Revelation 20King James Version
An angel comes down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He binds the dragon a thousand years. The first resurrection. After the thousand years, Satan is loosed for a little season, then cast into the lake of fire. The great white throne. The dead, small and great, stand before God. The books were opened. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
An angel chains Satan and seals him in the abyss for a thousand years. Thrones are set up; those beheaded for their testimony live and reign with Christ a thousand years, the first resurrection. After the thousand years, Satan is released, gathers Gog and Magog for battle, and fire comes from heaven and devours them. Satan is cast into the lake of fire. Then a great white throne appears; earth and sky flee. The dead, small and great, stand before God. Books are opened and another book, the book of life. Death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. Anyone not in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire.
The millennium, the great white throne, the books, the second death: this is the fullest account of the final judgment in all of Scripture, and it is simultaneously terrifying and precise about what it is judging.
12: "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Small and great: no rank, wealth, or obscurity changes the standing.
The great white throne before which earth and heaven flee is one of the most stark images in any religious text. The geography of the vision dissolves: there is no earth, no sky, nowhere to stand, only the throne and the open books. Death itself is thrown into the lake of fire and called the second death. The phrase is carefully placed: the first death is physical; the second is final.
An angel with the key to the abyss and a great chain; Satan, bound and later released; martyrs who reign with Christ in the first resurrection; Gog and Magog, gathering for a final assault; the dead of all ages, standing before the great white throne; Death and Hell, themselves cast into the fire.
The thousand years has generated more theological controversy than almost any passage in Scripture. Premillennialists read it as a literal future reign; amillennialists read it as the current age of the church; postmillennialists read it as a coming earthly transformation. The text does not resolve this debate, but it is clear that whatever the millennium is, it precedes the final release of Satan, the last battle, and the great white throne judgment.
For when the question of accountability feels deferred indefinitely. This chapter ends every deferral. The sea gives up its dead. Death and hell give up theirs. Everything hidden in the sea or in the grave comes before the throne. The books contain it all.
1And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
7And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.