Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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the nations until the thousand years should be completed. After these things it is
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(...continued)
opens, it is impossible to "lock" or “shut.” With this kind of imagery in mind, it is quite possible
that John means that the messenger / angel descending from the heaven to bind the adversary
and throw him into the abyss, and "lock" it over him, is the agent of the risen Lord, the
Little Lamb--or, can this heavenly messenger / angel represent the risen Lord Jesus himself?
We think it does, but the text does not make it explicit.
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The verb sfragi,zein, sphragizein, "to seal," has been used previously by John at
7:3, 4, 4, 5, 8 and 10:4. Here he uses it again, óöñÜãéóåí, esphragisen, “he sealed,” and
then once again at 22:10. These passages show that the people of God have been "sealed"
in order to assure their protection in the midst of the divine judgments in history. The divine
"sealing" protects God's people; that same kind of "sealing" of the abyss assures them that the
power of the accuser is broken.
Beasley-Murray comments that "...The incarceration of the devil is circumscribed [in a
threefold manner]. He is bound up, locked in, and sealed over. The writer could hardly have
expressed more emphatically the inability of satan..." (P. 285)
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Aune comments that “The two terms meaning ‘bind’ (verse 2b) and ‘cast’ (verse 31)
are often associated in combat myths...[In Greek mythology], Ouranos [‘Heaven’], who had
children by Gaia [‘Earth’], had them bound (dh,saj) and cast (ev ,rriye) into Tartarus (Apollodorus
1.1.2). Early Judaism knew of an analogous tradition involving the binding and imprisoning
of evil angels or demons until the day of judgment.” (P. 1082) See footnote 2271.
Aune goes on to say that “There are also many parallels from the world of Jewish magic,
in which evil spirits of various types are ‘bound’...and ‘sealed’...so that they cannot harm
people...[In one magical text] many names for evil beings are recited, in a way not dissimilar to
the mention in verse 2 of ‘the dragon (the ancient serpent who is the devil and satan’)...
“The world of the dead, of course, is frequently considered a prison (Psalms 18:6
[verse 5 in English; ‘the cords of Sheol / Hades coiled around me’]; 116:3 [same]; Isaiah 24:
22 [on YHWH’s day, the kings of the earth ‘will be herded together like prisoners bound in a
dungeon; they will be shut up in prison...’]; 1 Peter 3:18-20 [Christ, put to death physically, but
made alive by the Spirit, went and preached to the spirits in prison who were disobedient in the
days of Noah]).” (P. 1083)
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The aorist subjunctive verb ðëáíÞó, planese, “he should (not) lead astray,” is
changed to the present indicative plana|/, plana, “he (does not) lead astray,” by Minuscules
2030, 2050 (see), 2377 and the “Majority Text” (K). This change to the present tense probably
indicates the conviction that the binding of satan is something already done.
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The adverb ôé, eti, “longer,” or “still,” is omitted by Uncial Manuscript 051, the “Majority
Text” (A), and the Bohairic Coptic. The omission makes little difference for the meaning
of Revelation. We think the original text had this word, and that it points to the “leading astray”
in which the adversary has been active throughout the past, up until the time of his
“binding.”
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