over man.