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References for Chapter 20

NB: In Rev 1:18, the Lord has the keys of Death and Hades. In Rev 9:1, a fallen angel descends to earth and has the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. Now, in Rev 20:1, a good angel from heaven has the key to the bottomless pit to chain the dragon.
NB: In Rev 12:9, the dragon, the Devil, Satan, was thrown down to the earth. In Rev 20:3, the dragon is chained in the bottomless pit.

Is 22:20-25 (Eliakim has the key of the house of David)
Mt 16:19 (Peter has the keys of the kingdom of Heaven)
Mt 12:28-29 (The Lord binds the strong man to plunder his house)
Eph 4:4-8 (Christ ascended and took a host of captives with him)
Col 2:13-15 (Christ disarmed the fallen powers, triumphing over them)
Heb 2:14-15 (Jesus became flesh that the power of death, the devil, would be destroyed)
Ps 90:1-6 (A thousand years to God are like a single day)

Pre-millenarianism: The coming of the Messiah will inaugurate a 1000 years of peace.
Post-millenarianism: A 1000 years of peace will precede the second coming of the Messiah.
Amillenarianism: The 1000 years are to be interpreted symbolically as a long period of time.
Some interpret the 1000 years of peace as representing eternity in Heaven, while others believe it indicates a the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

1 Thess 4:13-17 (The second coming; the trumpet; the dead raised; the rapture)
Mt 13:24-30 (The final judgment: the harvest when the wheat and weeds are separated)
Mt 13:47-50 (The final judgment: a net that gathers in the good and the bad)
Mt 25:31-33 (The final judgment: the Son of man separating sheep and goats)
Acts 17:22-28 (The Gentiles were left to search for God according to their natural powers, until New Testament times when Christ was to be preached even to the Gentiles)
Mt 19:27-30 (In new world, the apostles will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel)

NB: In Rev 6:9, the souls of those slain in witness to Christ appeared under the altar. In Rev 20:4, those beheaded for their testimony were raised from the dead to reign with Christ.
NB: In Rev 1:6, we are made a kingdom of priests. In Rev 2:11, the Church in Smyrna was called to be faithful so they would not be hurt by the second death. In Rev 20:6, those in the first resurrection will not be affected by the second death, but became priests reigning with God and Christ.

Ez 38:1—39:20 (Gog, prince of the people from the land of Magog, leads an army of soldiers from many nations against Israel; Israel trembles in fear but the Lord utterly destroys Gog; Magog burns in fire; the bodies of the slain are eaten or buried.)
Gen 22:17 (Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore)
Jos 11:1-9 (The Canaanites muster an army like the sand on the seashore; by the Lord, Joshua conquered them, burning their chariots with fire)
2 Kings 1:6-10 (Elijah commanded fire to come down from heaven to consume 50 men)
Jn 15:5-6 (The branch not rooted in Christ, the vine, withers and is burned in fire)

NB: In Rev 13:8, those not in the book of life worship the beast. In Rev 20:12, the book of life is opened and the dead are judged. Recall the Nicene Creed: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”

Mt 27:50-54 (Jesus died; the curtain was torn; the tombs were opened; the saints were raised)
1 Cor 15:20-28 (In Christ, all are raised in order; the last enemy to be destroyed is death)
Mt 5:21-22 (The sinner risks the fires of hell)
Mt 10:28 (Distinction between the first death of the body and second death of body and soul)