The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Revelation 20 and the Prisoner

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 20
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Prisoner

Vic Batista: We are continuing our study of Revelation in this series about the mighty angels of Revelation. Revelation 20 is such an exciting chapter! There’s a lot to look forward to as a believer in Christ in this chapter.

Nathan Jones: Zechariah 8:23 reveals that during Christ’s Kingdom, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”‘”

This verse in Zechariah is about the Millennial Kingdom — a time period Revelation 20 explains is when Jesus will be ruling and reigning right on this earth. All the nations will start out as believers in Jesus Christ. The Jewish people living during that time will be a priestly nation. As an illustration, Zechariah tells us that ten men represented from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew and say, “Hey! Take us with you. We want to see Jesus Christ.” The world will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.

Vic Batista: Super exciting! Let’s recap what we’ve covered so far in Revelation 20:1-3.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

Nathan Jones: We have been introduced to two angels. One is what I’m calling the Jailer Angel. He comes from Heaven holding the key to the Abyss. The great Bottomless Pit serves as a holding place for many from the demonic world right how. The Jailer Angel also holds a great chain in his hand.

Jesus has just returned from defeating the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and now He is going to have Satan dropped into the Bottomless Pit. Before doing so, the Jailer Angel binds Satan, wrapping him tight in a burdensome chain. Satan is then chucked into the Pit. Satan falls continually for a thousand years, and while incarcerated, can no longer deceive the nations. For a thousand years those people who have survived the Tribulation and have accepted Jesus as Savior will live on into the Millennial Kingdom where there’s no satanic deception.

These surviving Tribulation Saints will have children and repopulate the planet. Earth will be like a paradise, a utopia again like the Garden of Eden.

Those who have been given resurrected bodies, that’s those who were resurrected into our eternal glorified bodies at the Rapture, and including those Tribulation Saints who didn’t accept the Mark of the Beast during the Tribulation and where martyred but then resurrected at the end of the Tribulation, we all get to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. The Jewish survivors of the Tribulation serve as a priestly people for Jesus throughout that thousand year time period.

Revelation 20:4-6 describe the reigning positions of the Saints:

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Vic Batista: The six references in Revelation 20 to a thousand years, that’s literal years. In 2 Peter the Apostle says that for God one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. Peter uses “like” as a comparison, but here in chapter 20 there is no “like” or “as.” We are told flatly “thousand,” so they are literal references to a thousand year reign of Christ physically on the earth.

In the sixty-seventh segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” we will puzzle as to why those living in a utopian society would want to rebel against its founder.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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