The thousand years
1 Then an angel came down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the Abyss and a huge chain.
2 He seized the monster, the ancient serpent, name ly Satan or the devil, and chained him for a thousand years.
3 He threw him into the abyss and closed its gate with the key, then secured it with locks, that he might not deceive the nations in the future until the thousand years have passed. Then he will be re leased for a little while.
4 There were thrones and seated on them were those with the power to judge. I then saw the spirits of those who had been beheaded for having held the teachings of Jesus and on account of the word of God. I saw all those who had refused to worship the beast or its image, or receive its mark on the forehead or on the hand. They returned to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection.
5 The rest of the dead will not return to life before the end of the thousand years.
6 Happy and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection, for the second death has no power over them; they will be priests of God and of his Messiah and reign with him a thousand years.
7 At the end of these thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison;
8 then he will set out to deceive the nations of the four cor ners of the world, namely Gog and Magog, and gather them for war. What an army, so numerous like the sand of the seashore!
9 They invaded the land and surrounded the camp of the holy ones, the most beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
10 Then the devil, the seducer, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false pro phet already were. Their torment will last day and night for ever and ever.
The last judgment
11 After that I saw a great and splendid throne and the one seated upon it. At once heaven and earth disappeared, leaving no trace.
12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne while books were opened. Another book, the Book of Life, was also opened. Then the dead were judged ac cord ing to the records of these books, that is, each one according to his works.
13 The sea gave up the dead it had kept, as did death and the netherworld, so that all might be judged according to their works.
14 Then death and the netherworld were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death.
15 All who were not recorded in the Book of Life were thrown into the lake of fire.
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Comments Revelation, Chapter 20
• 20.1 This text is still used for many contradictory and confusing com men t aries. Some think of an earthly paradise of a thousand years before heaven. This, however, would be going against all the clear teaching of the New Testament, affirming there is no intermediary period between this life and eternal life.
This vision may be another way of presenting our history, by stressing its positive aspects and successful evangelization. These thousand years stand for the time during which the Church, liberated from Jewish and Roman persecutions, evangelizes the world.
The growth of the Church marks the weakening of the devil’s power: he is chained. A wave of thought and Christian action will renew the world. Let us think of the struggle against various forms of slavery, the restoration of manual work, a new appreciation of the dignity of women and of marriage, and respect for the human person and children.
I then saw the spirits of those who had been beheaded (v. 4). They are already sharing in the life and happiness of Christ, and in some way they share in his reign over history and, along with him, they are present in the life of the earthly Church. Let us think of the growing influence that people who committed themselves to a sacred and noble cause, have after their death.
At the end of these thousand years (v. 7). We do not know how long the world will last, nor how many cultures and empires will confront the Church. Yet John tells us about a last crisis during which the Church will seem submerged by the forces of evil (see 2 Thes 2:3). There is no description of what will happen: enough has already been said about the struggle of the Church against the agents of the devil for us to be able to imagine what it could be.
Fire came down from heaven (v. 9). This final offensive will be overcome just like the first one. Here the battle is described with images borrowed from Ezekiel, chapter 38.
• 11. Heaven and earth dis ap peared (v. 11). At the end of the world, we have the final judgment.
The books were opened (v. 12). Using images from the book of Daniel (7:10), John shows people being judged individually according to their actions. Everything is written in the book: what people did, said and thought.
Death and the netherworld were thrown (v. 14): this is a way of saying that Christ’s final victory consists in destroying death, which rules over the world as a consequence of sin (see 1 Cor 15:26).
The previous chapters spoke repeatedly of God’s judgment, against Jerusalem, or against the Roman power, or against the nations replacing it. Thus, the Apocalypse does not really stress the final judgment of the world that only recapitulates what has been said before. It prefers to describe the New Jeru salem coming from God: this is what we have in the last two visions that follow.