Revelation chapter twenty represents one of the greatest, or one of the most terrifying chapters in the Biblical record- and the path to one of those responses will largely depend on the choices we make today.
Our text from Revelation chapter twenty is divided into four distinct sections. The first section details Satan’s capture and subsequent imprisonment for a period of one thousand years. The next section identifies the roles and responsibilities that God will assign to His people during that era. Section three chronicles Satan’s release from prison, with predictable results. That will eventually lead to his permanent incarceration with the beast and the false prophet in the lake of fire and brimstone. The last section addresses the subject of Judgment Day.
“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” (Revelation 20:1-3).
This section begins by identifying one of the primary characters in this chapter along with a few of his aliases: “…the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan” (ESV). We should note that the same being who initially appeared as a serpent in the first book of the Bible has now grown to become a dragon in the last book of the Bible.
It is also interesting to note that the task of capturing the devil was not entrusted to a group of angelic beings or a powerful archangel like Michael. Instead, it fell to a single unidentified angel, thus suggesting that the dragon’s power had been curtailed. However, the fact that this unknown angel had to “seize” him (CSB) implies that he didn’t want to go. One potential explanation for his reluctance appears in verse three: “He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him” (NIV).
This reference to “the Abyss” (or “bottomless pit“) appeared earlier in Revelation chapter nine. There, it served as the exit point for a group of demonic locust creatures who emerged to torture those who had rejected God. The Abyss was also the point of origin for the beast who executed God’s two witnesses as mentioned earlier in Revelation chapter eleven.
So the Abyss is clearly a horrific place, and it will serve as the penitentiary where Satan will be held in custody for a period of one thousand years. We’ll explore the purpose behind that sentence over the course of this chapter.