Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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Compare John's language at Revelation 9:1, "...The key of the pit of the abyss was
given [to a star having fallen out of heaven into the earth]." See the footnotes on that passage,
and compare 1:18 and 3:7. There should be no question concerning the symbolical
nature of this language. Are we to think that stars can hold keys, or that spiritual beings can
be bound with literal chains, or that there is a literal pit somewhere on earth in which the evil
dragon is locked up? Should we think in terms of a hidden entrance in the depths of Carlsbad
Caverns, or at the bottom of Lake Ness? Such literalistic understanding of obviously symbolical
material is, we think, both mistaken and misleading.
Oftentimes the question is raised, “But how can we tell the difference between symbolical
and literal? The answer is, by using our heads. We do it all the time in everyday speech.
When someone complains that they have gotten a million phone-calls, we don’t think twice in
refusing to take the statement literally, but understand it to mean that the person has had a
very busy day. When the Bible says that God is our “Rock,” or that we can take shelter “under
His wings,” we don’t start asking whether or not God is made out of granite or cement, or is a
“Big Bird.” So it is in reading Revelation. We know that it is filled with “signs” and “symbols,”
and that it is biblical “prophecy,” that is enigmatic in nature, filled with “riddles.” So, we don’t
expect to take everything literally and at face-value. We don’t think of a literal dragon or snake
(“rattle-snake”!) when thinking of satan. And we are careful not to try and get clarity where it is
lacking, or attempt to construct time-tables on the basis of such statements, as do the interpreters
who attempt to decide whether or not the so-called “second coming” is “pre-millennial” or
“post-millennial.”
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On the "abyss," see Revelation 9:1 with its footnotes, and the preceding footnote.
This word occurs at 9:1, 2; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1 and 3. Elsewhere in the New Testament it
occurs only at Luke 8:31 and Romans 10:7.
In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, this noun occurs at: Genesis 1:2 ("darkness
was upon the abyss"); 7:11; 8:2; Deuteronomy 8:7 (where it means "deep springs of
water"); 33:13 (similar to 8:7); Job 28:14; 36:16 (where it means something like "jaws of
death"); 38:16 (where it is parallel with "gates of death"); 41: 22, 23, 23; Psalm 33:7; 36:6;
42:7 ("deep calls to deep"); 71:20 ("from the abysses of the earth you will bring me up"); 77:
16; 78:15; 104:6; 106:9; 107:26; 135:6; 148:7; Proverbs 3:20; 8:24; Wisdom of Solomon
10:19; Sirach 1:3; 16:18; 24:5, 29; 42:18; 43:23; Amos 7:4; Jonah 2:6; Habakkuk 3:10;
Isaiah 44:27; 51:10; 63:13; Ezekiel 26:19; 31:4, and 15. It is used predominantly as a
translation of the Hebrew word ~Ah+t., thehom ("deep," of the ocean depths), and for "deep
springs" of water in the land of Israel. It is rarely used in terms of the hidden depths of the
deep sea, as being a synonym for the place where people go when they die--but there is little
of the Greek mythological connotations so easily attached to such a word, when we use it to
mean "the bottomless pit." That John sees an abyss that has a "key" immediately confirms
the symbolic nature of John's vision.
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This is the only place in Revelation where the word a[lusij, halusis, “chain" occurs.
Again, the symbolical nature of this descriptive language is obvious. Even Walvoord, who ordinarily
insists on a literal interpretation, has to ask how a spiritual being like "the Devil" can be
(continued...)
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