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Bible Study · Revelation 20
A thousand years of Christ visibly reigning, Satan bound, no deception loose in the world, and when Satan is released, he still finds a multitude "as the sand of the sea" ready to follow him. Who are these people? The answer matters more than it first appears.
"And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."Revelation 20:8 (KJV)
Part 1
No. It does not mean that the resurrected, glorified saints who reign with Christ will rebel.
The question is a fair one to ask. If Christ has reigned visibly on the earth for a thousand years, Satan bound and unable to deceive anyone (Revelation 20:1-3), and the world has still produced a multitude ready to rebel the moment Satan is loosed, doesn't that suggest even glorified, resurrected believers could fall away given the wrong circumstances? Revelation itself answers this by naming two very different groups in the same chapter, and only one of them is at risk.
Part 2
Revelation 20 is careful to distinguish exactly who reigns with Christ from exactly who Satan deceives.
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus... and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years... Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power."Revelation 20:4, 6 (KJV)
The first group is the glorified saints, raised in the first resurrection, already covered in full in our study on the Millennium. Scripture states plainly that "the second death hath no power" over them. They are not living mortal, temptable lives during this thousand years the way they did before, they are glorified and reigning. Scripture gives no indication anywhere that these particular people, already resurrected, already reigning with Christ, can be deceived into rebellion.
The second group appears only when Satan is loosed: "he will go out to deceive the nations" and gather them "as the sand of the sea" (Revelation 20:8). These are not the resurrected saints. They are evidently people still living natural, mortal lives during the Millennium, including generations born during that period who were never part of the first resurrection at all.
Part 3
A perfect government is not the same thing as a changed heart.
People can live under Christ's own righteous, visible government and outwardly obey Him without ever personally experiencing the new birth. And a child born to faithful parents during the Millennium is not automatically saved simply because their parents entered that age faithfully. Every person still has to respond to God for himself, "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), a point covered fully in our study on being born of water and Spirit. Nothing about living in ideal conditions substitutes for that.
A thousand years with no satanic deception, Christ visibly reigning, and Satan shut away, and there is still a multitude "as the sand of the sea" ready to rebel the moment Satan is released. These are not the resurrected, glorified saints, but people among the mortal nations who never truly surrendered their hearts to God. An external environment, even a perfect one, cannot transform the human heart. Only the new birth can do that (John 3:5). The Millennium proves the point rather than erasing the need for it.
Part 4
It's worth being honest about where the plain statement of the text ends and where interpretation begins.
Revelation 20 does not explicitly walk through every detail of who these people are or exactly how the population during the Millennium develops. The conclusion that they arise from mortal nations and the generations born to them is a reasonable interpretation drawn from the plain distinction the chapter itself draws between the glorified saints and "the nations." What the passage states clearly, without needing to be inferred, is that Satan deceives the nations, not that the resurrected saints abandon Christ. Holding that distinction is what keeps this passage from being misread as proof that salvation itself is unstable for those already glorified.
"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them."Revelation 20:9 (KJV)
Notice the language itself: the rebels come against "the camp of the saints," language that separates the attackers from the saints being attacked. The saints are not the ones rebelling. They are the ones the rebellion is aimed at, and God ends it immediately.
Hide These in Your Heart
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power."
Revelation 20:6"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
John 3:5Search Your Heart
The Next Step
No matter what you have done, God loves you and is calling you to Himself right now. Jesus didn't simply call people to learn, He called people to follow Him. Discover what the Bible teaches about repentance, baptism in Jesus' name, receiving the Holy Spirit, and walking in new life.
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
Acts 2:38 NKJV
Turn from sin and surrender your whole heart to God.
For the remission of sins -- every New Testament baptism was in His name.
The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are far off (Acts 2:39).
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