Revelation 20's Past Fulfillment
by Patricia Watkins

This article appeared in the 2025 Summer issue of Fulfilled! Magazine

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One year ago I entered a post describing the past, literal thousand-year millennium on a Christian forum where I am a member. The reactions ranged from polite disagreement to accusations of my being a liar and deceived by the devil. The millennium subject does tend to elicit strongly polarized feedback whenever it is introduced. But if we are consistent with applying the terms of audience relevance to this Scripture as we would to any other text, then we know one thing for certain: the correct interpretation of Revelation 20’s millennium is something that an ordinary first-century believer reading John’s Apocalypse could have well comprehended from their perspective in time and with the knowledge of Scriptures available to them. Since God fully intended for His first-century servants to understand John’s visions, including the millennium theme, then we can too. (Scripture texts used in this study are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.)

The END of the Revelation 20 Millennium

There are two basic proof texts within Revelation that determine when the millennium had “expired” and was “fulfilled” and “finished” when compared with each other. Once we confirm that “expiration” date, the rest of Revelation 20’s immediate context falls into a corresponding chronology around that date.

#1) Revelation 20:3 and 7 state in no uncertain terms that Satan was to be “loosed a little season” when the thousand years was “fulfilled” and had “expired.”

#2) Revelation 12:12 was John’s then-current warning of woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, because Satan had already come down to them in great wrath, knowing he had only “a short time” left as of the time John was writing. This “short time” and “little season” for Satan was speaking of the same time period.

These two texts taken in conjunction with one another prove that Satan’s “short time” or “little season” of being loosed at the END of the millennium had already happened before John ever wrote Revelation. Just how much earlier is further determined by other New Testament texts and the Revelation 20:4-5 verses to be addressed later.

The BEGINNING of the Revelation 20 Millennium

Christ also gave more information in Matthew 12:24-29 as to when Satan’s deception of the nations had first been bound. To prove that His power of casting out devils was evidence of Christ having already bound Satan earlier, He gave the example of a thief having first bound the strong man before he spoiled his house. This means the millennium binding of Satan had first begun even before Christ’s earthly ministry of casting out devils. Just how much earlier is further determined by other Old Testament texts to be addressed later.

I am convinced by those other texts that Satan’s deception of the nations had been bound for a literal thousand years, beginning with the foundation stone of Solomon’s temple being laid down, and ending with a date which “expired” and was “finished” and “fulfilled” with the resurrection-day ascension of Christ (968 / 967 BC until AD 33). This literal thousand years was composed of the old covenant’s God-sanctioned physical temple worship system in Jerusalem on the physical Mount Zion.

But as we are all aware, that old covenant physical temple worship system was only the precursor to much better spiritual things. (As Paul emphasized in 1 Corinthians 15:46, the physical is first, followed by what is characterized as spiritual.) That old covenant temple was destined to become outdated by the new covenant in Christ’s blood. By Christ’s finished crucifixion sacrifice and His resurrection-day ascension to the Father (John 20:17), God anointed Him as our ultimate, deathless “Great High Priest” who “continueth ever” in that glorified, bodily-resurrected form. This made Christ “the Chief Cornerstone” of a living, vibrantly-mobile spiritual temple, not made with hands.

This spiritual temple is composed of the believers as “living stones” (1 Pet 2:5) being built upon that true foundation stone of spiritual Mount Zion, as Isaiah 28:16 had predicted. Truly, “the Stone that the builders rejected” had become “the head of the corner” (at the AD 33 expiration of the literal millennium). This fulfilled the prior symbolism of both Solomon’s temple foundation stone, as well as Zerubbabel’s temple headstone with its “seven eyes” (Zech 3:9, 4:7-10), which pre-figured the seven-eyed slain Lamb appearing in Revelation 5:6.

The MIDDLE of the Revelation 20 Millennium

This seven-eyed headstone, laid down by Zerubbabel’s own hands, had “grace, grace” ascribed to that foundation stone of the post-exilic temple. This marked the very middle of the millennium years when God mercifully revived His work “in the midst of the years” (as Habakkuk fervently prayed for in Habakkuk 3:2).

The prophet Ezra’s weeping prayer in Ezra 9:8-9 acknowledged the fulfillment of Habakkuk’s former plea. Ezra praised God for granting this merciful reviving of the nation in their bondage, by His using the favor of the Persian kings to decree the repair of the desolated temple of God and the walls of Jerusalem. Ezra’s prayer in Jerusalem was made in the seventh year of Artaxerxes’ reign (Ezra 7:8). Since Artaxerxes began a co-regency with his father Xerxes in 474 BC, this seventh year would have been 467 BC — exactly “in the midst of the years” of the literal thousand-year millennium (from 968 / 967 BC until AD 33).

Zerubbabel served as a type of Christ in that he was chosen by God as a “signet” (Haggai 2:23). Both Mary and Joseph’s genealogies converged in this single shared ancestor: the man chosen to lay down that foundation stone of the post-exilic temple in the middle of the millennium years. Foundation stones and their symbolism are heavily emphasized in Scripture, with care taken to record the exact day, month, and regnal year of their being laid down.

How Was Satan’s Deception of the Nations Bound?

If this literal thousand-year period of a God-ordained, physical temple system truly was the Revelation 20 millennium, an obvious question arises: Just how was Satan’s deception of the nations halted during this time? The answer is that Satan’s main tactic of deceiving the nations had usually been achieved by keeping the nations ignorant of the God of Israel’s existence.

Paul once referred to this as “the times of this ignorance” that God had formerly “winked at” (Acts 17:30) and “in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways” (Acts 14:16).

The nations’ “times of this ignorance” of God’s existence was sharply curtailed once the construction of God’s temple began during Solomon’s reign. As King David had said, “…the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries…” (1 Chr 22:5). The Queen of Sheba’s traveling “from the uttermost parts of the earth” to verify what she had heard concerning Solomon’s reign is ample testimony that knowledge about the God of Israel and His temple in Jerusalem had spread widely throughout the known world by that time.

Even when Solomon sinned by multiplying wives and concubines from foreign nations, each of these involved an ambassador escort of some sort who then returned to their own nation with the knowledge of Israel’s God and His temple worship system in Jerusalem. The nations’ ignorance of God’s existence continued to be dispelled, in spite of the hedonism of an aging King Solomon.

Even when Israel and Judah apostatized and were taken into exile, this merely contributed to further spreading the knowledge of Israel’s God among every nation to which they were dispersed. God used even their judgment of exile to accomplish His millennial purpose of binding Satan’s deception of the nations (2 Chr 7:19-22).

Most importantly, the number and ministry of God’s prophets notably increased during these years. For example, the greatly-beloved Daniel (with strong influence in the imperial courts) was instrumental in bringing about Nebuchadnezzar’s testimony written to every nation in the known world, lauding the power of the Most High who had humbled him like a beast and lifted him up again (Dan 4:1-37).

King Darius likewise sent out a kingdom-wide decree for all to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, who had delivered him from the lions (Dan 6:25-27), showing further evidence of the knowledge of Israel’s God continuing to spread among the nations.

Queen Esther’s intervention for her people, combined with her uncle Mordecai’s rise to power in the Persian empire, led to many becoming Jewish proselytes in all the 127 provinces of the kingdom (Esth 8:17, 9:3-4).

Even a nameless Israelite maid in Naaman the Syrian’s household contributed to this spread of knowledge about the God of Israel by saying, “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his leprosy” (2 Kings 5:3). Naaman, as the captain of the host for the king of Syria, became a fervent convert, with close personal access to the Syrian king and an opportunity to testify of God healing his leprosy.

Suffice it to say, if Psalm 119:130 tells us that “the entrance of thy words giveth light…,” then every time the word of the Lord came to an Old Testament prophet saying, “Thus saith the Lord…,” Satan’s former deceptive power of keeping the nations in ignorant darkness continued to be curtailed during those millennium years.

What the Millennium Did NOT Include

It should be noted, however, that this removal of deceived ignorance was not a promise that the millennium would produce a universal saving knowledge of the God of heaven. Adam himself is an example of committing sin in spite of not being deceived in the garden. At the very least, the nations could no longer plead the excuse of remaining ignorant of the God of Israel’s existence.

The stipulated conditions of the Revelation 20 millennium were not going to halt Satan’s attempts to deceive; it was only that Satan would not succeed in deceiving the nations during that time (just as Satan did not succeed in deceiving Christ during the wilderness temptation).

Neither did the millennium’s description include world-wide peace or a utopian existence for all, as some have mistakenly equated the millennium with the New Heavens and New Earth of Isaiah 65:17-25.

Neither did the millennium chain confine Satan to a particular physical location so that he was immobilized and incapable of any activity at all. The abyss was a condition restricting Satan’s deception — not a location per se.

Neither did the millennium terms require that the souls of Revelation 20:4 each reigned with Christ from the start to the finish of the thousand years. The millennium itself was a literal thousand years, but not the natural lifespan on earth of those souls who had died after “living and reigning with Christ” at various points during that millennium.

Neither did the millennium terms state that mankind could not deceive themselves or others during this period. After all, “the heart is deceitful above all things…,” even if Satan is not the one doing the deceiving.

Neither did the Revelation 20 language require Christ’s reign to be limited only to those thousand years. That timed restriction was only on Satan’s deception — not on Christ. The second person of the Trinity has always reigned, with that perpetual reign being manifested in different ways over time. For example, “Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth” (Ps 96:10). “But unto the Son he says: Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Heb 1:8 / Ps 45:6-7). “Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages, and thy dominion is in all generations” (Ps 145:13).

The Millennium’s BEGINNING Predicted in the OT

The prophet King David wrote in two places concerning a time when God would initiate a particular, predetermined season (kairos) of blessing in old Jerusalem.

First, the aging King David wrote in Psalm 102:11-13 in anticipation of this approaching “set time” (which I believe pointed to the season — kairos — that began the millennium in old Jerusalem).

“You will arise and have mercy on Zion: for the time (kairos) to favor her, Yes, the set time (kairos) has come.” (This predicted season of God’s favor on old Jerusalem had then arrived, just as King David was getting ready to transfer the kingdom to Solomon.)

“For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and show favor to her dust. So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory.” (This would be the result of the nations becoming aware of Israel’s God when Satan’s deception of them was bound.)

“For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory.” (This was the glory cloud that would descend on the temple at Solomon’s dedication ceremony in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14.)

“This shall be written for the generation to come” [Solomon’s coming generation], “that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord.”

Second, the last prayer of King David also spoke prophetically of his son Solomon’s reign. When reading Psalm 72 in the LXX, a reference to Satan as Revelation 12:10’s “accuser of the brethren” appears in Psalm 72:4. The king’s son, Solomon, would “bring low the false accuser,” which I believe was Satan’s deception of the nations being bound when Solomon began building Jerusalem’s temple.

Indeed, Psalm 72:16 (LXX) speaks about that coming temple. “There shall be an establishment on the earth on the tops of the mountains” (the mountains surrounding Jerusalem). “The fruit thereof shall be exalted above Libanus, and they of the city shall flourish as grass of the earth.” Prosperity abounded in Jerusalem at this time, as emphasized in 2 Chronicles 9:27, with Solomon making silver as common as the stones of the streets.

Revelation 20:4 - the ENDING of the Millennium at Christ’s Resurrection-Day Ascension

Revelation 20’s description of the millennium’s ending referred to events taking place either on or following the day of Christ’s resurrection when He first ascended to the Father that morning. In particular, the group of bodily-resurrected Matthew 27:52-53 saints (all 144,000 of those Jewish “first-fruits” of the “first resurrection”) is featured prominently in this context.

In Revelation 20:4, the “thrones” with those sitting on them being given power to pass judgment was a throwback to the 12 apostles mentioned in Matthew 19:28. Christ had promised these thrones to the 12 apostles, telling them, “...Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (when the Israelite tribes were still extant). That “throne of glory,” as Peter testified at Pentecost in Acts 2:29-36, had already been given to Christ at His resurrection-day ascension to the Father.

The 12 apostles exercised that delegated, enthroned judgment over affairs in the early church at Jerusalem by teaching Christ’s doctrines, choosing deacons, setting up care for widows, commissioning evangelists, sending out decrees about the circumcision question, receiving and distributing charitable donations, passing judgments such as the one on Ananias and Sapphira for their deceit, etc. This enthroned judgment of the 12 apostles in Jerusalem was the new covenant fulfillment of the old covenant practice of having “thrones of judgment” in Jerusalem where the more difficult cases of dispute among Israel’s tribes used to be settled (Ps 122:3-5; cf., Deut 17:8-13).

Revelation 20:4 - the Identities of the “Souls” That John Saw

In addition to seeing these enthroned ones (the 12 apostles), John also saw in Revelation 20:4 the departed souls of those who had been beheaded or martyred for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God. Included among them were those prophets slain by the Israelite fathers. These prophets had “showed before of the coming of the Just One” (Acts 7:52), and it was a rare occurrence that those prophets escaped being slain by their own people. Christ had also accused Jerusalem of this same blood guilt in Matthew 23:34-37, just as God had accused His people of persecuting His messengers (2 Chr 36:14-16).

All these ancient martyred saints and prophets were the very same as the martyred “elect” who had been crying day and night for God to avenge them in Luke 18:7-8 (the parable of the unjust judge). Christ then predicted that vengeance would “speedily” be given to these martyred “elect.” It would soon arrive in the coming AD 66-70 “days of vengeance” upon apostate Israel.

These Revelation 20:4 departed “souls” of the martyrs were also the very same as Revelation 6:9-11’s “souls” under the altar — slain for the Word of God and their testimony. Their plea for vengeance was answered by God giving every one of them a white robe representing the perfected righteousness of the bodily-resurrected state. I believe these souls under the altar were the many Matthew 27:52-53 saints — bodily raised from their graves on the same day that Christ arose in AD 33.

These white-robed resurrected saints were then told to “rest yet for a little season” (the same as the Revelation 20:3 “little season” during which Satan’s deception of the nations was renewed, beginning in AD 33). During that “little season,” the resurrected Matthew 27:52-53 saints from “the first resurrection” waited on earth “till may be fulfilled also their fellow servants and their brethren, who are about to be killed — even as they” (Rev 6:11 YLT). The Jewish religious leaders would immediately begin their persecution of the Jerusalem believers after Pentecost, and Nero would continue this persecution by his pogrom against the Christians from AD 64-68 when he would make “war for forty-two months” and “overcome them” (Rev 13:5-7 YLT).

The Sea Beast’s Identity and How it Demanded Homage Through the Centuries

John also saw in Revelation 20:4, along with those martyred souls, “those which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands.” (Notice - these were not necessarily dead by martyrdom. Some could have died a natural death.) This ancient Revelation 13 sea beast had a 666-year biography as of the time John was writing Revelation (a composition date just prior to the AD 60 Laodicean earthquake).

This sea beast (with lion, bear, and leopard features of the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and finally Roman empires) had initially come into existence with Nebuchadnezzar’s first deportation of Jerusalem’s nobility (like Daniel) in 607 BC. As John was writing Revelation, 666 years had passed with the four consecutive pagan empires maintaining control over the nation of Israel, with only a brief interlude of independence brought by the Maccabean victories.

In various ways, each of those pagan empires had demanded homage over the centuries, with some examples of these demands recorded in scripture:

• For the Babylonian empire, the requirement to bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image
• For the Medo-Persian empire, Darius’ one-month decree against petitions to any but himself
• For the Greek empire, Antiochus Epiphanes’ schemes to corrupt the Israelites to act wickedly against the covenant
• Finally, for the Roman empire, the abominable, Rome-authorized Tyrian shekel “mark” giving homage to Rome and its gods

The Revelation 13 land beast’s high priesthood had collaborated with this final Roman phase of the sea beast by requiring this Tyrian shekel “mark” exclusively for temple transactions, from 19 BC to AD 66. The temple’s money-changers charged a fee for their currency exchange “services,” thereby collecting massive profits for the temple via this enforced “mark” requirement for anybody coming to worship at the temple or for those paying the yearly Temple Tax.

How Did the Souls of the Saints “Live and Reign with Christ the Thousand Years”?

First of all, this “ezesan” term is better translated as “lived” instead of “came to life.” All of the departed souls which John saw in Revelation 20:4 were said to have “lived and reigned with Christ the thousand years.” This simultaneous “living and reigning with Christ” took place during these saints’ natural lifetimes at some point or another during the millennium years before they were slain or had died.

The natural question then arises: How could any saint have “reigned with Christ” before Christ incarnate was born of Mary, or before He was resurrected and enthroned in heaven at His ascension? The answer is that Paul used this same phrase of “reigning in life by one, Jesus Christ” in Romans 5:17, for those who had been given grace and righteousness. This was not only a condition imparted after Christ’s incarnation and ascended enthronement as our Great High Priest over the new covenant. Anyone giving evidence of faith from creation forward has had righteousness imputed to them, just as Abraham’s faith was counted for righteousness.

As Ephesians 1:4 says, God “hath chosen us IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” In other words, God’s chosen ones given the gift of grace and righteousness at any point in history from creation forward have been able to “reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” at whatever point in history their natural earthly lifespans have been. And that included saints who happened to have lived on earth during that segment of time when Satan’s deception of the nations was bound — from 968 / 967 BC until AD 33.

Revelation 20:5a - What About the Textual Variant?

Some have claimed that this sentence was a later spurious insertion, not included in any of the earlier manuscripts. For my position of a past literal millennium from 968 / 967 BC until AD 33, it is immaterial if this phrase is included or not.

For the sake of argument, let us say that Revelation 20:5a does belong in the text. This remnant (loipoi) of the dead which “lived again” at the end of the millennium was the limited group of Matthew 27:52-53 saints who rose bodily out of their graves around Jerusalem on the same day that “Christ the FIRST-fruits” had risen from the tomb — in AD 33 when the millennium was “finished.” John then simply labelled this event as being “the FIRST resurrection.”

There were 144,000 bodily-resurrected Jewish “first-fruits” as the Matthew 27:52-53 saints who joined “Christ the First-fruits” on that same day. They shared the same title because they shared the same bodily-resurrection event. That group of bodily-resurrected saints had “lived and reigned with Christ” during their natural lifetimes at various points during the literal thousand years, prior to their AD 33 “first resurrection” event.

On the other hand, suppose this Revelation 20:5a sentence does not belong in the text. This would still support my position. John’s label of “the FIRST resurrection” would still have applied to the martyrs and faithful souls of Revelation 20:4 — those who had shared in a resurrection on the same day when the resurrected Christ sat on the throne of His glory in the regeneration. This “first resurrection” event would have included individuals similar to Daniel’s three friends and the persecuted servants of God who were not necessarily martyred, but who had remained faithful during the centuries of the ancient sea beast’s pagan empires controlling the nation of Israel. God always preserved a faithful remnant of His people who did not apostatize.

Revelation 20:6 - the “Blessed and Holy” Matthew 27:52-53 Saints

But it was only “blessed and holy” individuals of Revelation 20:6 participating in that “first resurrection.” Only saints were raised in Matthew 27:52-53’s group of 144,000 first-fruits. No unjust ones were included until the next bodily-resurrection event in AD 70 at Christ’s Second Coming, which included both “wheat” and “tares”, “sheep” and “goats,” and “just and unjust.” Every one of those sealed, bodily-resurrected Matthew 27:52-53 saints were impervious to sickness, injury, physical death, demonic oppression, or any of the disastrous conditions in old Jerusalem as the city died its “second death” by turning into a “lake of fire” during its destruction. This was a virtual duplicate of Jerusalem’s first death under the Babylonian invasion in 586 BC. Death and Hell (Hades - the grave) were cast into the city to plague its inhabitants on both occasions (Isa 28:14-18 cf., Rev 20:14).

That “second death” of old Jerusalem had no power over those bodily-resurrected Matthew 27:52-53 saints, some of whom remained in Jerusalem during those AD 66-70 “days of vengeance” on the nation. Those of the Matthew 27:52-53 saints group remaining in Jerusalem were called “the camp of the saints” which became surrounded by “Gog” coming against old Jerusalem (the “beloved city” in Rev 20:9).

Revelation 20:7 - Satan’s “Little Season” of Being Loosed

If we consider that forty years of wilderness wanderings was called “a long season” in Joshua 24:7, then “a little season” of Satan’s being loosed should not exceed that. This “little season” began in AD 33 when Satan was cast out of heaven, lasting until AD 66 when Satan and all his hosts were imprisoned within Jerusalem / Mystery Babylon. That city became a prison (phylake) for “every unclean spirit” and “a habitation of devils” (Rev 18:2). Christ had predicted this in Matthew 12:43-45, when the unclean spirits He had formerly cast out would return in seven-fold numbers to oppress His own wicked generation in their “last state.”

Christ forewarned His disciples five days before His crucifixion, “Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12:31). After losing the war in heaven with Michael and his angels, Satan as the former “accuser of the brethren” and his devils would be cast out of heaven down to earth for that “short time” (Rev 12:1-12), to renew his deception of the nations in “great wrath” after Christ’s resurrection-day ascension.

Once again, Christ warned the disciples at the Last Supper, saying, “The prince of this world is coming…” (John 14:30). Christ knew the millennium’s ending was close at hand and wanted His disciples prepared for Satan’s enraged, ramped-up level of renewed deception, once His resurrection day had come. This day began the “little season” of Satan “walking about as a roaring lion.”

Revelation 20:8 - the Deceived Gog and Magog’s Identity

Revelation 20:8 tells us that Satan’s main target for deception was “the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,” where the gathering for battle would be staged. These “four corners of the earth” referred to the land of Israel in particular, just as Ezekiel 7:2-3 had once described it: “...Thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee…”

The LXX also refers to Israel as “Gog” in Numbers 24:7-8: “...and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased. God led him out of Egypt…” In other words, “Gog and Magog” were the nations in the land of Israel during the AD 66-70 “days of vengeance.”

Revelation 20:9 - the Zealot Leader Simon bar Giora and His Army’s Destruction

It is my belief from studying Gog’s “chief prince” that this was the Zealot leader Simon bar Giora, coming from his place out of the “north parts” of Galilee — the home turf of the Zealots (Acts 5:37). Compared to the other Zealot leaders, Simon managed to gather the largest number of combatants under his command (40,000), an army “as the sand of the sea” gleaned from among the nations around Israel. Simon “went up on the breadth of the land” of Israel, pillaging as he went, finally coming to surround Jerusalem in AD 69, demanding admittance.

Once inside Jerusalem, Simon battled his way to supremacy over the other Zealot leaders. This fulfilled Ezekiel 38:21’s description of Gog’s battle, when “every man’s sword shall be against his brother ” — civil warfare in Jerusalem between the Zealot factions. Simon’s army in Jerusalem was finally overcome by Titus’ Roman army in AD 70. Ezekiel 38:22 predicted that God would rain “fire and brimstone” upon Gog’s army — the same fire God sent from heaven in Revelation 20:9 that devoured Gog’s army.

Revelation 20:10 - the Fate of Satan and His Entire Demonic Host

Satan, his devils, and every unclean spirit also met their utter destruction in Jerusalem’s “lake of fire and brimstone.” God predicted this long ago in Ezekiel 28:18-19, saying that this “anointed cherub” would be turned to ashes on the earth when God devoured him with fire so that “never shalt thou exist anymore.”

This was the extinction of the entire Satanic realm in AD 70. Christ had predicted that the devil and his angels would jointly share the same tormented fate in the same location (Matt 25:41), along with the beast (the Revelation 17 Judean scarlet beast) and the Revelation 13 false prophet. These all met their end by the fire from heaven which was “cast upon the earth” (Rev 8:5) in those “days of vengeance” against the land of Israel.

In His earthly ministry, Christ had earlier expressed His intense longing in Luke 12:49 (NKJV): “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Old Jerusalem finally became that “furnace of fire” (Matt 13:41-42; cf. Isa 31:9) where the wicked were burned up and all of Satan’s hosts were turned to ashes — trodden underfoot by those in Malachi 4:1-3.

Summed up, Revelation 20:10 would be the AD 70 fulfillment of God’s ancient Genesis 3:15 promise to crush the head of the serpent and of Paul’s prediction in Romans 16:20 that God would do this “shortly.” ♰

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