From: Reinterpreting Revelation Twenty Return to Home
By Roland H. Worth, Jr. © 2014
[Page 226]
Chapter Six:
Satan’s Final and Ultimate Defeat
(Revelation 20:7-10)
20:7 (KJV) And
when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.
NASB:
And when the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from
his prison.
20:8: 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.
NASB:
And will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners
of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of
them is like the sand of the seashore.
20:9: 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.
[Page 227] NASB:
And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp
of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured
them.
20:10: 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.
NASB:
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever.
1.
The chronological placement of Satan’s release.
Although we touched upon this
question previously, further comments would be appropriate as we move into the
section that directly discusses Satan’s bonds being removed. The release and Satanically-inspired
insurrection unquestionably are narrated after the second
millennium. Is this the historical
order or only the narrational order?
They are not always the same!
For example, in Genesis 1:1-2:3 we find an overview of creation;
then beginning in Genesis 2:4 the writer returns to the creation of man
which he had [Page 228] narrated very
concisely (1:26-31) and covers that earlier theme in far greater
detail. The narrational order
would require that from 2:4 on we read of a second creation of humans if
narrational order required that it duplicate historical order. Here Moses returns to an earlier point and
develops it to a degree not done at that earlier point.
What is the case in Revelation 2:7-10?
In verse 2 we read that Satan was to be bound “for a thousand years” yet
the narration only mentions him being loosed after the second
thousand years. This could be introduced
as evidence that the text “really” only discusses a monomillennium. Two facts should be remembered when such an
approach is suggested.
Let’s begin with the fact that rather that proving the existence of a
single millennium, they could be introduced as evidence that neither of the
numbers is to be taken literally.
They could be construed as John’s way of warning his readers against the
literalism that so many have fallen into:
“If John says Satan is to be released in a thousand years and we find
that Satan is only released after two thousand years, what better indication
could he have given that his numbers are symbolic rather than literal. On the literal level they would
contradict, but not on the symbolic.”
Also against a monmillennial reading of the passage is that the double
millennium is rooted firmly in the text:
we have demonstrated that there are at least four differences in
the portrayal of the two periods. Hence
Bimillennialism remains valid; the problem arises not with it but with
how the freed period for Satan fits chronologically.
[Page 229] There
are only two places the Satanic interrum could be placed: after the second one or after the first one. (Perhaps more properly—at the tail end of the
Martyr Millennium, describing the final events of that period.) The internal wording of the text forces one
toward concluding that the second period almost has to represent
eternity: It begins with the explicit
mention of “resurrection.” Furthermore,
the participants are described as those over which “the second death has no
power,” an expression far more fitting those entering the eternal bliss of
heaven that those facing the uncertainties and ambiguities of any period
preceding that.
For that matter, the internal logic
of the text points in the same direction.
One can understand the logic of having two grand millenniums covering
the time when redemption is finally complete and available: one covering all of earth time since Jesus
and one covering eternity. They are two logical
dividing points, composing the earthly and the heavenly, the temporal and the
eternal, the temporary and the permanent.
For reasons such as these, we
believe that John must have intended the historical rather than the narrational
order to be:
First Millennium: Reign of the Martyrs
Loosing of Satan /
Insurrection against God
Second Millennium: Believers’ eternal reign in Heavne
Why doesn’t John follow this order
then? For that matter, why doesn’t
Genesis, in the creation account we cited earlier? John may not place the loosing of Satan in
its historical order because he first wishes to complete his thought of the
reward for steadfast believers—or if you wish, survey the entire reward
process--before he turns to Satan’s final effort against the redeemed.
[Page 230]
The brevity of the account must always be kept in mind. Chronological order might be most appropriate
when one has a few thousand words to play with; when one only has a handful,
conciseness becomes the dominant and controlling factor.
2.
The duration of Satan’s freedom.
The brevity of Satan’s
freedom is emphasized both by the term used to describe it and by the period of
time it is contrasted with. As to the
former, it is called “a short time” (verse 3); “a little while,” in the RSV; “a
little time” in the ASV. As to the latter the implied contrast is with the
Christians’ reign of two millenniums.
A specific time frame of days,
weeks, months, or even years is neither given nor implied. John simply wants to assure the reader that
however long it might be, it will still be comparatively brief when contrasted
with the blessings promised to believers.
It may be frightful while it happens, but it won’t have to be endured
for any prolonged period of time. Like
the Ardennes offensive in World War Two, it is powerful and dangerous. After all, this is his final chance. And with prior limits removed as well. All the resources he has are poured into it.
Like the German offensive, it is the
last opportunity for his victory—the do or die effort. And it also crumbles apart, far from victory.
[Page 231]
3.
Why is Satan released at all?
Satan conspicuously does not escape: “Satan will be released from his
prison” (verse 7). Verse 3 is even more
emphatic, “After these things he must be released for a short time.” But why does God feel the need to
order him freed at all? Having
imprisoned his arch-enemy, why release him to stir up mischief one final
time? The text doesn’t tell us and there
is nothing in any other passage that provides a clear clue with which to
approach these verses as to God’s rationale.
(For that matter, even the idea
itself of a period of special Satanic release would be hard to locate in any
other text except by conjectural implantation.
Perhaps the closest precedent we could find would be Job: Satan was permitted to tempt Job in ways
apparently previously denied him and his earthly disasters ensued; now a
similar releasing would allow Satan to act in ways against the entire
Christian community that were previously prohibited?)
Some have speculated that Satan is
released in order to prove that Satan is incorrigible—he has never changed and
never will. The opportunity to act
freely and to show that he has learned the path of restraint from his confinement
is provided him. This final offer of
good will is yet again rejected.
[Page 232] Although
this approach makes sense, one wonders why such an additional period
would be needed or even appropriate. (How
many times must a criminal felon commit horrible acts before an exasperated
justice system sentences him to life imprisonment?) On the other hand, inherent in the idea of
this world system coming to an end is the need of some event(s) being
the final one(s) and what more appropriate to be included than the definitive
defeat of Satan’s last futile efforts prior to the bodily resurrection of
believers?
Decidedly less useful is the view of
those who believe that the release of Satan is to prove that the faithful can’t
be led into apostasy. A rather strange
interpretation in light of the repeated warnings in the first three chapters
against the danger of exactly that happening!
Would the text warn against an impossibility?
4.
Satan’s purpose and success.
a.
He “will come out to deceive the nations.”
[Page 233]
As in the Forty Days of Temptation,
Satan is not totally adverse to using the scriptures. Neither in our days nor is there any reason
to suppose in these as well. But he puts
his own special twist on them so that they lead the human race into
types of behavior contrary to God’s will and our own best good. In other cases he utilizes outright, blatant
lies. He is the ultimate
utilitarian: Anything and everything is
right so long as it advances his purpose.
And that purpose is deception
or, as this text says, “to deceive the nations.” The Greek word is planao and is used
in the following passages. It is used as
a description of the kind of misbehavior that believers were led into prior to
their conversion:
For we also once were foolish ourselves,
disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending
our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (Titus 3:3)
Although Satan targets “the whole
world” (Revelation 12:9) for his deception and in Revelation 20:3 “the
nations,” foolhardly is the Christian who thinks for a moment that s/he is now
exempt from the danger due to their conversion.
The same deceptions, desires, and promptings that make the human species
in general vulnerable, also make the believer vulnerable as well.
The difference is that the people of
God are supposed to be alert to the danger, therefore forewarned and
prepared. Yet the New Testament makes
repeated warnings that Christians can fall into a dangerous complacency that
makes them dangerously vulnerable:
[Page 234]
* And Jesus answered and said to them, “See
to it that no one misleads (planao) you.
For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead
(planao) many. . . . Then if
anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not
believe him. For false Christs and false
prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead
(planao), if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:4-5, 23-24)
* These things I have written to you
concerning those who are trying to deceive (planao) you. (1 John 2:26)
* Little children, let no one deceive
(planao) you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as
He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has
sinned from the beginning. The Son of
God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the
devil. (1 John 3:7-8)
Different temptations work with
different people. The same ones that
commonly work among unbelievers can be surprisingly effective among
Christians—who may even believe the right doctrines and church
practices, but whose heart may not be attuned to God’s will. This encourages one to cultivate proud
delusions of our inherent goodness and superiority to others, passionately
propagandizing for the “virtue” of winning position and influence at any and
all cost to others. Indeed we may even
target for acquisition that which is legitimate in itself, but which we somehow
twist into an excuse to use dishonorable means to obtain.
[Page 235] Worse,
we may rationalize our envolvement in outright evil, bending the Scriptures in
ways they were never intended to justify them.
Or outright ignoring them though, perhaps, still being sure that we keep
the “doctrine” right! Our society
encourages such behavior by removing the use of all language that overtly or
implicitly applies moral labels that indicate disapproval or discouragement of
sinful lifestyles and actions. Think the
chants of: “Antiquated,” “bigoted,”
“prejudiced.”
Virtually any behavior can be
rationalized and embraced except the condemnation of moral rot. What is
easy to forget is that first century Christians lived in just such a society as
well. Its nothing new.
We are simply returning there again.
The persistent gutting of moral prohibitions by courts in the last
decades of the twentieth century—often laying aside centuries of legislative,
judicial, and popular consensus (however violated in practice)—went hand in
hand with multiple generations being commonly taught that what makes us “feel
good” (rather than “be good”) should be our guide to behavior.
Hence we go full cycle back to first century amorality and the
inability to comprehend why Christians could not only “believe different” but
try to “be different.” This can
create outright hostility for our daring to dissent—as it did for those first
century believers. I like the colorful
way the traditional KJV renders it, “Wherein
they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (1 Peter 4:4). “Riot” is intended to cover uncontrolled
behavior of all types: “the same
flood of wild living” (Holman); “the same excesses of wild living” (ISV),
“reckless, wild living” (NIV).
[Page 236] In
light of this, it is not surprising that the New Testament should stress the
danger of allowing the world’s propaganda for an unrestricted and uncontrolled lifestyle
to gain control of the heart of the believer.
And it uses the concept of deception to describe the attitudes
and arguments that legitimize such behavior:
* Do not be deceived (planao),
God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall
from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from
the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians
6:7-8)
* Or do you not know that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do
not be deceived (planao); neither fornicators nor idolators, nor
adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were
washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
* “But I have this against you, that you
tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and
leads My bond-servants astray (planao), so that they commit acts
of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” (Revelation 2:20)
[Page 237]
In spite of the danger of deception, the Scriptures make plain that
there is no necessity of the believer falling for the effort. Satan may tempt, but Satan can make no
one yield; his banishments can be overcome:
* Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. You adversary, the devil, prowls about like a
roaring lion, seeking, someone to devour.
But resist him, firm in your faith. . . . (1 Peter 5:8-9)
* Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you. (James 4:7)
Note that Satan’s target is the
generic “someone”—i.e., anyone—who he can take advantage of. Though he is after the maximum number of believers,
he is after any that he can pluck out of the flock; the more the better,
but he’ll settle for whatever he can steal.
In the current text we find that
during the end-time of world history that Christians are targeted not so much
to be tempted as to be victims to be destroyed (though actually both ideas are
closely related since after enough successful temptations the person easily
becomes spiritually dead, whether or not still stumbling along in a body
of flesh).
Those whom he cannot turn to the evil, he will attempt to eliminate
through those in “the nations” that he wins to his side: if subversion of Christian faith is
not successful he will attempt direct assault and these verses describe
that climactic final confrontation.
[Page 238] Not
that the supporters of Satan will often be such consciously—rarely in the
pages of history do we find men and women intentionally setting out to do evil
to others as an end in itself. It is
nearly always the result of dearly held destructive principles (or the
maintenance of personal power) that permits them to blind their consciences to
the harm they inflict upon others.
Since “nations” consist of a
multitude of specific persons and Satan deceives individuals in the
nations, this could be what is being driven at:
a massive subversion of Christian consciousness. However, it is quite possible that something
far more ominous may be under consideration:
the “nations” as entities rather than individuals are his primary
target at this stage. Satan doesn’t need
anywhere near so broad a mass support to oppress Christians if he can pervert
the power-structure of the nations into an anti-Christian apparatus. He wants everyone but he can intimidate
far more than he can convince if he can successfully manipulate the levers of
power.
We saw time and again in the
twentieth century how a tightly knit, well organized dictatorship can rape an
entire nation’s economy, exterminate (either directly or through starvation) a
good part of its population, wage unrestricted war against those who refuse to
repudiate their Biblical-oriented faith, and launch naked wars of aggression
when they think they can get away with it.
They do so not because every one endorses the policy and
sometimes not even because they have a strongly majority of “public opinion” on
their side. But because they control the
ideological, political, and power structures and a cheering “religious”
movement has embraced their poisonous ideology as the supreme expression of
“true” spirituality.
[Page 239] Hence
it is quite possible that since it is the “nations” that Satan sets out to
deceive, that John is alluding to such a Satanic effort to pervert the power
structures that rule them to his own uses.
b.
Satan’s success.
The degree of Satan’s success is
indicated by three phrases that John uses to describe the anti-Christian order
mobilized by Satan.
First,
it consists of people from “the four corners of the world.” If not all the unredeemed are counted
as part of the anti-Christian mobilization, at least unsaved in huge number from
every part of the world are so included.
It should be remembered that a
person does not have to be personally anti-Christian to shrug his shoulders and
count it none of his business. Because
they are uncommitted, Satan can accomplish his task without the distraction of
their opposition. Just as in Germany
during World War Two, the exterminators were relatively few in number yet were
able to slaughter millions of Jews and Gentiles—Poles, Russians, Germans, and
others. This was made possible not just
because anti-semitism was pervasive but even more so because of the lack of any
active opposition from their countrymen.
[Page 240] In
a similar situation, the American situation in the middle of the second decade
of the 21st century is one dominated by an anti-Biblical / Christian
intellectual “elite” and hostile special interest groups who view their
conscious rejection of Biblical norms as the definitive and required standard
of belief and behavior for everyone else.
And those who had in past decades spoken up strongly against such often
seem all too cowered lest they, too, be called insults. In short a social-political situation that
makes possible a re-emergence of such repression with Bible believers as the
explicit target to be silenced, stigmatized, and—given the right situation—even
worse.
Likewise in the Apocalypse, at this
point in the text a de facto if not de jure war is being waged. Some may oppose it, others be unconcerned . .
. but none are going to step out to stop it.
Without impediment of serious opposition, the exterminators set out to
destroy the faith of Christ.
John’s terminology deserves a
moment’s more consideration. Since one
comes in contact with those who mock the Scriptures, we should remember that
“the four corners of the world” simply means the entire world, as can,
perhaps, be seen more clearly in Revelation 7:1 and Isaiah 11:12. There is no more need to see a literal
cosmology in this than there is to find such naïveté in twenty-first century
Americans who still refer to the “four corners of the earth” though they
know full well that is not its actual shape.
(The mockers should also remember
that their references to the earth being “round” is itself open to challenge
and mockery; cynics have noted that the true shape is closer to that of an egg
than a golf ball. If we can
accommodatively refer to the earth as “round,” there should be no aspersions
can on referring to the “four corners” as well.
We all know the meaning of the expression being used.)
[Page 241] A second textual indication of the vast success of
Satan is that “the number of them [the anti-Christian horde] is like the sand
of the seashore” (verse 8). This
phrase should sound familiar to the Biblically-versed reader as equivalent to
“a number so vast that there is (no practical) way to number it at all.” It is used in such a sense of the patriarch
Abraham:
“Indeed I will greatly bless you, and I
will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand
which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their
enemies.” (Genesis 22:17)
“For Thou didst say, ‘I will surely prosper
you, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
numbered for multitude.’ ” (Genesis
32:12)
The anti-Christian multitude is the
antithesis of the blessing to Abraham:
God’s people as descended—physically or spiritually—from Abraham were to
be as numerous as “the sand of the sea[shore];” the host aligned against
God’s people are now pictured by the same imagery. Again, literalness is not
intended. Genesis 32:12 brings this out
quite clearly by using the phrase and then pointing out the concept behind the
imagery, “as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.”
The prototype for this element of the
anti-Christian assault is likely found in the Battle of the Waters of Merom,
narrated in Joshua, chapter eleven:
[Page 242] Then it came about, when Jabin, king of
Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon and to the king of
Shimron and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were of the north in
the hill country, and in the Arabah—south of Chinneroth and in the lowland and
on the heights of Dor on the west—to the Canqaanite on the east and on the
west, and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Jebusite in the
hill country, and the Hivite at the foot of Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.
And they came out, and all their armies
with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore, with many
horses and chariots. So all of these
kings having agreed to meet, came and encamped together at the waters of Merom,
to fight against Israel.
Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be
afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them
slain before Israel; you shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots
with fire.”
So Joshua and all the people came upon them
suddenly by the waters of Merom, and attacked them. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of
Israel, so that they defeated them, and pursued them as far as Great Sidon and
Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Misrephoth-maim and the valley of Mizpeh to
the east; and they struck them until no survivor was left to them. And Joshua did to them as the Lord had told
him; he hamstrung their horses, and turned their chariots with fire. (Joshua 11:1-9)
[Page 243] Note
some parallels between this battle and the one described in Revelation twenty:
Revelation 20: “The
number of them is like the sand of the seashore” (verse 8).
Joshua 11: ‘As many people as the sand that is on the
seashore” (verse 4).
Revelation 20: “The
four corners of the earth” contributed to the hostile horde. (verse 8).
Joshua 11: “The kings who were of the north in
the hill country, and in the Arahab—south of the Chinneroth and in the
lowland and on the heights of Dor on the west—to the Canaanite on the east
and on the west. . . .” (verses
2-3; hence all four “corners” of the earth envolved: north, south, east, and west).
Revelation 20: “To gather
them together for the war” (verse 8).
Joshua 11: Also brought together as part of a joint war
effort: “having agreed to meet,
came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel”
(verse 5).
Revelation 20: Completely
defeated—“fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (i.e. all of
them, verse 9).
Joshua 11: Completely defeated: “they struck them until no survivor was left
to them” (verse 8).
Revelation 20: Fire
played the decisive role: “Fire came
down from heaven and devoured them” (verse 9),
Joshua 11: Fire played the decisive role to assure it
couldn’t happened again: “burned their
chariots with fire” (verse 9).
[Page 244]
The parallels are so substantial
that it would be incredible if the Battle of the Waters of Merom was not
on the author’s mind in crafting his description. Yet these parallels also illustrate
differences as well:
·
In
Joshua, the evil comes from the four corners of one geographic region,
while the other comes from the four corners of the globe.
·
The first
is fighting physical Israel while the second is fighting spiritual Israel.
·
At the
Waters of Merom, fire is used only to destroy the most dangerous of the enemy’s
weaponry (their chariots) while in Revelation it is used to destroy the army
itself.
In addition, the Lord’s earthly army (under Joshua) launched the
surprise attack that defeated the enemy (Joshua 11:7) while in the other case
the Lord Himself acts to ensure the defeat by pouring “fire . . . down from
heaven” (Revelation 20:9). Hence we can see
that while John used this battle as a prototype, he also adapted
it so far as the nuances go and by blending it together with his references to
the later danger to Israel by Gog and Magog.
[Page 245] In
the speculations of some, these verses of John are presented as literally
envisioning a gigantic army besieging a literal camp composed of all of God’s
people. Although just about anything is
imaginable in this crazy mixed up world—including God’s people eventually
becoming so disgusted that they take up arms to defend themselves against
tyranny—making that kind of point is emphatically not John’s aim.
What we have seen in the course of our study warns us to be wary of
such literalistic excesses and our suspicions are well built on the ruins of
countless such prior misinterpretations of the text. First of all, the text no more has to be
literal at this point than in its other prophetic references to the then
future: The conflict may well be
“personified” (if you will) as taking place in one location but it can
just as properly represent what is simultaneously happening to God’s people in
all places scattered throughout the world.
Secondly, our Joshua text shows the futility of taking hyperbole and
twisting it into literal fact: Of the
armies that were assembled against Israel in those ancient days of Joshua it is
said, “And they came out, they and all their armies with them, as many
people as the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses. And
chariots” (Joshua 11:4). Obviously you
did not have an army composed of millions—yea, tens of millions or even
hundreds of million on the prowl for Joshua.
Nor is there any reason to read into the terminology such vast
multitudes when they are found in the book of Revelation.
[Page 246]
A third evidence of the success of
Satan’s deception in Revelation 20 can be found if you prefer the King James
Version. In its rendering of verse 9 we
have, “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the
camp of the saints. . . .” Read one way
this would mean that they took up the entire earth, which would point to
a world-wide conflict rather than a strictly localized one.
However universal the actual battle, the “personification” seems
geographically limited and the NASB reading far more appropriate, “And then
came up on the broad plain of the earth. . . .”
That still argues against any multi-million man being under
consideration since they would obviously not fit in any one such “broad
plain” in the usually assumed location of Israel. A huge army would be required to
occupy such a region, but not that huge.
There is ambiguity in the world translated “earth” in Revelation 20:9,
permitting it to have both a local connotation or a universal one. As Ralph Earle points out, “The same Greek
word (ge) means ‘earth’ and ‘land.’ ”[1] Whether we take it in either a narrower sense
(geographic Israel) or in its broadest possibility (the entire earth), it does
not justify the millennial literalism often found in the treatment of the text.
5.
Satan’s earthly tools: “God and
Magog” (20:8).
[Page 247]
a.
They were ruler and nation—not nations.
Although the Battle of the Waters of
Merom represented a fundamental influence in the shaping of these verses’
imagery, superimposed upon that Battle is the picture of a classical enemy of
Israel. The enemy was one whose
hostility and dangerousness was so pronounced that it became the prototype for
Israel’s most lethal adversaries in much non-Biblical writing: We refer to Gog and Magog. The Biblical references to the
historical enemy are found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and it is to these two chapters
that we must go in handling Revelation 20:7-10.
Most readers of the Apocalypse text think in terms of Gog and Magog as both
being nations. Actually Gog is
the ruler over Magog. Three of
the major cities within Magog are mentioned in the Old Testament narrative
(alternatively, they might be regions within Magog or associated mini-states
under Magog’s control and direction):
And the word of the Lord came to me saying,
“Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince
[“chief prince,” ESV, God’s Word, Holman, NIV; “leader,” ISV) of Rosh, Mehech,
and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, ‘Thus says the Lord
God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince
of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.’ ” (Ezekiel
38:1-3)
[Page 248] How
Gog and Magog—of all of Israel’s many enemies through the centuries—came to be
the personification of Israel’s severest opponent is unknown. The fact that such occurred strongly argues
the massive impact the original conflict made upon Israel’s collective
psyche. If the new nation of Israel
should itself last a thousand years, will its embodiment of evil ever
cease to be the Third Reich? The trauma
Nero imposed upon early Christian consciousness is a parallel to the psychic
blow Gog and Magog inflicted upon the minds of ancient Israel.
Perhaps the choice of Gog and Magog in later literature was used, in
part, because it was safer to superimpose the terminology of this earlier foe
onto the real, current adversary rather than to run the dangers inherent in an
overt admission of who is really under discussion. It also allowed the amplification of the known
/ current evil to the level of horrendousness that was felt on the psychological
level.
(Fact and reaction are not always equivalent. One oppressor may not be substantially worse
than another, but may land up appalling the victimized far worse. For example:
After Nero there were far worse Roman persecutors of the church upon
occasion, but Nero was the first and particularly vicious on top of
that. Gog and Magog functioned in a
similar fashion for Jews.)
Of those writers genuinely thinking of a future (rather than
contemporary) foe, it conjured up the worst imaginable imagery for that yet unknown
enemy. For the World War II generation
and mine, the one coming to age immediately afterwards, Hitler and Nazi Germany
(the Third Reich) serves that function.
It was the embodiment of so many horrible evils that the mind recoils--yet
it still lost decisively and completely.
Hence they became a safe personification of the ultimate
tyrant even in lands where similar harsh tyrannies were found; better yet, they
even represented the defeat of a seemingly undefeatable evil.
[Page 249] Does
John maintain Gog and Magog as ruler and ruled? The question arises of whether John refers to
Gog and Magog in their historical sense of ruler and ruled or in the sense of
nations. Revelation 20:8 tells us that
Satan “will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of
the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for war. . . .” One could read “Gog and Magog” here as equivalent
to “the nations which are in the four corners of the earth,” but that would require
that there were only two nations in existence and it is hard to read the text
as intending such a thought.
Hence the more constructive approaches seem to be: (1)
take Gog as the embodiment of all the earthy leaders and Magog as
the embodiment of all earthly nations—all united in attempting to crush
Christianity. Or (2) take Gog and his
nation of Magog as leaders of a united movement to destroy
Christianity.
b.
What Ezekiel prophesied concerning Gog and Magog was fulfilled long
before the events prophesied by John.
Ezekiel 38 and 39 are the basis of
John’s “Gog and Magog” but Ezekiel is NOT
prophesying the same event as John.
John is referring to events at the end of [Page 250] the world.
A careful examination of the Ezekiel chapters reveals that the historic
(rather than symbolic) Gog and Magog were to be defeated at a much
earlier point in time.
The end of the earth can hardly occur after Ezekiel’s battle for after that
conflict it takes seven months to bury all the dead . . . and in the context of
earth’s end, there would be no sense in even trying to bury the dead anyway—not
to mention no one to do the burying:
“And it will come about on that day that I
shall give Gog a burial ground there in Israel, the valley of those who pass by
east of the sea, and it will block off the passers-by. So they will bury Gog there with all his
multitude, and they will call it the valley of Hamon-gog. For seven months the house of Israel
will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.
“Even all the people of the land will bury
them; and it will be to their renown on the day that I glorify Myself,”
declares the Lord God. “And they will
set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were
passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to
cleanse it. An the end of seven
months they will make a search. And
as those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man’s bone,
then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the
valley of Hamon-gog. And even the name
of the city will be Hamonah. So they
will cleanse the land.” (Ezekiel
39:11-16)
[Page 251] The
naming of a city in tribute to the victory implies that the city will be
around for an indefinite time into the future to honor that triumph. The passing of seven months seems odd if this
is preliminary to the end of the world; the naming of a city (with its
implied long term tribute to the victory) is outright incongruous in
such a setting.
If we go back a few verses we
discover that seven years after the dramatic defeat the normal course
of human affairs is still continuing:
“Then those who inhabit the cities of
Israel will go out, and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields
and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years
they will make fires of them. And
they will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, for
they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoil of those
who despoiled them, and seize the plunder of those who plundered them,”
declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 39:9-10)
If the world continuing seven years
(plus!) after this dramatic defeat makes no sense in connection with the end of
the temporal cosmos, neither does the plundering of the enemy’s spoil. The popular adage “you can’t take it with
you” applies to the end of the world just as much as to preceding generations!
In light of these basic textual
facts, we conclude that though John utilizes imagery connected with Gog
and Magog, the two prophecies refer to different events that occur at different
points in history.
[Page 252]
c.
The appropriateness of the Gog and Magog imagery.
That this imagery would be
appropriate to first century Jewish readers is implied by the very fact that it
is used. However since the early Jewish
Christians were far better versed in the details of the Old Testament than most
believers today, it is appropriate that we point to various conceptual and
verbal parallels between the texts to become better aware of them. In order to make the comparison more
comprehensive, we also include the Battle of the Waters of Merom from Joshua
11.
* Revelation
20: “The number of them is like the sand of the seashore” (verse 8).
Ezekiel 38/39: Not directly stated, but a vast army implied
by listing of various allied powers (38:5-6).
Explicit statements also indicate a huge army: “A great assembly and a mighty army” (38:15);
“His multitude” (39:11).
Joshua 11: It uses hyperbole indicating a vast
number: “As many people as the sand that
is on the seashore” (verse 4).
[Page 253] * Revelation
20: “The four corners of the earth” contribute forces to the hostile horde
(verse 8).
Ezekiel 38/39: Terminology not used but at least three of
the “corners” are implied: Persia (to
the west); Ethiopia (to the south); “Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the
north” (38:5-6).
Joshua 11: Though the expression “four corners of the
earth” is not used, it is mentioned that the aggressors came from all
four directions of the earth:
“north . . . south . . . east . . . west” (verses 2-3).
* Revelation
20: Part of a joint effort: “to gather
them together for the war” (verse 8).
Ezekiel 38/39: “Many peoples with you” (38:6). “Have been gathered from many nations”
(38:8). “Many peoples with you”
(38:15).
Joshua 11: Likewise here: “having agreed to meet, came and
encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel” (verse 5).
* Revelation
20: Completely defeated (implied by):
“Fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (verse 9).
Ezekiel 38/39: “You shall fall on the mountains of Israel,
you and all you troops” (39:4).
Joshua 11: “They struck them until no survivor
was left to them” (verse 8).
[Page 254] * Revelation
20: “Fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (verse 9).
Ezekiel 38/39: Fire was one of the Divine weapons
used to destroy the enemy forces, “On the many peoples who are with him, a
torrential rain, with hailstones, fire, and brimstone” (38:22).
Joshua
11: Fire played the key role
in the destruction not of the enemy forces but of their weaponry (thereby
reducing or eliminating the danger of any new war at least in the near
term): “Burned their chariots with fire”
(38:9)
By doing a three-way comparison such
as this one, we can see John’s reliance on both the Joshua and Ezekiel
narratives. From this double reliance we
deduce that the truth he wished to convey involved elements found in both
places.
Perhaps this is to be expected since John is narrating the final
conflict between good and evil while neither Old Testament text does such. (Conceptually, perhaps Joshua is closer: For John the battle is the prelude to the
heavenly Canaan / Paradise / Eternal Kingdom; for Joshua the Battle of the
Waters of Merom is the prelude to the successful establishment of the earthly
Canaan / Kingdom under God’s direct guidance.)
We hasten to add an important caution:
In a conservative scheme of interpretation, to identify John’s sources
does not require a human origin of the prophecy. Rather, in presenting a vision of the future to
John, God uses the imagery that would make the most sense and have the most
meaning to the prophet . . . that drawn from the pages of the Old Testament text.
[Page 255]
d.
Symbolism of “Gog and Magog” in Revelation 20.
Having discussed the origin of the
symbolism at length, we need to consider the purpose to which John puts
it. Gog and his nation Magog are
encouragers of the anti-Christian forces throughout the world, encouraging and
rallying them to initiate an oppression of the faithful. Because the uncommitted and the openly
antagonistic have always represented the majority of the world’s population,
“the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.” From the standpoint of human affairs, the
situation is hopeless; the righteous are fantastically outnumbered and have no
chance of survival.
The knowing and unknowing minions of Satan surround God’s people, the
church—pictured as “the camp” and the “beloved city”—not in any one sole
geographic location but throughout the world, the battle being localized
to make it that much more vivid and the odds against successful resistance that
much more obvious. (Anything less than a
“universal” repression would do Satan no good for it would leave unknown
numbers of the faithful in other places to lead a recouping of the losses that
have been suffered in other regions.)
By localizing the oppression, the “inescapability” of the disaster is
made pointedly obvious. Yet at that very
instant that it is inescapable, Divine “fire” wrecks the opponents of the
gospel and Divine revenge begins in eternity itself (verses 11-15).
Time and again throughout history, God’s people have escaped disaster
and even extinction against all odds.
And in the last day pictured, it happens one final—definitive . . . last
time. After this such rescues will not
be needed. For those who try to inflict
such catastrophes will then no longer exist where they are capable of repeating
their vileness.
[Page 256]
e.
The non-Biblical and modern mythology of Gog and Magog.
In non-inspired hands, apocalyptic
loses all restraint; not content with what the prophets said and reasonably
imply, it “develops” and “expands” the narrative and concepts and these take on
a life of their own. More than a century
before Christ was born, the fact that Gog was ruler of Magog had been replaced
with a considerably different scenario:
Now they were the nations of Gog and Magog—a misunderstanding perpetuated
in the ancient rabbinical writings that survives even today.
Recent centuries have continued to play fast and loose with the
Biblical presentation. In an earlier
century, Britain (among other powers) was viewed as the prophesied Magog. In the middle twentieth century, the most
common identification was with the Communist Soviet Union.
We know that Gog was “the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel
38:2). “Rosh” is creatively transformed
into Russia; Meshech is boldly presented as the original form of Moscow and
Tubal as the original form of Tobolsk.
These were “always” part of Russia, it was claimed. Lenski’s Commentary on Revelation
points out that it wasn’t until the middle of the twelfth century that there
was even a town called “Moskva” and that Tobolsk in Siberia was not even
conquered until 1639.
[Page 257] These
claims are widespread and still enthusiastically received—even though the fall
of the Soviet Union would seem to have proved it decsively wrong. On the other hand, Russia is still around and
one can easily predict a revival of it and its imperialistic intentions. Hence the “absolutely reliable
identification” will surely rise again to plague later generations.
Of course any identification with a modern country assumes that
the ancient texts had such a reference in mind.
It also assumes that the Gog and Magog are identical in Ezekiel
and in Revelation rather than John utilizing the imagery simply because it fit
his intentions so well rather than because he had the same specific nation(s)
in mind.
Resolving the original text’s reference is not required in this volume,
but there may well be those interested in what has been suggested as to
Ezekiel’s actual target. Hence we pass
on this short analysis by Wayne Jackson that I came across a year ago:[2]
The identification of this evil entity has
long been a point of controversy among Bible scholars. Clearly, though,
Ezekiel’s “Gog” represented a sinister power that came against ancient Israel,
but was defeated.
Expositors are divided as to exactly what
this force was. Vos (p. 514) identified “Gog” with “Gyges,” a Lydian king (c.
680-645 B.C.), but Harrison (p. 890) argued that other possibilities are
equally valid, e.g., “Gaga,” mentioned in the Amarna tablets, or “Gago, king of
the city-state of Sabi.’ ”
[Page 258] Professor William White thought that
“perhaps the most attractive application is to the Seleucids of the days of
Antiochus Epiphanes.” He noted that it
was not uncommon to employ an earlier
name for a later
power, as a means of avoiding political danger, should the actual name have been
mentioned. He further observed that the territory of the Seleucids was centered
in Northern Syria, and included also “Meshech and Tubal in Asia Minor” (pp. 42-43).
We will know for certain the actual identities of Revelation’s “Gog and
Magog” only when the world comes to an end.
Then and only then will we be able to reliably know who was responsible
for the final testing of Christianity.
However . . . Could John be describing the process of repeated
conflict between belief and infidelity that has gone on since his age? In other words, could the war between Gog’s
Magog and Christians be going on the entire length of the First Millennium? Just as John has localized the battle in one
place has he “historicalized”—for lack of a better term--the timing into one
single battle as well?
This is certainly not impossible.
Perhaps the biggest objection is that this period of Satan’s maximum
havoc is described as “for a short time” (Revelation 20:3); conceptually
that seems thoroughly alien to the lengthy period needed to fit the description
of “a thousand years” reign. Of course
it could mean that whenever Satan has been permitted his maximum
power it has always been “for a short time.” In other words, it has never been permitted
to become permanent or to last. And each
time he has done so, he and his goals have ultimately “crashed and burned.”
The one final, definitive battle still seems the most likely intent of
the text.
[Page 259]
6.
The word-picture of God’s people on earth during Magog’s war (20:9).
a.
“The camp of the saints.”
This and the following description
(“the beloved city”) could be read as indicating that the Christian community has been
isolated into one limited geographic area.
Yet this does not seem to be the writer’s intent: He has just finished speaking of the
millennium in which the martyrs reign and he seems to imply that the period is
one of Christian success—at least comparatively speaking. There is death, but there is also
victory.
The martyrs reign in the next world but no spiritual success happens
on earth during the same time? That
would create such an immense and fundamental inconsistency that it requires
considerable success “earth side” as well.
Either way the “localizing” of the battle makes sense if we view it as
adopted for the purpose of making more concrete and vivid what is
happening to believers throughout the world-wide church. In other words, what is happening is not
limited to the narrow confines of one nation or one area, but is being
duplicated everywhere else in the world as well.
[Page 260] Note
that it is the camp of the “saints.”
Due to the impact of medieval theology, most make “saints” a group distinguished
from Christians in general. “Saints”
become the spiritual elite, which few believers can ever aspire to be part of.
Biblically speaking, however,
saints are simply those “sanctified,” “set apart” for God’s use. In other words, scripturally speaking, “saints”
are all faithful Christians. Hence
we find Paul writing to the Corinthians that “you” (i.e., all of you)
“were washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
The second verse of the first chapter of that same epistle make even
clearer the equating of Christians and saints:
“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified
in Christ Jesus, saints by calling. . . .” The “church” was composed of those
“sanctified,” of those who were “saints.”
But that was true not just in that one community, but in other places
as well: “Sanctified in Christ Jesus,
saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.”
The idea of a “camp” can suggest the idea of a group of travelers,
wayfarers, moving through a land not their own, with no permanent dwelling
place. This is true of believers in
general: The earth is not their
real or permanent home. It represents a
mere way station on the way to eternity.
Peter says that it is because we recognize this fact that we do not
yield to the sensual temptations that surround us, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens
and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1
Peter 2:11).
[Page 261] The
writer of Hebrews stresses that when believers look upon their relationship to
the world in this way, that they have a heavenly reward prepared for them:
All these died in faith, without receiving
the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance,
and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the
earth. For those who say such things
make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that
country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to
return. But as it is, they desire a
better country, that is a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared
a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)
Although “camp” could carry
with it this idea of a traveler’s camp, the war setting of the text
would suggest that a military camp is the dominant idea. Just as the church is composed of individual
pilgrims and sojourners, likewise the church is composed of individual soldiers
and warriors—of both genders. Paul uses
the imagery of Christians as being on active duty and in spiritual combat: “Fight the good fight of faith; take
hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).
[Page 262] In
urging—demanding—this combative approach of active belligerence to sin, Paul
was requiring of others nothing more than what he demanded of himself. Looking back on many years of service to the
Lord he recalled, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will aware to me on that
day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2
Timothy 4:7-8).
If
we are in a fight—a battle—a war—it follows that we can be pictured as combat
soldiers in that conflict. In his
letter to the Ephesians, Paul uses this image while simultaneously stressing
that the conflict is a spiritual one rather than temporal one:
Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the
strength of His might. Put on the full
armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the
devil. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world
forces of this darkness, against the spiritual force of wickedness in the
heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full
armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having
done everything to stand firm.
Stand firm therefore, having girded your
loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and
having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of
faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the
evil one. And take the helmet of
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17)
[Page 263] The
militant camp of the faithful—the church—is surrounded by the
Satanically inspired horde in Revelation 20.
The Cause appears hopeless, but because God is on the side of His
people, the outcome is far different than that gleefully anticipated by the
unfaithful aggressors.
6.
“The beloved city.”
Some have suggested that “the camp
of the saints” circles the “beloved city,” as if for its
protection. But if “the camp” represents
the militant church what would be left for “the city” to represent? Unfaithful Christians? Christians who are actually spiritually
unconcerned with the approaching danger?
But if those, how could it be the “beloved city”?
Hence it seems better to take both “the camp” and the
“beloved city” as synonymous with the same spiritual reality, i.e., the
church of God as it exists on earth. If
so, perhaps if we translate our image of a city into a walled city, a fortress
city--we then have an image that blends the two ideas together. It is “the camp of the saints” not because all
the saints are in it, but because there are so many they all won’t fit into
the city. (The analogy of Jerusalem
at Passover might work well here, when a large percentage of pilgrims had
to seek accommodations outside because of their large numbers.)
[Page 264] The
city is not identified as literal Jerusalem and there is no real reason
outside millennial speculation to do so.
It is no more a literal city than it is a literal war
camp. If one wishes to call it spiritual
Jerusalem that is fine so long as one makes it equivalent to all of
God’s people, wherever they are found.
The analogy is certainly a natural one even if the current writer is
strangely hesitant to fully embrace it as belonging in the current text. (A psychological backlash to too many decades
of hearing premillennial illusions?)
Indeed, in Hebrews 12 the writer seems to speak of the true
earthly city of God as equivalent not to physical Jerusalem, but to
God’s faithful and as synonymous with the heavenly Jerusalem:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in
heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous men made
perfect. (Hebrews 12:22-23)
Cities were designed as places of
refuge and protection in the ancient world.
Likewise the church is a place of spiritual protection, where our souls
can be nourished with the word of God and strength provided for the daily
hand-to-hand combat with temptation. All
the saved are automatically added to that body (Acts 2:47). Its “walls” are the boundary lines between
salvation and damnation, redemption and condemnation. Hence within lies protection and outside
despair and loss.
[Page 265] The
church is truly the “beloved city.”
God Almighty had the creation of it in His mind from eternity; it was no
jerry-rigged last minute solution to the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish
leadership!
In order that the manifold wisdom of God
might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the
authorities in the heavenly places. This
was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in
Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians
3:10-11)
The church is the “beloved city”
because of the Divine love manifested toward it:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
For no one ever hated
his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it,
just as Christ also does the
church. (Ephesians 5:29)
A “city” truly beloved of God and
His Son—a unique place among all of humankind.
“Heavenly”—even in this life—because it is their ultimate
destination. “Heavenly”—in fact—when
the Eternal Millennium begins.
[Page 266]
7.
The defeat of the church’s earthly enemies: “Fire came down from heaven and devoured
them” (20:9).
The use of “fire” as an instrument
of Divine wrath is found in Ezekiel’s account of Gog and Magog. In the Battle of the Waters of Merom a more
limited use of fire destroyed the most dangerous tools of external aggression,
the chariots. An exact parallel is found
in neither case: even in Ezekiel the
fire is but one of several tools used against the aggressor. John converts it to the exclusive tool in
Revelation 20:9.
Fire in its literal significance destroys the life—though just the
flesh and not the inner soul. A death by
fire carries with it an element of horror as well as the implication of pain
and anguish. Metaphorically we justly
read into the imagery a similar connotation, except there it is applied
to the spirit of man that never ceases to exist. In such a case the natural implication would
be that the anguish is eternal rather than passing.
In Revelation 20 the Divine fire brings to an end the final effort to
destroy Christianity. And is a foretaste
of the “fire”-punishment the aggressors face in the next life. Paul uses a somewhat similar imagery of the
end of the world: but the fire that
comes down in his description is tied in with the appearance of the angels
who execute Divine punishment (a complementary not contradictory idea):
[Page 267] For after all it is only just for God to
repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you as well
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in
flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be
marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was
believed. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10)
Fire—retribution—destruction: Inherent elements envolved in “fire came down
from heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9). What John pictures in terms of the earth receiving,
Paul describes from the standpoint of God sending.
8.
The punishment of the Devil and his chief allies (20:10).
a.
The individuals punished: “the
devil . . . the beast and the false prophet.”
[Page 268]
The beast and the false prophet had
already been thrown into the fiery lake at the close of the preceding chapter:
And the beast was seized, and with him the
false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived
those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his
image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with
brimstone. (Revelation 19:20)
Satan now joins their number. Satan had used a perversion of true
religion—the worship of the image and the effectiveness of the false prophet—to
lead mortals astray. Satan knows that
human beings are inherently religious and that they will inevitably worship something. Through pseudo-religious worship and the
worship of substitutes for God (such as supranationalist political ideologies)
he provides for this inner need to be met in a way that avoids coming to terms
with the true God.
In Revelation 19, these tools have been removed from Satan’s arsenal;
hence in the following chapter we find Satan described as if personally
deceiving the nations. No longer is he
able to utilize the “respectable” false fronts of the Beast and the False
Prophet to hide behind. Now his own
central role is there for all to see—yet multitudes still follow him to their
doom and his—not grasping his true intents, purposes, or nature.
[Page 269] John’s
mentions that Satan joins them in the burning lake, the point stressed
being that both they and their leader, Satan, land up with the same
punishment. Though beginning at a
different point in time. He may well
have new “front men.” After all, the
forms and actions of the original Beast and False Prophet would have
minimal impact today because the culture and attitudes are so different. They would have to be different in profile
and actions in order to impress and awe a very different audience. But that would not change what hides behind
their carefully cultivated false veneer.
But whatever tools he is utilizing they pale into such insignificance
that only Satan himself is considered worth mentioning as joining the original
Beast and False Prophet in their fiery distress (verse 9). Thereby Satan is forced to join his two front
men in facing the painful consequences of rebellion against the Divine
will. During the First Millennium Satan
was merely “bound”—which carries no necessity of pain or anguish, merely
confinement and restriction; now as the Second Millennium is about to
begin he faces the full wrath of God’s wrath and “torment.”
The multitude of his earthly supporters are not described as yet being
similarly punished; at this stage it is confined to him, the False Prophet, and
the Beast. But the delay is only
momentary. The judgment of mankind,
however, is about to begin (verses 11-12) and that will put the judicial
seal of approval on the punishment they will receive, dooming them, in fact, to
the same place of punishment as their spiritual father, Satan himself (verse
15).
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b.
The nature of the punishment:
“tormented” (20:10).
Being described as a “lake of fire
and brimstone,” one would expect this to be a place of pain and
anguish. The validity of this deduction
is confirmed by the word “tormented” being used to describe what Satan
undergoes there. According to the
context (Vine, under “toil”) it “denotes to torture, torment, distress.” Pain, discomfort, anguish—such is the fate of
the one who inflicted it upon so many others!
c.
The duration of the punishment:
“forever and ever
Another way of saying eternally. Satan had persevered throughout humanity’s
history as the archenemy of both mankind and right-ness in all its forms. Now Divine retribution comes down not merely
upon his minions, but upon him personally. He had never ceased his opposition to Jehovah
in recorded history. Now he will
be punished without ceasing throughout all future eternal history.
[1] Ralph Earle. Beacon
Bible Commentary; volume ten, Hebrews Through Revelation. Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1967. Page 612.