Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

on the Whole Bible

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1721)

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R E V E L A T I O N.

CHAP. XX.

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This chapter is thought by some to be the darkest part of all this

prophecy: it is very probable that the things contained in it are not

yet accomplished; and therefore it is the wiser way to content

ourselves with general observations, rather than to be positive and

particular in our explications of it. Here we have an account,

I. Of the binding of Satan for a thousand years,

ver. 1-3.

II. The reign of the saints with Christ for the same time,

ver. 4-6.

III. Of the loosing of Satan, and the conflict of the church with Gog

and Magog,

ver. 7-10.

IV. Of the day of judgment,

ver. 11,

&c.

The Binding of Satan.	A. D. 95.

     

1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of

the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

  2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is

the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

  3 And 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.

  4 And 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.

  5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand

years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

  6 Blessed 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.

  7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be

loosed out of his prison,

  8 And 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.

  9 And 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.

  10 And 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.

     

We have here, I. A prophecy of the binding of Satan for a

certain term of time, in which he should have much less power and the

church much more peace than before. The power of Satan was broken in

part by the setting up of the gospel kingdom in the world; it was

further reduced by the empire’s becoming Christian; it was yet further

broken by the downfall of the mystical Babylon; but still this serpent

had many heads, and, when one is wounded, another has life remaining in

it. Here we have a further limitation and diminution of his power.

Observe,

1. To whom this work of binding Satan is committed–to an angel from

heaven. It is very probable that this angel is no other than the

Lord Jesus Christ; the description of him will hardly agree with any

other. He is one who has power to bind the strong man armed, to cast

him out, and to spoil his goods; and therefore must be stronger

than he.

2. The means he makes use of in this work: he has a chain and a

key, a great chain to bind Satan, and the key of the

prison in which he was to be confined. Christ never wants proper powers

and instruments to break the power of Satan, for he has the powers of

heaven and the keys of hell.

3. The execution of this work,

v. 2, 3.

(1.) He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the

devil, and Satan. Neither the strength of the dragon, nor the

subtlety of the serpent, was sufficient to rescue him out of the hands

of Christ; he caught hold, and kept his hold. And,

(2.) He cast him into the bottomless pit, cast him down with

force, and with a just vengeance, to his own place and prison, from

which he had been permitted to break out, and disturb the churches, and

deceive the nations; now he is brought back to that prison, and there

laid in chains.

(3.) He is shut up, and a seal set upon him. Christ shuts, and

none can open; he shuts by his power, seals by his authority; and his

lock and seal even the devils themselves cannot break open.

(4.) We have the term of this confinement of Satan–a thousand

years, after which he was to be loosed again for a little

season. The church should have a considerable time of peace and

prosperity, but all her trials were not yet over.

     

II. An account of the reign of the saints for the same space of time in

which Satan continued bound

(v. 4-6),

and here observe,

     

1. Who those were that received such honour–those who had suffered for

Christ, and all who had faithfully adhered to him, not receiving the

mark of the beast, nor worshipping his image; all who had kept

themselves clear of pagan and papal idolatry.

     

2. The honour bestowed upon them.

(1.) They were raised from the dead, and restored to life. This may be

taken either literally or figuratively; they were in a civil and

political sense dead, and had a political resurrection; their liberties

and privileges were revived and restored.

(2.) Thrones, and power of judgment, were given to them;

they were possessed of great honour, and interest, and authority, I

suppose rather of a spiritual than of a secular nature.

(3.) They reigned with Christ a thousand years. Those who suffer

with Christ shall reign with Christ; they shall reign with him in his

spiritual and heavenly kingdom, in a glorious conformity to him in

wisdom, righteousness, and holiness, beyond what had been known before

in the world. This is called the first resurrection, which none

but those who have served Christ and suffered for him shall be favoured

with. As for the wicked, they shall not be raised up and restored to

their power again, till Satan be let loose; this may be called a

resurrection, as the conversion of the Jews is said to be life from

the dead.

     

3. The happiness of these servants of God is declared.

(1.) They are blessed and holy,
v. 6.

None can be blessed but those that are holy; and all that are holy

shall be blessed. These were holy as a sort of first-fruits to God in

this spiritual resurrection, and as such blessed by him.

(2.) They are secured from the power of the second death. We know

something of what the first death is, and it is awful; but we know not

what this second death is. It must be much more dreadful; it is the

death of the soul, eternal separation from God. The Lord grant we may

never know what it is by experience. Those who have had experience of a

spiritual resurrection are saved from the power of the second

death.

     

III. An account of the return of the church’s troubles, and another

mighty conflict, very sharp, but short and decisive. Observe,

1. The restraints laid for a long time on Satan are at length taken

off. While this world lasts, Satan’s power in it will not be wholly

destroyed; it may be limited and lessened, but he will have something

still to do for the disturbance of the people of God.

2. No sooner is Satan let loose than he falls to his old work,

deceiving the nations, and so stirring them up to make a war

with the saints and servants of God, which they would never do if he

had not first deceived them. They are deceived both as to the cause

they engage in (they believe it to be a good cause when it is indeed a

very bad one), and as to the issue: they expect to be successful, but

are sure to lose the day.

3. His last efforts seem to be the greatest. The power now permitted

to him seems to be more unlimited than before. He had now liberty to

beat up for his volunteers in all the four quarters of the

earth, and he raised a mighty army, the number of which was as

the sand of the sea,
v. 8.

4. We have the names of the principal commanders in this army under the

dragon–Gog and Magog. We need not be too inquisitive as to what

particular powers are meant by these names, since the army was gathered

from all parts of the world. These names are found in other parts of

scripture. Magog we read of in

Gen. x. 2.

He was one of the sons of Japheth, and peopled the country called

Syria, from which his descendants spread into many other parts.

Of Gog and Magog together we only read in

Ezek. xxxviii. 2,

a prophecy whence this in Revelation borrows many of its images.

5. We have the march and military disposition of this formidable army

(v. 9):

They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of

the saints about, and the beloved city, that is, the spiritual

Jerusalem, in which the most precious interests of the people of God

are lodged, and therefore to them a beloved city. The army of the

saints is described as drawn forth out of the city, and lying under the

walls of it, to defend it; they were encamped about Jerusalem: but the

army of the enemy was so much superior to that of the church that they

compassed them and their city about.

6. You have an account of the battle, and the issue of this war:

Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured the enemy.

Thus the ruin of Gog and Magog is foretold

(Ezek. xxxviii. 22),

I will rain upon him and upon his bands an overflowing rain, and

great hailstones, and fire and brimstone. God would, in an

extraordinary and more immediate manner, fight this last and decisive

battle for his people, that the victory might be complete and the glory

redound to himself.

7. The doom and punishment of the grand enemy, the devil: he is

now cast into hell, with his two great officers, the beast and the

false prophet, tyranny and idolatry, and that not for any term of

time, but to be there tormented night and day, for ever and

ever.

The Universal Judgment.	A. D. 95.

     

11 And 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.

  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.

  13 And 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.

  14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is

the second death.

  15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was

cast into the lake of fire.

     

The utter destruction of the devil’s kingdom very properly leads to an

account of the day of judgment, which will determine every man’s

everlasting state; and we may be assured there will be a judgment when

we see the prince of this world is judged,
John xvi. 11.

This will be a great day, the great day, when all shall appear

before the judgment-seat of Christ. The Lord help us firmly to

believe this doctrine of the judgment to come. It is a doctrine that

made Felix tremble. Here we have a description of it, where observe,

1. We behold the throne, and tribunal of judgment, great

and white, very glorious and perfectly just and righteous.

The throne of iniquity, that establishes wickedness by a law,

has no fellowship with this righteous throne and tribunal.

2. The appearance of the Judge, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who

then puts on such majesty and terror that the earth and the heaven

flee from his face, and there is no place found for them; there is

a dissolution of the whole frame of nature,

2 Pet. iii. 10.

3. The persons to be judged

(v. 12):

The dead, small and great; that is, young and old, low and high,

poor and rich. None are so mean but they have some talents to account

for, and none so great as to avoid the jurisdiction of this court; not

only those that are found alive at the coming of Christ, but all who

have died before; the grave shall surrender the bodies of men, hell

shall surrender the souls of the wicked, the sea shall surrender the

many who seemed to have been lost in it.

4. The rule of judgment settled: The books were opened. What

books? The books of God’s omniscience, who is greater than our

consciences, and knows all things (there is a book of remembrance with

him both for good and bad); and the book of the sinner’s conscience,

which, though formerly secret, will now be opened. And another

book shall be opened–the book of the scriptures, the

statute-book of heaven, the rule of life. This book is opened as

containing the law, the touchstone by which the hearts and lives of men

are to be tried. This book determines matter of right; the other books

give evidence of matters of fact. Some, by the other book,

called the book of life, understand the book of God’s eternal

counsels; but that does not seem to belong to the affair of judgment:

in eternal election God does not act judicially, but with absolute

sovereign freedom.

5. The cause to be tried; and that is, the works of men, what

they have done and whether it be good or evil. By their works men

shall be justified or condemned; for though God knows their state

and their principles, and looks chiefly at these, yet, being to approve

himself to angels and men as a righteous God, he will try their

principles by their practices, and so will be justified when he

speaks and clear when he judges.

6. The issue of the trial and judgment; and this will be according to

the evidence of fact, and rule of judgment. All those who have made

a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell, shall

then be condemned with their infernal confederates, cast with them into

the lake of fire, as not being entitled to eternal life, according to

the rules of life laid down in the scripture; but those whose names are

written in that book (that is, those that are justified and acquitted

by the gospel) shall then be justified and acquitted by the Judge, and

shall enter into eternal life, having nothing more to fear from death,

or hell, or wicked men; for these are all destroyed together. Let it be

our great concern to see on what terms we stand with our Bibles,

whether they justify us or condemn us now; for the Judge of all will

proceed by that rule. Christ shall judge the secrets of all men

according to the gospel. Happy are those who have so ordered and

stated their cause according to the gospel as to know beforehand that

they shall be justified in the great day of the Lord!

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1721)

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