(Chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation covers the first days of the Millennium, when Jesus Christ comes to earth to establish His kingdom. This chapter runs close to the prophecies of Ezekiel in the last eight (8) chapters of the book of Ezekiel. "Millennium" means "1,000 years", and this period is basically a 1,000 years of teaching and learning.
Jesus Christ will be with us here on earth in His kingdom then. There will be teaching and discipline, and many people saved in this Millennium period. Most of the people saved today will not be reigning with Christ in the Millennium, because they will throw their inheritance away very soon, when they choose to go whoring after the Antichrist. These people are the ones who believe in the rapture theory. They will chase after the first messiah that appears on earth, and not be part of the wedding between Christ and His bride, the church at the sounding of the seventh trump.
Those who fall into the trap of the rapture theory doctrine can repent and be saved in the Millennium age, when their sins of following the Antichrist are committed in ignorance. You could even look at the Millennium kingdom as the "time of salvation", for many will accept and follow Christ in the Millennium. However the period of grace is for this age of the flesh only, for in the Millennium age salvation will be by their works only, as we will see in this chapter. Because of the great apostasy there will be more saved out of the Millennium, than during any other period of time.)
Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
(When Satan has completed his five month reign here on earth, the battles of Armageddon and Hamongog have already taken place. Jesus Christ is returning with His army to earth here, and this army is those saints that are already with Him. Those saints that died and went to be with Him as recorded in Ecclesiastes 12:7, for though their bodies were laid in the ground, their souls return instantly to the Father, and not though a rapture.
On that first day of the Millennium age, both the beast and the false prophet are destroyed. The beast is in two parts, the one world political system that gives way to Satan's one world religious system. These systems of support will not be brought back to support Satan at the end of the millennium. [See Revelation 19:20 where both of these are destroyed.]
I believe this angel to be Michael, for it's Michael and his angels that control Satan. This chain that Michael will have is a locking, sealing and confining device. Satan will be locked away, and his influence will be totally absent during this time of teaching.
This is why every knee, even the Kenites, will bow to Christ. Satan, their father, will be in the pit and can not influence their thinking.)
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
("The dragon" was Satan's title in the world that was, and just as his title of "the Antichrist", or "instead of Christ" during the last five months of this earth age of the flesh. Dragon is the title he wears as he rules over the ten kings and seven regions or continents. [see Revelation 12 and 13]
The "serpent" was his roll in the Garden of Eden when he "wholly seduced" Eve, and she bore his offspring Cain, the father of the Kenites. The "Devil" was his title given in Matthew 13:39 as Jesus identified the enemy as the "Devil". Satan will have no influence in this time of teaching.
In Isaiah 14:12-16, Satan is given another name of "Lucifer", which means "morning star" or "bright star". It tells us that people will walk by the pit and see Satan bound and say, "Is this the man that deceived the world?" And they will wonder how they could have been so deceived through this earth age into believing Satan to be the true Messiah. They were led by Margaret MacDonald's "rapture theory", which gave them a false hope, and their lack of knowledge of God's full plan led them into believing Satan to be the Jesus Christ.)
3 And he 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.
(Because during the millennium the people who didn't overcome are taught, then Satan is released and they are tested for the final time. Satan is literal; the angel who binds is literal; the abyss into which he is cast is literal; and the chain, whatever it may be composed of, is literal to.)
4 And I saw thrones and they that sat upon them,
(I.e. the Father and Christ [3:21], and the heavenly beings associated with them as ancestors [1:4; and cp. Matt. 25:31. 1 Tim. 5:21.])
and judgment was given unto them.
(I.e. not judging or ruling authority, but sentence, or pronouncement, or reward in their favor, i.e. those who had been beheaded, John, James, Peter &c.)
And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads
(Where your brain is.)
or on their hands;
(Fig., = did not partake in Satan's work.)
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
(This is you, the elect [IF you have eyes to see and ears to hear], these partake in the first resurrection. They have control with Christ during the millennium. Will you be a part of this?)
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
(These are spiritually dead not physically dead. They cannot live again until Satan is released. See v. 3. See also 1 Cor. 15:50-58. So we see our physical bodies are gone at the seventh trump, and the mortal (soul) must put on immortality. That soul becomes your existence in the Millennium age. When the time of judgment comes at the end of the Millennium, you will enter eternity with Christ, or you will cease to exist -- you will be destroyed. At that time even the memory of your existence will be eliminated. This is serious business, my friend, and you know it.
If you enter the Millennium with a mortal (liable to die) soul, by following the Antichrist in ignorance, you must be an overcomer in the Millennium, or your soul will not put on immortality, and it will die.)
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death
(= death of the soul.)
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
(See Ezek. 44:23-25.)
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
(When everyone has been taught that are in their mortal (liable to die) soul bodies, then Satan will be loosed. Those teachings were given under perfect conditions, and all will have bodies with no ailments, perfect thought, and no temptations by Satan. In fact, all will even know he was the deceiver of this earth age. Their understanding will be perfect.
Then Satan is released.
God is a God of love, and His love is shown by his great patience and understanding of the shortcomings of mankind. There will be no one who goes to hell, and is burned by ignorance. If someone follows Satan then, they deserve hell fire, and there will be many that will still follow Satan even with the full knowledge of the truth in their minds.)
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations to the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
(So you see a great many people were and are deceived by Satan. "Gog and Magog" means from "the east to the west". And we see Satan will cover the earth again for the deception of all mankind. Can you believe that, friend, Satan will still have his followers and hoards of unbelievers ready to give battle for him. After 1,000 years of teaching, the tribulation of the seven trumpets, and visually seeing Satan as the fallen one (deceived of the earth) in prison, they still follow him in large numbers.
Think of the great seductive powers Satan has to use against you, when you tend to let your guard down, and disrobe from the armor of God. That armor must be continually in place and cover all your parts that Satan will attack, which Paul tells us to have on and in place in Ephesians 6:10-20)
9 And they went out over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city.
(I.e. Jerusalem.)
And fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
(See Heb. 12:29.)
10 And the devil who had deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
(See Ezek. 28:18,19. They will no longer exist.)
11 And I saw a great white throne
(That one in 4:2-6 was seen by John in heaven; this one is on the earth. White indicating holiness and righteousness. No adjuncts mentioned. Only one Throne and one Judge.)
and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.
(I.e. end of the 2nd heaven and earth age. Full God-head comes down to earth on last day of the Millennium.)
12 And I saw the dead,
(I.e. spiritually dead, not physically.)
small and great, standing 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.
(I.e. evil works not repented of. Notice there are two sets of books here. The first called "The Books" is to judge the unsaved. The second is the "Book of Life" where only the names of the saved are recorded. The saved have had their sins removed from God's judgment and booted out. Though they were committed, the blood of Christ has covered them from being used against us.
Notice how all souls are judged "according to their works". Does it talk about faith here after the Millennium? No. The "great white throne judgment" will not take faith into consideration. The first resurrection takes faith into consideration. That was back on "the Lord's day". That was Jesus Christ's "great day". On the last day of the Millennium age souls are judged by works only.
Why are you judged for works only? Faith is something hoped for but unseen. You don't see Jesus Christ on earth today, you will see his wonderful works, and be led by Him and His Spirit in the Millennium age. Today He is in heaven and not walking on this earth. However, in the millennium, He will be on earth, and all will have full intelligence, with full recall and will be taught. The Heavenly Father honors all those with grace, that have accepted His Son by faith through repentance without Christ's physical presence here on earth, if you believed in His Word.
To those who are not under grace in the Millennium, their salvation will be only through and by their works. For faith doesn't exist to them. There will be no ignorance, physical handicap, for you will see, know, and experience Our Lord first hand.
If you follow the Antichrist, the first Christ to appear, you will have forfeited your salvation in this earth age. You will not be under the grace of God, and your works will be the only thing that matters on the last day of the Millennium, the day of judgment. They will be judged by works alone, for they have seen Jesus Christ, and are without excuse. The "rapture theory" leaves believers defenseless against Satan, for they will be taken in by Satan's deceptions.)
13 And the sea
(= peoples, see 17:15.)
gave up the dead
(Spiritually dead.)
which were in it; and death
(= Satan.)
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.
(There it is again! "According to their works."
Don't be frightened by this! For we are now under grace, and the Antichrist has not yet arrived. You are going to face the truth now, or be judged by your works from the thousand year Millennium age. Eternity is a long time, so much so that our minds simply cannot comprehend it.
To refuse Christ at the end of the Millennium age will commit you to destruction.)
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
(It is important that we understand the chronological order of the events that will occur, and the physical and spiritual bodies that we will be in during each of these times. The very condition, and life of your soul relies on your understanding of these events. For by not understanding them, and chasing after man's traditions, assures that you will follow the Antichrist and think he is the true Christ. This is a must before we can understand the Millennium age.
It's time you learn about it, for you will be in it very shortly.)