Revelation 20: 1-6

1119 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Book of revelation in the old testament

Reading the text in Revelation should be read differently than the other books in the Bible. It should be taken literally. The other books in the Bible sets the storyline on events that already happened. Revelation’s event is in the future. The text that was chosen at the beginning of the semester was Revelation 20: 1-6. Let’s start with Revelation 20: 1-3, “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he …show more content…

It reads “4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” Releasing the devil does seem very odd to do but looking at the little parts is the best way to understand the whole picture. From my understanding, anyone that refuses the mark of the beast living and after death will reign with God for a thousand years. After reading this text so many times I still don’t understand if it should be taken literally. To go into it further, the mark of the beast is “666”. That is a very demonic sign. Now for God’s followers that didn’t receive the mark of the beast, will they literally reign with God for a thousand years? And if they do what will happen after the thousand years? Verse 5 and 6 makes it more confusing when it writes about the first resurrection and the second resurrection or …show more content…

According to The Word of Righteousness, there are two resurrections. God is going to raise all of the dead but not everyone will not have the same afterlife. During the first part of the resurrection the blessed and righteousness are raised from the dead. They will reign with God in His kingdom for one thousand years. After the end of the thousand years the wicked are raised from the dead. During this time the devil is released for seven years, otherwise known as the Seven Year Tribulation, and God will cast the devil and the rest of the wicked people into the lake of fire. God will destroy them

Show More
Related

  • Summary of the Preterist View

    2133 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kenneth Gentry begins with a quote, “The closer we get to the year 2000, the farther we get from the events of Revelation.” This sentence summarizes the Preterist view nicely. The Preterist places weight on the historical aspect of Revelation by relating it to its original author and audience. The author was mainly concerned with the seven churches of Asia Minor who were facing difficulties during that time. John’s target audience was neither churches nor the 21st century. As most evangelical scholars would affirm, Revelation contains prophecies which were fulfilled in John’s near future. Their manifestation might not have been as graphic or literal as one might imagine, because John uses “poetic hyperbole,” yet these events were actually fulfilled in history. He argues that the use of highly figurative speech and symbolism is “not a denial of historicity but a matter of literary genre.” These were events that were to take place soon because the time was near. Then Gentry uses study of Greek language to support this. He argues that lexicons and modern translators agree that these terms indicate temporal proximity indicating that they expected to see the events in their lifetime. As much as a word study can be helpful, it can also be limiting. One certainly cannot base interpretation of the whole book on a loosely used term. Similarly, while the Apostle Paul spoke to the Thessalonians with urgency in plain language, we know that the Second Advent is yet to happen.

    Read More

  • Antichrist In The Old Testament

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both in the Old and New Testament, the Antichrist is described as this wicked individual who appears at the end of the age. Rising up politically to become the most powerful man on the planet, he will be regarded a Hero — the world’s Savior. Out of a power block of ten nations (or territories) rooted in the old Roman empire, he will establish some type of world government. Under his authority, Babylon (Iraq) will be rebuilt into the commercial center of the world. Through his mystical right hand man, a commercial mark will be instituted, enabling the Antichrist to control all buying and selling on earth. Peace between Israel and her surrounding Arab nations will be established when he institutes a seven-year treaty allowing the Jews to rebuild their holy temple; a temple he will later defile when he stands in its midst and proclaims himself — god. Satan himself will possess him. An anthropomorphic image, called the Beast will be created — through great signs and wonders — that all will be commanded to worship. Towards the end of his reign, he will bring the armies of the world together in Israel for the great battle known as Armageddon. The globe will experience what is called the Great Tribulation leading up to this time involving terrible cosmic and supernatural judgment. This seven-year tribulation starts when

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Prophecy Jesus In Mark 13: 30

    2211 Words  | 5 Pages

    The first interpretation of Mk. 13:30 is know as the preterist view. According to the Revelation: Bible Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition, “the word “preterist” is Latin and means “pre (before) in fulfillment.” It is expressing time fulfilled. Preterits believe that most or all of Bible prophecy has already been fulfilled in Christ and the ongoing expansion of His kingdom. They hang this belief of past-fulfillment on different verses, including the witness that Jesus and His apostles said that His coming (or presence) and the end of all things would occur soon (in that generation).” This view-point believes that, “all of Jesus’ predictions in the Olivet Discourse were fulfilled at the time of Jerusalem’s desolation and the temple’s destruction in A.D. 70.” The events Jesus predicted, according to a preterist viewpoint, took place during the lifetime of Jesus’ contemporaries or “this generation” as referred to in Mk. 13:30. “The central thesis...of all preterists...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jesus Physically Rise From The Dead

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    The New King James Bible explains, "And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all ... For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man ... If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body" (Acts 4:33 and 1 Corinthians 15:21 and 44). Paul explains that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected. Since Jesus was physically buried, then Jesus ' resurrection would represent Him physically rising from the dead. Moreover, Paul explains that we will be resurrected like Jesus because God created humanity. Humanity cannot be physically resurrected because the human body is perishable. However, the spiritual body is imperishable and will live for eternity. Therefore, our physical bodies will be resurrected into an imperishable spirit. The significance of the passage is to demonstrate the historical event that Jesus ' disciples taught the physical resurrection of Jesus and also humanity will be

    Read More

  • Satan in Paradaise Lost and Dante's Inferno

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    This sources provides a well of content and most importantly a look at Satan. This in-depth look lends a great hand in the sorting of details. The timeline given will be a great help.

    Read More

  • Revelation

    981 Words  | 2 Pages

    I had multiple preconceptions about this article and the book of Revelation. Before reading the book I just thought of it as strictly apocalyptic. In church that...

    Read More

  • Amillennialism

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unlike other views that believe the second coming will be in two phases, amillennialists feel it will occur in one stage; within the time between the first and second coming (459). They fuse the two resurrections spoken in Revelation 20:1-6 into one stage. In this one stage, a general resurrection will occur in which all believers and unbelievers will be gathered. They understand that Satan will be bound during the in-between time and at the second advent he will be released for a short time to cause havoc (458). Christ will return after the heavenly millennium reign and all believers and transformed believers will be taken up to the clouds to be with Him.

    Read More

  • The Book of Revelation

    2597 Words  | 6 Pages

    Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Beale, G.K. The Book of Revelation. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999.

    Read More

  • Death in Different Religions

    1654 Words  | 4 Pages

    All are tormented and tortured, in isolation from God, without any hope of mercy or relief (Robinson). Many Christians believe that when a person dies, they enter into complete oblivion – a state of non-existence. They remain in dormancy. At the time of the second coming of Jesus, the dead are resurrected and judged. Those who have been saved while on earth will be given special bodies and go to Heaven, unlike the unsaved who will go to Hell for eternal punishment (Robinson).

    Read More

  • Personal Philosophy of a Christian Ministry

    1841 Words  | 4 Pages

    And the End Time: First the events of the final judgment should not be called the “End Times” it is the End Time. The End happens once, if I say End Times I sound like a Hindu who believes in an endless cycle of recreation and judgment.

    Read More

  • Revelation

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literalist fundamentalists read Revelation’s multivalent visions as predictions of doom and threat, of punishment for the many and salvation for the elect few. Scholarly scientific readings seek to translate the book’s ambiguity into one-to-one meanings and to transpose its language of symbol and myth into description and facts. In Elisabeth Schûssler Fiorenza’s The Book of Revelation: Justice and Judgment, a third way of reading Revelation is depicted. The collection of essays in this book seeks to intervene in scholarly as well as popular discourses on the apocalypse from a liberationist feminist perspective.

    Read More

  • The Nature of the Millennium: Revelation 20:1-6

    2500 Words  | 5 Pages

    The term millennium does not appear anywhere in Scripture. The idea originated from a thousand year period of time that characterizes the reign of the Messiah. In fact, the phrase “thousand years” is stated six times in Revelation 20. There are three main schools of thought based upon one’s view of the thousand-year reign of Christ. These views are: Amillennial, Postmillennial and Premillennial. Over the centuries these prophetic differences have caused conflict within the body of Christ and are still currently widely debated. Instead of the book of Revelation being the basis of comfort (1 Thess. 4:18) among Christians it has become a bone of contention. However, this controversy should not deter Christ’s disciples from receiving the blessings that Revelation has to offer (Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). Rather, one should study prophecy under the Spirit’s guidance and look at the data provided within the full context of the Word assessing each of the views for correct motives and presuppositions. Therefore, this paper will examine the nature, timing, and duration of the millennium as well as the occupants of the millennial kingdom and the relationship of Israel and the Church to the millennial kingdom. The aim of this paper is to address “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1, ESV).

    Read More

  • Revelation: Jewish Apocalyptic Literature

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Revelation identifies itself as “both an “apocalypse”…and as prophecy”, making it distinctly different from the rest of the New Testament. “Jewish apocalyptic literature flourished in the centuries following the completion of the OT canon”, and it is scattered throughout the Old Testaments in books such as Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. Apocalyptic literature is full of “visions that dramatize the prophet’s admission to God’s heavenly council”, and convey their meaning primarily through symbolism. John brings a “balanced message of comfort, warning, and rebuke” in Revelation, testifying to the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Apart from the OT literature, Revelation shows a distinct optimism toward the end of days, for “Christ’s death has already won the decisive victory over evil”, with the Kingdom of God already among believers. This book was written in “approximately A.D. 95 on the island of Patmos”, which is still standing to this day. It was written under the emperor Domitian, with Roman authorities exiling John “to the island of Patmos (off the coast of Asia)”. The events in Revelation are also “ordered

    Read More

  • Satan As A Tragic Anti-Hero In Milton's Paradise Lost

    1641 Words  | 4 Pages

    We see Satan’s fall from the very beginning of the book, “by Satan himself on his own showing he suffered from a sense of injur 'd merit" (Book 1, 98). Satan falls to earth being that he got exiled from heaven. Satan builds an army with the fallen angels that caused the up rise with him in heaven. He escapes ridicule only by being more mischievous as

    Read More

  • Reflection About Angels And Demons

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceived the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9, KJV). In the Old Testament it teaches that demons are enemies of God and they have no powers. Jesus has disarmed them and they have no authority. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he that is in you, than he that is of the world” (1 Peter 4:4). (words 118)

    Read More

More about Revelation 20: 1-6

Open Document