Revelation of John 20 · The Lantern

I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a chain in his hand. And he held the dragon, that old serpent, which is called the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be finished: after thi…

an angel. An angel administers such a sentence,it says, in order to show that the devil is both weaker than thèse ministering powers in terms of power and that from the beginning in vain he boldly ruled over all.

an angel. That angel is the Lord Jesus Christ, an angel of great prudence, who decended from heaven through the mystery of the Incarnation.

He seized the serpent, the old snake, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,

For this end did He put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed, they keeping it up mutually: He, the sole of whose foot should be bitten, having power also to tread upon the enemy's head; but the other biting, killing, and impeding the steps of man, until the seed did come appointed to tread down his head,-which was born of Mary, of whom the prophet speaks: "Thou…

In Greek letters, one thousand is designated with an "alpha." In the alpha we have the beginning, which is Christ; in the name [of Christ] we have the cross, which is our victory and the destruction of the evil enemy. Therefore, both by the cross of Christ and by the authority of the cross he bound the enemy of the world who deceived those who dwell upon the earth.

Moreover, if you begin the unloosing of Satan in connection with the time of the great Antichrist from the time when, under the fifth trumpet, the star falling from heaven took the key to the bottomless pit and opened it, then from Christ's resurrection to that time there are around one thousand years during which the saints reign with Christ.

and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.

But if, on the other hand, there is to be an end of evil, when the chief thereof, the devil, shall "go away into the fire which God hath prepared for him and his angels" -having been first "cast into the bottomless pit; " when likewise "the manifestation of the children of God" shall have "delivered the creature" from evil, which had been "made subject to vanity; " when the cat…

"And sealed it over him," that is, placed upon it the bolt of the cross so that he might never regain his strength, nor any more seduce the nations, whom the resurrection will restore and make better. Nonetheless, to this explanation the following seems in opposition. "Until the thousand years shall be ended.

he must be loosed for a little while. This they (Peter Auriol and Alexander Minorita) explain with regards to the time of the Antichrist when the power of the Devil will be released to deceive the nations.

I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as did not worship the beast nor his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Compare [John's] other words: "The hour is coming, and now is here, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live"—implying that the rest of the dead (who do not hear) will "not come to life." The added clause, "until the thousand years were finished," means that during that time "the rest of the dead" did "not come to life" as they should…

"Until the thousand years were ended," that is, until such time as the sacrament of the faith and the mystery of the cross is perfected in them and that those who are beginning to flourish might appear in their eternal blessedness.

until the thousand years were finished. That is, the time of Christ; for they will rise with others at the end of the world to be punished simultaneously in body and spirit.

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.

Now "the pain of the stroke" means that inflicted at the beginning upon disobedient man in Adam, that is, death; which [stroke] the Lord will heal when He raises us from the dead, and restores the inheritance of the fathers, as Isaiah again says: "And thou shall be confident in the Lord, and He will cause thee to pass over the whole earth, and feed thee with the inheritance of…

Blessed and holy who takes part in that first resurrection—It is not a first and second resurrection according to time; for there is one resurrection, and God has assigned one day for judgment, but he calls the resurrection the first, because the orders prior and more excellent pertain to it, according to that: Many are the mansions of my father's house; for if there are many m…

Supply the life of glory for their souls, which glorifies life is called the first resurrection. Indeed the second will be when they will rise in glorious bodies. Because these have salvation that they already posses in their souls and afterwards they will have this bodily;

And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,

And therefore during these three years and a half the souls of those who were slain for His testimony, both those which formerly passed from the body and those which shall pass in that last persecution, shall reign with Him till the mortal world come to an end, and pass into that kingdom in which there shall be no death.

And when the thousand years are completed, etc. He said completed as part of a whole, for he will be released such that three years and six months of the last struggle will remain. But besides this trope, it is rightly said that the time is finished.

By Gog, which means 'roof.' Antichrist is understood, who will be the dwelling place of the Devil. By Magog, which means 'from the roof,' those who follow Antichrist are understood, as has been said more fully in Ez. 39.

and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven and devoured them.

The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

If sorrow, and mourning, and sighing, and death itself, assail us from the afflictions both of soul and body, how shall they be removed, except by the cessation of their causes, that is to say, the afflictions of flesh and soul? where will you find adversities in the presence of God? where, incursions of an enemy in the bosom of Christ?

And the Devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the False Prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, etc. That is, the devil will be cast into the eternal fire at the final judgment, where all whom he has led will also go, that is, the majority of the impious city.

I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

And in the Apocalypse John saw this new [Jerusalem] descending upon the new earth. For after the times of the kingdom, he says, "I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens; and there was no more place for them." And he sets forth, too, the things connected with the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning "…

And I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it, and from before his presence the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. He calls the white throne, bright and flashing. The passage alludes to the passing of the heavens and the alternation and transformation of the earth.

And I saw a great white throne, and him who sits upon it: and from his face fled the earth and the heaven—After the day of revelation that the faithful and unfaithful see, he will say to those who are left and have not yet tasted death: Come with me, that you enter your chambers and hide until the wrath has passed.

I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Who is free before God if not those who are declared to be by the power of him who judges the works of each one? God is said to have a book, which is not a physical book but a spiritual book, that is, the eternal memory in which the names of the elect are kept.

In this judgment, moreover, there will be an opening of the books, namely of consciences, by which the merits and demerits of all will become known both to themselves and to others, this being accomplished by the power of that book of life, namely the incarnate Word; who in the form of Divinity will be seen only by the good, but in the form of humanity, in which he will also pr…

The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and hell gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.

Consider, he says, whether too the blessed John, when he says, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it: and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them," does not mean the parts which are given up by the elements for the reconstruction of each one?

And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each was judged according to their works. Those who disbelieve in the resurrection of bodies mock both us and our doctrine that these bodies will be raised again, as if this were not only difficult but wholly impossible.

And they were judged, each one according to their deeds. This signifies that bodies will be gathered from the earth and souls from their places. The good are designated by the name of death, which has only suffered the dissolution of the flesh, but not punishment. The wicked are designated by the name of hell.

Death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

[In evil persons] God begins his judgment with desertion and ends with anguish. For in this present time as well in which God deserts the evil ones who go away from him, he does not work in them what displeases him but works through them what pleases him.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life. That is, who was not judged by God to be alive. Hence, it seems more correct to say, as those who interpret the open books as the consciences of individuals and their revealed works.

Revelation of John20