Revelation 20

Revelation 20
←  chapter 19 chapter 21  →
Revelation 13:16-14:4 on Papyrus 47 from the third century.
Book	Book of Revelation
Category	Apocalypse
Christian Bible part	New Testament
Order in the Christian part	27

Revelation 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, ^{[1] [2]} but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate. ^[3] This chapter contains the notable account of the "Millennium" and the judgment of the dead. ^[4]

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 15 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are among others: ^{[5] [a]}

• Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330-360)
• Codex Alexandrinus (400-440)

Old Testament references

• Revelation 20:8: Ezekiel 38:2; Ezekiel 39:1 ^[7]

New Testament references

• Revelation 20:12: Revelation 3:5 ^[7]

The Millennium (20:1–10)

This passage is the basis for various tradition of Christian 'millenarianism'. ^[8]

Verse 1

I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. ^[9]

Jesus Christ says in the writer's vision at Revelation 1:18, "I hold the keys of Hades and of Death", leading some interpreters to suggest that the angel observed here is actually Christ. The 17th-century theologian John Gill refers to a suggestion that the prophesied angel was fulfilled in Constantine the Great (272–337 AD). ^[10] The Ethiopic version reads "the key of the sun". ^[10]

Verse 2

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; ^[11]

• "The dragon" is the 'ultimate principle of evil', which appeared before the narrative of the two beasts (chapter 12–13), and continues after both of them have perished. ^[8]

Verse 3

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. ^[12]

• "Cast him into the bottomless pit": In chapter 12 the dragon was 'thrown from heaven to earth, where he deceived the nations' and now is thrown into the imprisonment in the abyss (cf. Revelation 9:1), prevented to deceive the nations for a long time (cf. Psalm 90:4 for the significance of 'a thousand year'). ^[13]

Verse 4

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. ^[14]

It is not explicit or clear who was seated on the thrones. "The natural construction is that 'judges' sat on them. ^[15] The New International Version presents the text as:

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge ... ^[16]

American theologian Albert Barnes notes the "considerable resemblance, in many respects, between this [wording] and the statement in Daniel 7:9":

As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

Daniel's vision continues:

The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom ^[17]

and so the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges argues that those seated on the thrones are these saints of the Most High. ^[18]

Verse 5

But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. ^[19]

• "Lived … again": from Greek: ἀνἔζησαν, anezēsan (TR) ^[20] or ἔζησαν, ezēsan (Greek Orthodox Church NT), ^[21] in the sense of "not only when restored to life, but when in the act of reviving" (cf. Revelation 2:8). ^[22]

Verse 6

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. ^[23]

• "Of God and of Christ": This provides a strong proof for "the doctrine of Christ's coequal Deity" with God (= "The Father"). ^[18]

Verse 10

Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ^[24]

The Judgement of the Dead (20:11-15)

Verse 12

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. ^[25]

The reference to "judgment based on works" (Biblical Greek : κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν, romanized: kata ta erga auton) is repeated in verse 13. The phrase is Biblical Greek : κατά ὁ ἔργον αὐτός, romanized: kata ho ergon autos ("according to his work") in Tischendorf's critical edition. Biblical commentator Andrew Robert Fausset stresses that "we are justified by faith, judged according to (not by) our works". ^[26]

Verse 14

And Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ^[27]

Verse 15

And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. ^[28]

The "lake of fire" is referred to in Revelation 19:20, in verses 10 and 14-15 in this chapter and in Revelation 21:8.

See also

• Book of Life
• Dudael
• Jesus Christ
• John's vision of the Son of Man
• Lake of Fire
• Millennialism
• Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament
• That Evening Sun
• Related Bible parts: Revelation 4, Revelation 7, Revelation 13, Revelation 18, Revelation 19, Revelation 21

Notes

1. The Book of Revelation is missing from Codex Vaticanus ^[6] and this chapter is missing from Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus.

References

1. Davids, Peter H (1982). I Howard Marshall and W Ward Gasque (ed.). New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle of James (Repr. ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN   0-8028-2388-2.
2. Evans, Craig A (2005). Craig A Evans (ed.). Bible Knowledge Background Commentary: John, Hebrews-Revelation. Colorado Springs, Colo.: Victor. ISBN   0-7814-4228-1.
3. F. L. Cross, The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 45
4. Bauckham 2007, p. 1289.
5. Elliott, J. K. "Revelations from the apparatus criticus of the Book of Revelation: How Textual Criticism Can Help Historians." Union Seminary Quarterly Review 63, no. 3-4 (2012): 1-23.
6. Claremont Coptic Encyclopaedia, Codex Vaticanus, accessed 29 September 2018
7. "Biblical concordances of Revelation 20 in the 1611 King James Bible".
8. Bauckham 2007, p. 1302.
9. Revelation 20:1 NKJV
10. Gill, J., Gill's Exposition of the NT on Revelation 20, accessed 13 December 2018
11. Revelation 20:2 NKJV
12. Revelation 20:3 NKJV
13. Bauckham 2007, pp. 1302–3.
14. Revelation 20:4 NKJV
15. Barnes, A., Barnes' Notes on Revelation 20, accessed 14 December 2018
16. Revelation 20:4 NIV
17. Daniel 7:22 ESV
18. Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Revelation 20, accessed 14 December 2018
19. Revelation 20:5 KJV
20. Revelation 20:5. Blue Letter Bible. Accessed November 22, 2019
21. Greek Text Analysis: Revelation 20:5. Biblehub
22. Jamieson, Robert; Fausset, Andrew Robert; Brown, David. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary On the Whole Bible . "Revelation 20". 1871.
23. Revelation 20:6 NKJV
24. Revelation 20:10 NLT
25. Revelation 20:12 NKJV
26. Fausset, A. R., in Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Biblical Commentary on Revelation 20, accessed 15 December 2018
27. Revelation 20:14 NCV
28. Revelation 20:15 NKJV

Sources

• Bauckham, Richard (2007). "81. Revelation". In Barton, John; Muddiman, John (eds.). The Oxford Bible Commentary (first (paperback) ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 1287–1306. ISBN   978-0-19-927718-6 . Retrieved February 6, 2019.

External links

• Revelation 20 King James Bible - Wikisource
• English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate Archived 2019-06-17 at the Wayback Machine
• Online Bible at GospelHall.org (ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
• Multiple bible versions at Bible Gateway (NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)