1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
“It is logical that having judged the beast and the false prophet ( Rev. 19:20) Jesus Christ should next deal with Satan.” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable) The dragon of old "is bound, and made a close prisoner for a thousand years, after the destruction of the Roman papal kingdom and dominion. This angel is Christ” (Knollys) Here He is "said to come down from heaven, and with a great chain in His hand, denoting His omnipotent power and sovereignty over Satan...” (William Burkitt)
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 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.
He bound satan for a thousand years during which He ruled on the earthly throne of His father David, as predicted by the prophets. Christ by His power is said in may expressions to““restrain him and render him incapable of doing such mischief to the world as he had done before.” (William Burkitt) "The binding of Satan is real, though the chain must be figurative since it is impossible to bind spirit beings with physical chains (cf. Rev. 9:14).” (Dr. Thomas B. Constable) With the living wicked taken in death and the saints, living and dead, taken by Messiah and changed to immortal beings there is no-one to deceive for this period of time. "But after these things he must be released for a little while" by a second resurrection.
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 an thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Before this- at the Second Coming, there is a first resurrection of two classes of the saints, inclusive of all saints:“First, there are those who have been martyred for their loyalty to Christ. The word used for the way in which they were killed means to behead with an axe, and denotes the most cruel death. Second, there are those who have not worshipped the beast and have not received his mark on their hand or on their forehead. H. B. Swete identifies these, as those who, although they were not actually martyred, willingly bore suffering, reproach, imprisonment, loss of goods, disruption of their homes and personal relationships for the sake of Christ.
In the ancient Church in the days of persecution two terms were used. Martyrs were those who actually died for their faith; confessors were those who suffered everything short of death for their loyalty to Christ. Both he who dies for Christ and he who lives for Christ will receive his reward.
Those who have been loyal to Christ are to receive the privilege of judgment. This is an idea which occurs more than once in the New Testament. Jesus is represented as saying that, when he returns to sit on the throne of his glory, his twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). Paul reminds the litigious Corinthians that the destiny of the saints is to judge the world (1 Corinthians 6:2). Again we do not need to take this literally. The idea symbolized is that the world to come will redress the balance of this one. In this world the Christian may be a man under the judgment of men; in the world to come the parts will be reversed and those who thought they were the judges will be the judged.” (William Barclay)
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.
These saints died once for Him (physical or literal death and/or spiritually) and therefore the second death will have no power over them. These did not “fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) These will reign with Christ for the millennial kingdom.
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
In Revelation 19, we were left a destroyed earth in our view. The abyss is a destroyed earth with no one to deceive. At the end of the thousand years— at the second, general resurrection, the devil is to be loosed, again having people to deceive, beginning where he has left off, asembling the nations for the final attack on God and His people. "A final attack on Jerusalem by the hostile nations is one of the standard pictures of the last times in Jewish thought. We find it especially in Daniel 11:1-45 and in Zechariah 14:1-11. The Sibylline Orders (3: 663-672) tell how the kings of the nations shall throw themselves against the land in troops, only to be ultimately destroyed by God.
But here we come on a picture which etched itself deeply, if mysteriously, on Jewish thought, the picture of Gog and Magog. We find it first in Ezekiel 38:1-23; Ezekiel 39:1-29. There Gog of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and of Tubal, is to launch the great attack upon Israel [that is god’s Israel- the church] and is to be in the end utterly destroyed. It may be that originally Gog was connected with the Scythians whose invasions--all men feared.
As time went on, in Jewish thought Gog (Heb. #1463; Gr. #1136) and Magog (Heb. #4031; Gr. #3098) came to stand for everything that is against God. The rabbis taught that Gog and Magog would assemble themselves and their forces against Jerusalem, and would fall by the hand of the Messiah. [Thus] The hostile armies under the devil's leadership come up against the camp of God's people and against the beloved city, that is, [heavenly] Jerusalem; the hosts are consumed with fire from heaven, the devil is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to share the fate of the beast and of the false prophet, and the triumph of God is complete.” (William Barclay)
10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
"Tormented day and night forever." "This language reiterates Revelation 14:10–11. And we learned earlier with reference to those verses, the phrase ‘forever and ever’ in the Bible is not an indefinite eternity; it rather denotes that the action continues until it completes God‘s purpose.“ (Ranko Stefanovic) “That this is not a literal lake of fire is clear from the fact that Satan has no bodily form, and could thus not be cast into fire. It contrasts, by its connection with brimstone, with the pure fire of God’s holiness (cp. Rev. 9:17 with Rev. 11:5). It indicates something dreadful and miserable and beyond comprehension. It is the ‘eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels’ (Matt. 25:41). That their punishment is severe there can be no doubt, but its true form we can never fully appreciate. As mentioned Death and Hades are also thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). It can thus denote a place of permanent end. They clearly are not kept alive.” (Peter Pett)
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 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. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
After the leaders are gone, we see small and great standing before the Judgment seat with none to whom to assign blame: “‘And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to his works.’ (13)
The picture is all inclusive. None have died in such a way that they cannot be reached. …
‘Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.’ (14)
This demonstrates that the primary purpose of the lake of fire is to burn up that which is at enmity with God’s final purposes. It also demonstrates that we must not literalise the scene. Death and Hades are not existing entities, they are ideas (compare Revelation 6:8), as is much of what lies behind the beast (false empire) and the false prophet (false religion). These are all destroyed. This is the death of death the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). But it is only the fallen spiritual beings who are described as facing an unending future of remorse and misery…
‘And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.’ (15)
Thus all men are involved in this judgment. It is an all-embracing scene into which all other pictures of the judgment have to be fitted. And fitted they can be if we recognise that what is important is the spiritual lessons and not the physical descriptions. The significance of the book of life is that it contains the names of those who have been cleansed from sin, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). It is revealing that only those who are hidden in Christ and covered with His righteousness can face the judgment without fear for all their sins have been borne by another. But as Paul constantly stressed, while our works cannot justify us, they can certainly condemn us, and those who are not His will be found doubly guilty, for they have not only broken God’s law but they have also rejected His mercy. For them there is no future. There is only [destruction in] the lake of fire.” (Peter Pett)