Rev（20）–MillenniumandBrimstoneFireLake

(Rev.20) Millenniumand Brimstone Fire Lake

Author:YaoLianghong

After the antichrist (the beast), thefalse prophets, and the deceived people have been judged and destroyed, it isthe turn of their master, the chief culprit, Satan. This chapter describes howSatan is finally captured by Christ and imprisoned in the abyss for a thousandyears. At the end of 1000 years(millennium), Satan is set free, and all the deadof all ages will rise again. Once again they will conspire for a finalconfrontation with the Most High. And God will pour down from heaven the lakeof fire and brimstone, and burn up Satan, evil angels and all the wicked. Theearth will be turned into a sea of fire. All tangible things will be melted byfire, and all traces of evil will be wiped out.

[Rev20:1] Again I saw an angel coming down from heaven, havingthe key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

"Again I saw,"- this isanother vision which John sees after the wedding feast of the lamb and thebanquet of the birds. When the beast and the false prophets and people largeand small have been dealt with, it is now the turn of their master, Satan.

An angel has the key to the Abyss andthe great chain. Who is this angel? It's clearly Jesus.For Jesus holds the keysof death and hades (Rev. 1:18), and when he opens the door, no one can shut it,and when he closes it, no one can open it (Rev. 3:7), and the power to bind andrelease Satan is in the hands of Jesus.

In fact, when the Lord Jesus first cameto earth and triumphed on the cross, he had already bound Satan, meaning hecould no longer trouble the heavens. As:(Rev 12:8-10), "Thereis no place for them in the sky…Thedragon is thrown to the earth, and so are its angels. "" To be thrown," means that Satancan no longer go to heaven.This is the first stage of Jesus' binding ofSatan. For in the Book of Job Satan was also free to go between the earth andthe heavens, where he had participated in the council of God to oppose God andto accuse Job (Job. 1). But when Christ triumphed over Satan on the cross,Satan was thrown down, and could no longer go to heaven, but to do evil onearth and to deceive people! Now Jesus holds the key to the abyss and the greatchain, which is the second stage of binding Satan. The second stage is thereturn of Christ, the binding of Satan and throwing him into the abyss for athousand years. It means that Satan has less and less room for evil until he iscompletely bound and finally burned.

After a thousand years Satan will beset free, and Satan will be thrown into a burning lake of brimstone by God,burned to ashes,along with all generations of the wicked who have risenagain.He will perish forever (V. 7-10) and will not rise again. This is thethird stage of Satan's bondage. These are the three steps that lead to Satan'stotal destruction. The three times Jesus comes to earth to do these three greatthings!

“Chain” symbolizes restraint andbondage. This is not about tying Satan with a real chain, but that the scope ofSatan's sin is continually shrinking, and that he has fewer and fewer targetsfor his sins until at last he is completely locked (bound) and thrown into thebottomless pit. Where then is this bottomless pit?

"Bottomless pit" is actuallya symbolic expression. A bottomless pit is neither in the depths of the earthnor in any crevice of the universe, but refers to an empty earth. “The abyss” isthe same word as “over the surface of the deep” in Genesis 1:2,and inseptuagint translation which describes the empty and barren earth. After theSecond Coming, the earth is destroyed, its people and livestock are wiped out, andthe earth is as empty and desolate as it was before the creation of the world.

In the symbol of the earlier chaptersof Revelation, "abyss" is used to describe the desert wilderness(Rev. 9:1-11; 17:8); Unclean spirits have also called the desolate wildernessthe bottomless pit (Luke 8:31-33). Thus, the "abyss" here refers tothe empty and desolate earth after Christ's second coming. And all the wickedare dead, and the righteous are lifted up into heaven: and the whole land isdesolate, and utterly desolate. Satan and the evil angels wander the earth withno one to confuse, just as a criminal is imprisoned in a prison unable toperform his evil deeds. Moreover, theBible has called the earth a prison,[1Pe 3:19] bywhich he (Jesus) went to preach to the spirits in prison.Thismeans that before the flood the people of the earth were firmly imprisoned inthe prison of sin. And this prison refers to the earth where crime is rampant!

Hence the term "abyss" refersto the desolate earth that contains the graves of countless dead. This is wherethe prophet Isaiah predicted that Satan (Lucifer) would live for a thousandyears (Isa 14:15-20).

Who is it that Jesus has in his handthe key of the abyss and a great chain to bind to?

[Rev. 20:2-3] Heseized the dragon that ancient serpent, who is thedevil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into theAbyss, and locked and sealed it over him,to keep him from deceiving the nationsanymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set freefor a short time.

Jesus had in his hand the key and thechain of the abyss, to bind the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is calledthe devil, and Satan, which is the great dragon of Revelation 12:9, the ancientserpent. Where did this ancient snake come from?

[Gen 3:1] Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wildanimals the Lord God had made. The serpent said unto the woman, “Did God indeedsay, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The ancient serpent in the Garden of Eden was responsible for theoriginal deception of human ancestors that led to the perpetuation of sin.After the expulsion of the celestial rebellion, the ancient serpent succeededin deceiving Adam and Eve and seized control of the earth. This dragon, whichhas been on earth for 6,000 years, has combined all the evil qualities ofcruelty, cunning, lying, accusing, and antagonizing God to drive the earth intothe abyss where it will never be again. Now is the time for it to pay for its6,000 years of SINS. The Great Dragon – the ancient serpent was caught at last!

To seize means to hold fast and not toescape. Christ triumphs over Satan, and Satan can no longer escape Christ'sgrasp.

"Bound",the big dragon isbound, symbolizing that Satan’s activities are limited and can no longer doanything. For the wicked are all destroyed at the Second Coming of Christ, andthe righteous are brought up to spend a thousand years in heaven, which iscalled the millennium. For a thousand years Satan and his evil angels have beenconfined to the desolate earth, wandering aimlessly and doing nothing. That'swhat binding means.

For how long? For one thousand years.That is to say, when Christ is coming again, Satan will begin to be bound –imprisoned on this desolate earth for a thousand years.He will no longer beable to commit criminal acts of sabotage in the heaven or any other planet. And at thesame time, because the earth is desolate and silent, Satan and his evil angelsare in a state of anguish, in which there is no evil to do, no weapon to use,except to wait with fear and trembling for the great day of judgment, theburning of a lake of brimstone after a thousand years.

As for the punishment of Satan bound onearth for a thousand years,just is the solemn ceremony that would take placeafter the purification of the sanctuary was completed on the Great Day ofAtonement by the ancient Israelites. When the high priest goes into the mostholy place once a year to make atonement for the Israelites for the whole year,he is to go out and present the goat that belongs to the scapegoat(Satan) aliveand is to be led into the desert where no one is. As:[Lev16:10,20-21]But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before theLord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as ascapegoat.The priest is to "lay both hands on the head of the live goatand confess over it all the iniquities and rebellion of the Israelites – all theirsins-and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into thedesert in the care of a man appointed for the task. The goat will carry onitself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in thedesert.” The Scapegoat that was sent to no man's land (the wilderness)is a preface of Satan to be cast into the abyss for a thousand years. In thesame way Christ our high priest will come out of the holy place to prepare forhis return, after he has finished his final judgment and atonement for hispeople in the most holy place in heaven by his own blood. At that time Christwill lay all the sins of his people on Satan's head, and declare that all thesins they have committed in the past will be on Satan's shoulders. Then castSatan forth upon this empty and desolate waste, and let him wander about, watchingthe results of his sins, and waiting for the great day of punishment, theburning of a burning lake of brimstone at the end of a thousand years.

So the millennium comes after the SecondComing of Christ.Themillennium begins not before Jesus' second coming but after. At the return ofJesus, the righteous who are raised from the dead and the righteous who arealive and changed will ascend to heaven to spend the millennium. And the evilpeople will be killed by the glory of Jesus. The whole earth will be laidwaste, and Satan and the evil angels will be thrown into the abyss –imprisoned for a thousand years on this ruined earth.

"Shut up the abyss, and set a sealupon it, so that it will no longer deceive the nations." "Shut up andseal," that it is bound and cannot escape, and that the work ofbewilderment of Satan will cease with the extinction of the inhabitants of theearth, and that no one will ever deceive it again. As if Satan's hands and feetare bound as if he were caged, and he can do nothing more.

"Seal" means stamper, whichmeans that this seal is put on by God (Jesus) and cannot be opened withoutGod's permission. Ellen G.White also described Satan's thoughts and actionsduring the thousand years:

The Great Controversy, Chapter 41, Desolation of the whole land,paragraph 23

For a thousand years,Satan will wander to and fro across desolate land and will inspect the resultof his rebellion against God's law. His sufferings at this time are severe.Since his fall, his restless life has deprived him of opportunity forreflection. But now he has been deprived of the power, he will have time toreflect on their behavior since rebel celestial regime from the beginning. Helooked with dread and trembling into the future of misery and dread. (the lakeof sulfur after the one thousand years). Then he must suffer for all the sinshe has committed, and be punished for encouraging others to crime.”

"When the thousand years are over,then it must be released for the time being." That is to say, after athousand years, when the seal is to be opened, Christ must release it.The word"must" suggests that it is God's will, that it is part of God's plan,that it must be done.

"For the time being" meansit's a very brief release. How long this "temporary" will last we don't know. But it is enough for Satan toorganize the resurrected villains for an attack on the new Jerusalem that isfalling from the sky.

"Release," is the opposite ofthe temporary binding of Satan at the time of the Second Coming of Christ.Satanis to be released after the millennium to once again confuse the human raceagainst God. The annihilation of the inhabitants of the earth has made Satanincapable of the work of bewilderment, and now his release means that there arepeople upon the earth again, whom he can deceive and exploit. Who are thesepeople? It is at the end of the millennium that all the wicked are raised (v.5). These resurrected villains still listen to Satan's siren call and serve ashis tools in his final battle with Jehovah God.

Whatare the saints doing in heaven during the thousand years?

[Rev 20:4] I saw thrones,on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw thesouls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and becauseof the word of God.Those had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had notreceived his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They rose again andreigned with Christ for a thousand years.

"A few thrones" is a pluralword referring to many thrones. That there are many Kings.

"There are also people sitting on it," referring to the lastwinner — 144,000 people. The saints sit on their thrones to show that they areparticipating in the work of judging the wicked. As the apostle Paul said, [1 Cor. 6:2-3] Do you not know that the saints will judgethe world?And if the world be judged byyou, are you not worthy to judge the smallest of matters? Do you not know thatwe will judge angels? How much more things in this life? Thesaints take part in judging not only the wicked, but also the evil angels. Thejudgment of the saints must examine the records of the wicked, to show how thewicked resist the truth and persecute the saints, so that every one may seethat God is just in destroying the wicked.The thousand years in which the saintswill reign with Jesus and participate inthe judgment of the wicked is called theMillennium.

Who else is there to judge the wicked besidesthese 144,000? "I saw the souls of those who had been be beheaded becauseof their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had notworshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on theirforeheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousandyears", which manifest two types of resurrected people- all previous dynastiesmartyrs and the last people who overcome the image of the beast.

"They have not worshipped theimage of the beast," in other words, They accepted the warning of thethird angel and another powerful angel. despite economic sanctions and the threat ofdeath, they refused to yield to the power represented by the beast. These arethe last of those who are martyred for not worshiped the image of the beast(Rev 6:11). Only two types of saints are mentioned in this section: martyrs andthose who overcome the image of thebeast. This means that not only 144,000 people rule for a thousand years, butalso the martyrs of the past (including those who were martyred not to worshipthe beast) and those who died in the Lord in times of peace will all participatein the first resurrection and the judgment of the wicked. All who have beenraised from the dead and saved into heaven throughout the ages must take partin the judgment of the wicked. The martyrs and those who have triumphed overthe image of the beast are singled out because they represent those who havesuffered the most, who have been persecuted to death for the word of God, whohave been tortured and wronged, and whom God has promised to avenge and avenge.Thatis why God is here making a special statement to show that their cry hasfinally come to an end!

“Raised”means “alive” or “ resurrection”inthe original translation. Since most of those who triumph over the beast arestill alive on the eve of the Second Coming (144,000), most people do not needto be resurrected, except a few martyrs who do not worship the beast. So thephrase should be translated as "they begin to live and reign withChrist".

To reign with Christ is in heaven,and not on earth, as many interpreters say. Against whom will the saints reign,when all the wicked of the earth have perished? Apparently, this refers to theresurrection of all saints of all ages at the time of Jesus' return.They arelifted up to heaven, along with 144,000 others who are alive, where they reign in heaven, judging thewicked, Satan and evil angels. The judgment work of the saints is mainly toassist God in sentencing the wicked and determining the length of time forburning.

[Rev. 20:5-6] This is thefirst resurrection. The rest of the dead did not come to life until thethousand years were ended. Blessed and holy are those who have part in thefirst resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will bepriests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him for a thousand years.

"This is the firstresurrection." Who is the first resurrection? This is what verse 4 says above.“The decapitated souls because of the testimony of Jesus and because of theword of God, and those who had not worshipped the beast and his image, norreceived his mark on their foreheads or hands , they all raised” These peopleinclude two categories: all previous dynasties martyrs (including those who aremartyred for not worshipping the beast in the last), and the righteous peoplewho sleep in the Lord in times of peace.Thelast 144,000 people do not need resurrection because they are those who liveand change and ascend into heaven (1 Th. 4:17). When is the first resurrection?At the second coming of Christ. As:

【 1Th 4:16-17 】 For the Lord himselfwill come down from heaven, with a loud command,with the voice of the archangeland with the trumpet call of God. Those who are dead in Christ will rise first.Afterward we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them inthe clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lordforever.

Here it says, "After theresurrection of the the righteous who died in Christ, we who are alive andremain (144,000) will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet theLord in the air." The scene of the Second Coming of Christ is clearlydepicted here. First comes the resurrection of the righteous of all ages,whichis the first resurrection. This resurrection means salvation into heaven. WhereforeJohn said,Blessed are they that are partakers of the first resurrection.because they defeated the sting of death, and overcome the power of death."The second death has no power over them. ", shows that those whohave been raised the first time do not have to undergo a second death. For"the second death" is the total destruction of the lake of brimstoneafter the millennium.

Forwhom is the second death? This is for the wicked, not for the redeemed people.For the wicked are destroyed once at the time of the second coming of Christ.(Theyare slain by the seven plagues and the breath of Jesus’mouth.) The wicked ofall ages lie down in the hell (grave). This is the first death of the wicked.But after (millennium) one thousand years, the wicked will rise again. (This isthe second resurrection and the secondis the resurrection of the wicked). They come out of the tomb, surrounding thecamp of the saints and the beloved city. (new Jerusalem,) (Section 9) Then Godwill pour down fire of brimstone from heaven and will throw Satan, evil angelsand all generations of wicked people who have risen from the dead into theburning lake of fire and brimstone and burn them completely. This is the seconddeath, and the second death is an everlasting destruction, a sign of a curse.

Thesecond resurrection is the preparation for the second death, eternal death!

Forthe difference between the people of the two resurrection, see the Spirit ofProphecy:

The sign of a curse is on him that is raised again the secondtime. In the first resurrection people have eternal youth. However, those whoare raised at the second time still wear a conspicuous sign of the curse. They comeback to life just as they came into the grave (old, sick,and miserable). Thosewho lived before the flood burly, than live in the world today a two times, inthe generation of people after the flood size is smaller. "Spiritual"Volume 1 p84-85.

We know that the first death comes toall (Heb. 9:27 For every man is ordained once todie, and after that there shall be judgment).And all people, both therighteous and the wicked, shall undergo the first death (except 144,000), andshall rise from the dead (John 5:28-29 the timeshall come, and all that are in theirgraves shall hear his voice, and they shall come forth, and the one that doesgood shall rise to live, and the one that does evil shall rise to becondemned). The righteous who rise from the grave get eternal life (1cor. 15:52-55), which is the first resurrection. The wicked rise to receivepunishment and eternal destruction (Rev.20:9;21:8), which is the secondresurrection. The second resurrection is to be thrown into a lake of burningsulfur to eternal destruction. This is the meaning and the difference betweenthe two resurrections.

Blessedare those who have the first resurrection. In what ways? "And they shallbe priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousandyears," during which the redeemed saints will be priests and Kings andwill make judgments after they have ascended into heaven.Thethrones of judgment are not singular, but plural, and there are many thrones.That the saints will take part in the judgment of the wicked of the pastgeneration in the midst of the millennium, in heaven.

Why then, when we are in heaven, willthere be judgment? The trial will clear up all doubts. What's the question? Whywas someone not saved? Why did he not come to heaven? Why is it that the manwho looks so godly has not been saved? How does the Lord judge him? Why dobelievers, priests and friends of X not come to heaven? It is in order toanswer all the questions in our hearts that Jesus will open the files and showus by the records why they can not enter the kingdom of Heaven.[Ecc12:14] For God will bring every work into judgment,even every hidden thing, whether it be good or evil.Therefore, when thesaints reign together with the Lord in heaven for a thousand years, God willbring all human affairs before us again, so that we may see the righteousnessof God's judgments and unlock all doubts in our hearts. This is what it meansfor saints to reign together with Christ for a thousand years. The 1000 yearsare also called Millennium. For Satan and the evil angels, it is a thousandyears of chained and imprisoned in the bottomless pit!

Then, a thousand years later, what willGod do with the bottomless devil and the resurrected wicked?

【 Rev. 20:7-8 】 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be releasedfrom his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners ofthe earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for battle. Their number islike the sand of the sea.

Satan will be released from prison atthe end of the millennium. The "prison" is the "bottomless pit,"which means the earth is desolated at the moment of Christ's return."Release" means that the desolate earth will regain its popularityand cause Satan to once again exercise his sinful wiles. The resurrection ofthe wicked means that Satan is set free. For he has an object for deceptionagain. Satan is set free to assemble all the wicked resurrected to launch afinal attack against God and the new holy city before his ultimate destruction.

The people satan has deceived are thenations around here — Gog and Magog, who are as numerous as the sand on theseashore! These resurrected villainsare the same people and the same scene that Ezekiel described:

【 Ezekiel 38:2-22 】 Son of man, set yourface against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Rosh, Meshech andTubal; prophesy against him… You will come up against my people Israel like acloud to cover the land. In days to come,O Gog, I will bring you against myland, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through youbefore their eyes. … When Gog comes up against the land of Israel, my angerwill come out of my nostrils… I will punish him with pestilence and withbloodshed. And I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfuron him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.

Gog and Magog, all the wicked who havenot been saved, representing the second resurrection, from the grave and fromthe hell and from the sea. We know that there is a resurrection of therighteous, and there is a resurrection of the wicked, and there is a thousandyears apart. The resurrection of the righteous comes at the second coming ofChrist, but the resurrection of the wicked comes a thousand years later. Gogand Magog, the ancient gentiles, enemies of Israel, are cited here as symbolsof the resurrected wicked people.

Why are they as numerous as the sand ofthe sea? For this is the sum of all thewicked from Adam to Eve, and of course there are as many as the sand of thesea, huge crowds of people, that cannot be counted.The number of the wicked farexceeds the number of the righteous (ROM. 9:27).

Whatwill the wicked do after they rise from the dead? "Gather them together tofight." With whom?

[Rev. 20:9] They marched acrossthe breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of God’s saints , the city heloves.But fire came down from heaven, and devoured them.

Here it says, "They went up andfilled the whole earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints and the belovedcity." “The camp of the saints and the beloved city” apparently refers tothe new holy city of Jerusalem, which descends from heaven. "They surroundedthe city," shows that the city has fallen to the ground. One of the greatevents that will happen at the end of the millennium is the fall of Christ, theSaints and the new holy city. The third coming of Christ to earth is describedin Zechariah:

【 Zec 14:3-5 】 Then the Lord will goout and fight against those nations, as when he fought against them. In thatday his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem eastward.And the mountain shall divide in the midst, and be an exceeding great valleyfrom the east side unto the west side. Half of the mountain will shift to thenorth and half to the south… The Lord my God will come, and all the Holy oneswith him.How do we know this prophecy refers tothe third coming of Christ? First of all, it can be seen from the place of theadvent in this prophecy that the place of the advent is neither Bethlehem,where Christ first came, nor the temporary suspension of the second Christ inthe air (1 Th. 4:17;Mt.24:26-27) but descend upon the Mount of Olives inglorious glory, so that it splits in two and moves north and south each to forma great plain, so that the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22) might descend uponthe plain. As the Revelation says: And I saw theholy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Rev 21:2-10).

We know that Jesus ascended from themount of Olives after his crucifixion and resurrection, and that he isdescending again on the mount of Olives. As the angels had hinted to thedisciples, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand lookingup into the sky? This Jesus, who hasbeen taken up from you, will come just as you have seen him go into heaven"(Ac 1:11).Thisproves that Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives and will return here afterthe millennium. All prophecies must be fulfilled.

From the above scriptures it is revealed that Christ's third coming isdifferent from his first birth, to make atonement for the sinner who repents offaith; It is also different from his return to take the saints up to heaven.Christ's mission from heaven is clearly to execute the punishment of the wicked(Zec. 12:4-5). Also as Enoch, the seventh from Adam, had pointed to thecontemporary , and the generations of the wicked, issued a warning of theprophecy said: "Behold, the Lord is coming withthousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict allthe ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way,and ofall the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”(Jude 14-15)

Thisis the picture of Jesus coming to earth for the third time, a thousand yearslater. "Come with all the saints." "Saints" means not only the holy angels, but also all thesaints. From this point of view one can imagine how splendid the third comingof Christ must be! More and more than his advent glory. As the prophetZechariah had seen in his vision, "In that daythere will be no light, but the three lights (sun, moon and stars) will shrinkback" (Zec 14:6). For the glory of the third coming of Christ willcover the heavens, so that the sun, moon and stars are darkened, and withdraw,and disappear.

When Satan leads and deludes theresurrected wicked people and surrounds the "camp of the saints and thebeloved city" which comes down from heaven, fire comes down from heavenand consumes them. The wicked are described in The chapter of Revelation 22: Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, thesexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves andfabricates lies (Rev. 22:15). The dogs that are outside the city are thewicked of all ages who have risen, besieging "the camp of the saints andthe beloved city" when Christ with all the Saints comes to earth the thirdtime (on mount Olives). Therefore the holy city, the new Jerusalem, must have comedown before the wicked are burned. It is at the time of their siege of the holycity that God sends down the fire of brimstone and consumes them. The purposeof Jesus' third visit to earth is the last, most complete and thoroughpunishment to Satan, the evil angels, and the wicked of all ages — They havebeen burned to ashes!

“ Have been burned out,”the originalverb is in the perfect form. The wicked are destroyed, they do not existanymore. They suffered a "second death" — eternal death. There is nosuggestion that the wicked will suffer in the eternal fire of hell.

Why do they come back from the dead andstill want to fight God to the death? See:

The Great Controversy Chapter 42, End of the Struggle betweenGood and Evil paragraphs 4-32

【 At this time Satan will be ready for a final struggle…… Heproclaims himself the rightful ruler of the world. He will say to those resurrectedwicked whom he has deceived, that he is their Redeemer and will insist that hisability has been to make them from the grave, and he is going to save them fromthe most brutal tyranny. Christ is not in their midst. Satan will perform manymiracles to prove himself. He makes the weak become strong, and his spirit andthe ability to instill all. He will propose to lead them to attack the camp ofthe saints, and capture the city of God. He has a grim smile on his face. He isproud of himself. He will declare to the untold multitude of people (thewicked) who has risen from the dead, thatas their leader he is strong enough to capture the holy city and reclaim theirthrone and their kingdom.

And among them are many Kings and generals, who have conquerednations and conquered wars. They are heroic, ambitious soldiers, and in all theirlives, they are very aggressive. They have not undergone any change in theirdeath, so what they thought when they died is what they thought when they comeout of the grave. The desire which excited them in life to conquer the world isnow in them again.

… Satan consulted first with his angels, and then with theseKings and with the great men. The renowned militarist organized these warlikemasses into an army.

At last the command to attack is given… Satan, the mostpowerful of the warriors, is the leader before them, and his angels gather forthe final battle. Among them are the Kings and warriors of the earth, followedby countless others, each with his appointed commander. … And Jesus is aboutto give the commandment, and the gates of the new Jerusalem are shut. So theforces of Satan draw near and surround the city, preparing to attack it.

Then Christ will appearagain in the sight of his enemies.Andfar above the holy city is a throne high and high, with a foundation of shiningpure gold. The Son of God will sit on this throne, and the people of hiskingdom will stand around him. The power and majesty of Christ are beyonddescription, beyond pen and ink. The glory of the eternal Father surrounds hisSon. And the glory of his coming shall fill the city of God, and shine forthout of the city, and fill the whole earth with light… Then the king of Kings,who has inherited the highest majesty and power, pronounces his final judgmenton the traitors who have rebelled against his regime, and practice righteouspunishment on all who transgressed his law and suppressed his people…

…… Fire falls from God in heaven, and the earth is splitopen…The flames of destruction go forth. Even the rock itself is ablaze."The day is coming, it will burn like a furnace… The elements will bedestroyed by fire, and the earth and its things will be burned up "(Mal4:1; 2 Pet 3:10). The ground looks like a sheet of blazing lava — a vast andseething lake of fire, a time of retribution and destruction for the ungodly…. Some burn for a moment and are destroyed, but others will suffer for manydays, each one receiving the same punishment as he has done. Satan will suffera punishment far more terrible than that suffered by all those whom he hasdeceived. And he shall live, and be burned up, and suffer after those whom hehas deceived are burned up. In the fire that cleanses the earth, the wicked aredestroyed at last, leaving nothing of the root branch – Satan is the root,those who follow him, are the branches. The punishment of sin has beencompleted, the requirements of righteousness have been fulfilled. Then heavenand earth will proclaim the righteousness of the Lord together. The work ofSatan's destruction has ended forever. For six thousand years he has filled theearth with evil and made the universe sorrowful, and all creation groans andsuffers in vain. But from now on all things created by God will be free foreverfrom Satan and his temptations. …

While the whole earth is burning, the righteous dwell safely inthe holy city. "Those who have part in the first resurrection have nopower over the second death" (see Rev 20:6). God is a consuming fire tothe wicked, but the sun and a shield to his people (Ps.84:11)

Through the description of the Spiritof Prophecy, it is clear how the resurrected wicked a thousand years later arenot changed in nature, are played with by Satan, continue to compete with Satanas a traitor, fight God, fight with the beast, and send themselves into thefiery lake of ashes in a logical way. This shows God's holiness andrighteousness.He who sinswill perish (Eze 18:4).

[Rev. 20:10] The devil,who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where thebeast and the false prophet had been thrown. They shall be tormented day andnight for ever and ever.

When does this "lake of sulphurfire" appear? Whenwill a fire come down and consume the wicked? After a thousand years. It is nottrue that there is now a burning lake of sulphur fire, tormenting the deadsinners day and night. Why then, "Where the beast and the false prophetare?" Here it is declared that the beast and the false prophet have gonethere ahead of time! At the end of chapter 19, when we talk about the SecondComing of Christ, it does say that both the beast and the false prophet are thrownalive into the lake of burning brimstone (Rev19:20). At this point, James Whitewrote, "There may therefore be two lakes offire, one a thousand years ago and one a thousand years later" (Review andCommunication, January 21, 1862).What does that mean? We can see theLake of Sulphur fire from where the Garden of Eden belongs.

Ancestors and Prophets, Chapter 3, Temptation and Fall,paragraph 38

[The Garden of Eden remained on the earth for a long time (Ge 4:16)after mankind was driven out of Paradise. Falllen Humans still had to look to the innocent home,but the entrance was guarded byangels. God's glory still appeared in the cherubims the guard at the gate ofparadise. Adam also and to his children often came to here to worship God. Herethey again made a covenant to keep the law of God. They were driven out of thegarden of Eden was because of violating the law. When a torrent of evil arefull of all the earth, when the sins of the world people determined their doomto be destroyed by the flood, God who planted it(Eden) took it away from theearth, but in theday of the resurrection, when a new heaven and a new earth appear, Eden will berestored, more beautifully decorated than at the beginning.

It says that the Garden of Eden wastaken back by God at the time of the flood. What does "take it back"mean? Just as after death, "the dust (body) returns to the dust, and thespirit to the God who gave it" (Ecc 12:7), this means that after death thesoul (the breath of life) is taken away from the body by God, and man knowsnothing and becomes a heap of earth. At the resurrection, the breath (soul)returns to man, for God has given it (soul) again. Therefore, "take itback" means that God spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stoodfirm; All that is visible or invisible remains with God. The Garden of Eden wastaken back by God at the Flood of Noah and will be given back to man in the newheavens and the new earth. The same is true of this lake of sulphur fire. WhenJesus returns, there will be a great upheaval on the earth. Earthquakes,plagues, and volcanic eruptions will spews out lava, lakes of sulfur, intowhich beasts and false prophets will be thrown. When Jesus returns, and after thewicked are destroyed by the seven plagues and the fiery lake of sulfur, the righteous goup into heaven, and the fiery lake of sulfur goes out with the passage of time.That means God has taken it back. But a thousand years later, God again pourdown the lake of burning sulfur, burning the earth into a sea of fire,surrounding the resurrected wicked everywhere and Satan and his evil angels.This is the sulfur lake falling again. So the two lakes of fire, as conceivedby Jacob White, are two burning fires of brimstone.

When Satan and the wicked besiege thenew Jerusalem holy City on the Mount of Olives after the millennium, God rainbrimstone fire from the sky, and the holy City is surrounded by a sea of fire.The whole earth is drowned in the sea of fire except for the Holy City, butGod's people are protected in the Holy City, which is like an ark floating inthe sea of fire. Like Noah's ark, Noah's family was in the ark. The ark floatedon the water and was protected by God, while the world was submerged in a seaof flood. So shall all the wicked, and Satan, and evil angels, after themillennium, be drowned in a sea of burning fire. See:

Spiritual, volume 3 page 87

[The new Jerusalem remains in the middle of the flames ─ ─ when theflood rises above the ground, there is a shoreless ocean. Similarly, when Godfinally cleans the earth, there will be also a piece like a boundless lake offire. How did God protect the ark in the midst of a turbulent flood becausethere were eight righteous, how will he also keep faithful people in every age─ since the righteous Abel until the last living saints in the new Jerusalem. Thoughall over the world, except for the part of the holy city where it is, will be allsurrounded in the liquid of the fire lake, that city (the new Jerusalem) is miracle-likean ark, miracle-saved by the power of the Mighty, and the holy city standsharmless in the engulfing flames.]

This is how, at the end of a thousandyears, the earth will be a sea of fire, and the holy city (in which Jesus andthe Saints dwell) will stand undamaged like Noah's ark floating in the sea offire!

Satanand the wicked "shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."The word "forever and ever," literally, seems to refer to an endlessperiod of time, which some consider an endless punishment.Inthe Bible it refers to a limited period of time, such as a lifetime. Forexample, the words "forever" in 1 Samuel 1:22 and "lifetime"in verse 28, as well as "forever" in Exodus 21:1-6, Serve the masterforever. "Forever" means awhole life or lifetime. That is why the devil and others"shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" means that thetorments of Satan and the wicked will be burned until they are burned to ashesand destroyed forever. As long as he lives, the pain will not go away. Once itbecomes ashes, there will be no pain. In the prophecy of the prophet Ezekiel,God made it clear that the devil wouldeventually be burned to ashes and destroyed forever. The original sentence goeslike this:

【Eze28:16-19】 O guardian cherub (Satan-Lucifer), I expelled you fromamong the fiery stones.Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, andyou corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.So I threw you to the earth;I made a spectacle of you before kings.By your many sins and dishonest tradeyou have desecrated your sanctuaries. So I made a fire come out from you, andit consumed you, and I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of allwho were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you havecome to a horrible end and will be no more.

This means that the destruction ofLucifer (Satan) is forever and ever, not that its burning is forever and ever.Satan burns up to the ashes. But all the wicked will be burned to dust. As:

[Mal 4:1-3] "The day is coming," declares the LordAlmighty, "when it burns like a furnace, and all who are proud and wickedwill be broken pieces like stubble. It will burn them up and leave themnothing, root or branch. … And they shall be as dust under the soles of yourfeet in the day that I make them; and they shall be ashes. "Declares theLord Almighty.

Thus it can be seen that "foreverand ever" means that the state in which they turn to ashes is eternal, andthe state of extinction is eternal, not the state of combustion is eternal! “Thefire of hell burns forever and the sinner suffers forever.”The above sentenceis caused by the careless translation and expression.

In short, Satan, the evil angels andall the wicked will be burned to ashes for everlasting destruction. But eachperson is to be burned at the stake at different times and to differentdegrees, according to the seriousness of his crime. Some are less guilty, and theywill be burnt up first, like branches and leaves; Some are more sinful, burningfor a long time like thick branches, thick trunks, and large roots. Satan isthe root of all evil, and like the root of great trees, he will be burnt the longest.But in the end they will be burned to the ground, leaving nothing left of theirbranches. They will become ashes of the earth; they will be trodden under footand will not endure forever and ever (Mal 4:1-3; Eze28:18-19).

Who will be firewood in a lake ofsulphur fire? There will be one last judgment before Satan, the evil angels,and the wicked are cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed. The trial is toconvict and sentence, and the lake of sulphur fire is to execute them.

[Rev. 20:11] Then I saw agreat white throne and him who wasseated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place forthem anymore.

He that sits upon the great whitethrone is Christ the king of Kings. For Christ has already shown us that theFather judges no one, but gives all judgment to the Son. "And he has givenhim authority to judge because he is the Son of man" (Jn 5:22,27; Mt25:31).

The "great white throne" is atribunal seat set up to put an end to all the old creations and to bring theminto the new heavens and the new earth. It is also a symbol of the purity andjustice of judgment.

"Heaven and earth flee,"because the old ones have been destroyed by fire; "Nowhere to beseen", that is, nowhere to be found (2 Pet 3:7, 10-12). As:

[Ps102:26] They will perish, but you will remain. They will all wear out like agarment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.

[Isa 51:6] Lift up youreyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanishlike smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will lastforever, my righteousness will neverfail.

[2Pe 3:10] But the day of the Lord willcome like a thief. The heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and theelements will be destroyed by fire. The earth and everything on it will beburned up.

And the Lord, sitting on the greatthrone, shall make the final judgment upon the wicked of the resurrection ofall generations, to burn them. At the same time, the earth's physical substancewill be destroyed by the fire. The earth is like wearing old clothes to bereplaced,-get rid of the old and welcome the new. And all creation will beremoved, that things which will not be shaken may remain.The final judgment andpunishment (sulfur lake after the millennium) means it is time for the earth tobe transformed!

[Rev. 20:12-13] And I sawthe dead, small and great, standing before the throne and books were opened. Anotherbook was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according towhat they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that werein it, and death and hades gave up the dead that were in them. And each personwas judged according to what he had done.

"The dead" apparently refersto the wicked of the past who rose for the second time.

"No matter how big or small,"gender, age, or status become meaningless in this encounter with God. Many ofthe highest people in the world survived the retribution for their evil deedswhile they were alive(Many villains first die of natural causes). But in thislast reckoning of God, they are all doomed.

The "book" is a record of the life and behavior of the wicked,keeping a record of the life of the wicked. It shows that the judgment of thewicked is not based on arbitrariness, prejudice or injustice, but on facts andrecords.

The judgment before the second Coming,and the judgment a thousand years later, both have a "caseunfolding," but of a different nature. The judgment before the secondComing is the judgment of the righteous (to see who meets the standards ofascension), and the judgment after the second coming (the judgment during themillennium) is the judgment of the wicked and belongs to condemnation andpunishment. After the millennium there is the execution of the resurrectedwicked (the execution of sinners). The task of the trial in this millennium isto weigh the crimes of each sinner, determine the severity of his or herpunishment, and record the results of the trial on his or her record. At thistime, it is the case of each sinner,and as a result the burning time isdetermined and executed immediately.

And there is another bookopened, which is the Book of Life. For the Book of Life is also called the Bookof Life of the Lamb, which is originally only concerned with God's people, andonly the names of saints who believe and repent and accept the salvation of theLamb are recorded in the book of life. But how is it that the book of life nowappears in the condemnation of the wicked? This is obviously because many ofthose who perished were also those who at one time believed and repented andwere named in the book of life of the Lamb who were killed, but later sinnedand turned away from the Lord and their names were blotted out of the book oflife by Lord(Rev. 3:5). Since their names had been blotted out of the book oflife, it was natural to explain why they had been removed. In addition, theappearance of the book of Life, in a broad sense, has to do with everyone, foranyone whose name was not written in the book of Life will be thrown into thelake of fire. Take out the book of life, that you may separate all therighteous from the book of life, and all who remain will be wicked and bethrown into the lake of fire!

"The sea gives up the dead whichare in it, and death and sheol give up the dead which are in them." “Giveup” means to bring them back to life."Thesea and the grave," in terms of the way people are buried in the world,which refers to the place where the body is buried at the time ofdeath.Throughout the ages, many people were buried in the sea. For example,when indians died, they threw them directly into the river or into the sea,which is called sea burial.Now some people practice burial at sea, andit is very popular to scatter ashes at sea. It is unknown how many people havedied in the shipwrecks through the ages, and Noah's flood destroyed so manypeople, which are belong to the sea burial. These will be "the deaddelivered from the sea" when they rise again.

"Deathand the grave also hand over the dead in them," which means that those whoare buried in the ground, and those who are disposed of in various other ways,are raised from the place where they were buried and punished according to the recordsof their lives. All who are not named in the book of life lead to the samedestination, thrown into a lake of burning sulfur!

[Rev. 20:14-15] Thendeath and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death.If anyone's name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown into thelake of fire.

"Death and Hades were also throwninto the lake of fire." Death and Hades were also thrown into the lake offire because they had completed their work and did not need to exist. In other words,Satan, the evil angels and the wicked are destroyed forever, and death itselfis destroyed and no longer exists. There will be no more death or sheol. As: [1 Cor 15:55] where, O death, is your victory?Where, O death, is your sting? Jesusand the saints have conquered the sting of death. The saints have eternal life,entered the kingdom of heaven, and will live for ever and ever in the newheaven and the new earth. That is why death and hell are thrown into the lakeof fire, to perish with the destruction of the wicked and Satan!

"Thislake of fire is the second death," which means that death after themillennium is the second death. Any resurrection after the millennium willundergo a second death, which will be incinerated by a lake of burning sulfur,and will mean eternal death.

"Anyone whose name is not writtenin the book of Life is thrown into the lake of fire," which is repeating inthe end again that anyone whose name is not written in the book of Life isthrown into the lake of fire, with the devil, their master, to receive the doomof destruction.But for those whose names are written in the book of life, deathhas been triumphed forever by them. There is a distinction between those whohave been saved and those who have fallen. In that day they will either beblessed in heaven or will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur.

One thing to note here is that manychurches believe that somewhere there is a raging inferno that burns foreverand never goes out, and that every sinner who dies is immediately thrown intothe inferno to burn and suffer forever and ever and ever without end. This isan absurd theory. It is clearly not in line with the biblical lesson or thetrue character of God that a human life span of 80 to 90 years should besubjected to endless suffering.

"Eternal fire" symbolizeseverlasting destruction, and that God'swrath will not cease until its final purpose is attained. "Eternalfire" does not refer to the process of burning but to the result ofburning. It refers to the result of burning into ashes that lasts forever. Solet us not misunderstand that God is a God who tortures the wicked with"eternal fire" and makes them suffer forever and ever for revenge. Wewill use the truth to dispel people's misunderstanding of God. That is why God keepsraising up modern truths, revealing the secrets of the Bible and predicting thetruth.

This chapter describes the importantevents that will happen at the second Coming of Christ — the great Dragon(Satan) will be bound for a thousand years, the resurrection of the righteousand the resurrection of the wicked. The two revivals span a thousand years andhave opposite results. The first resurrection is the resurrection of therighteous — the transformation to heaven; The second resurrection after themillennium, this is the resurrection of the wicked of all ages, facing thefinal destruction – fiery lake of brimstone.

Satan, who will be released after themillennium, does not change his evil ways, but continues to fight against Godand storms against the new Jerusalem which is falling from heaven. At thistime, God sends down a lake of burning sulfur from heaven and burns them, sothat they will be reduced to ashes and no longer remain. The whole earth willbe drowned in a sea of fire, and the holy city stands like Noah's ark above alake of liquid fire, safe and sound. The blazing fire shall destroy all tracesof sin upon earth,which makes full preparations for the new heaven and the newearth!