Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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2259 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.” 2260 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. 2261 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...) 986
2264 2265 2266 2267 2268 2269 dragon, the serpent, the ancient one, which is accuser / devil and the adversary 2261 (...continued) thought of as being bound with a literal chain. This is obviously symbolical language, and is rooted in Greek mythological views of the place of punishment of the wicked! Aune comments that “The use of chains to bind satan and his host is an apocalyptic motif (1 Enoch 54:3-5; 2 Apocalypse Baruch 56:13; Sibylline Oracles 2.289; Jude 6; 2 Peter 2:4) derived from earlier Greek traditions...of the chaining of the...‘hundred-handed ones’...and the titans in tartarus...[as well as] the chaining of Prometheus...” (P. 1081) Jude 6, “And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.” 2 Peter 2:4, “...God did not spare angels when they sinned, but [seirai/j zo,fou tartarw,saj] with cords of darkness placing (them) in Tartarus [thought of by the Greeks as a subterranean place lower than hades, where divine punishment is meted out, and so regarded in Israelite apocalyptic literature as well], to be held for judgment.” There can be little doubt that in these two New Testament passages, Greek mythological views are being taken up, and used to warn Christians of the dangers of apostasy–views such as those expressed in the following two passages: 1 Enoch 54:1-5, “I looked...and saw...a valley, deep and burning with fire. And they were bringing kings and potentates and were throwing them into this deep valley. And my eyes saw there their chains while they were making them into iron fetters of immense weight... being prepared for the armies of Azaz’el [one of the fallen angels / messengers], in order that they may take them and cast them into the abyss of complete condemnation...” Sibylline Oracles 2.285-92, “...An undying river flows in a circle. All these (sorcerers and sorceresses)...the angels / messengers of the immortal, everlasting God will punish terribly from above with whips of flame, having bound them around with fiery chains and unbreakable bonds. Then, in the dead of the night, they will be thrown under many terrible infernal beasts in gehenna [the biblical background of the Valley of Hinnom’s sons, on the south side of Jerusalem, has been abandoned, and the name has been applied to the Greek mythological view of the place of eternal punishment], where there is immeasurable darkness.” 2262 Somewhat strangely, the Greek text states that the chain was "upon" the hand of the messenger / angel, rather than being "in" his hand. However, in Greek the word "hand" sometimes refers to the wrist or lower arm, and it may be that John means the chain was draped over the messenger’s / angel's arm. Perhaps because of the strangeness of the phrase, Sinaiticus, Minuscule 1611 and a few other Greek manuscripts change the reading to ev vn th| / ceiri, en te cheiri, “in the hand.” But the variant reading does not change the meaning of Revelation. Aune translates by “in his hand” (P. 1071). 2263 Aune translates by “apprehended” (p. 1071). 987
Page 1 and 2: THE THOUSAND YEAR VICTORY OVER EVIL
Page 3: 2259 2260 2261 2262 2263 key of the
Page 7 and 8: 2265 (...continued) serpent, places
Page 9 and 10: 2270 2271 2272 2273 / satan and he
Page 11 and 12: 2271 (...continued) Isaiah 24:21-23
Page 13 and 14: 2271 (...continued) “In that sens
Page 15 and 16: 2271 (...continued) Tobit 8:2-3, Th
Page 17 and 18: 2272 (...continued) 1 Chronicles 16
Page 19 and 20: 2274 2275 2276 2277 2278 and locked
Page 21 and 22: 2279 The verb plana,w, planao, "to
Page 23 and 24: 2284 (...continued) him to be loose
Page 25 and 26: 2289 2290 2291 2292 them; and the i
Page 27 and 28: 2289 (...continued) ed Neo-Babylon,
Page 29 and 30: 2289 (...continued) ed over to him
Page 31 and 32: 2294 2295 2296 2297 nor his image,
Page 33 and 34: 2299 (...continued) There is a conf
Page 35 and 36: 2304 2305 20.5 The rest of the dead
Page 37 and 38: 2307 (...continued) rection...Antit
Page 39 and 40: 2309 (...continued) ‘soul,’ on
Page 41 and 42: 2312 2313 2314 with him [the] thous
Page 43 and 44: 2317 2318 2319 released from his pr
Page 45 and 46: 2320 2321 2322 2323 2324 2325 four
Page 47 and 48: 2326 2327 2328 war -of whom their n
Page 49 and 50: 2329 2330 2331 2332 width of the ea
Page 51 and 52: 2333 (...continued) beloved city,
Page 53 and 54: day and night into the ages of the
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2345 2346 2347 the face of Whom the
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2348 2349 20.12 And I saw the dead
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2354 2355 2356 according to their w
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2354 (...continued) Newport well st
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2363 2364 2365 2366 underworld were
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2369 (...continued) earth. All thes
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Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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