“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.” (vv.1-2).
Wow! So much in this chapter: 1) Satan bound for 1000 years, and cast into the bottomless pit. The first resurrection (Going back to the time of Adam and Abel, those righteous of the Old Testament who waited for the promos of God, to those martyred saints during the Great Tribulation), 2) The millennial reign of Christ, 3) Satan released for a time to test those who have never been tested (those born during during the thousand-year reign of Christ who have never really had an opportunity to express their rebellion against God), 4) Satan deceiving many and gathering them together to battle against God (the number of whom is as the sand of the sea), and finally 5) the satanic rebellion crushed by fire from heaven, and satan cast into the lake of fire [Gehenna] where the beast and the false prophet are, tormented there day and night forever and ever.
The chapter then ends with God’s great white throne judgment of all the dead (second resurrection) for their evil deeds. And death, hell, and anyone not found written in the “Book of Life” is cast into the lake of fire. But this is not the end of His story, for John writes in Chapter 21, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (v.1), which we will look at tomorrow.The Truth: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne even as I have sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)
