You can open your Bible to Revelation chapter 20 to find the most of what the Bible says about the thousand-year reign of Christ.

Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire [the second death].”​—Rev. 20:1-15.

This long word is made up from two Latin words that we find in the Latin version of the last book of the Holy Bible, in Revelation 20:2-7, namely, mille anni, meaning “a thousand years.”

In the same book he gives us an allegorical explanation of Chapter 20 of the Apocalypse.

After these things he must be let loose for a little while.”—Rev. 20:1-3.

Till he and his demons are seized, chained and hurled into an abyss, unable to mislead the nations for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-3)

Many Witnesses would answer by quoting verses from Revelation chapters 20 and 21 that refer to the Thousand Year Reign of Christ and his Kingdom government and the human society, where death, mourning, and pain will be “no more.”​—Revelation 20:6; 21:1, 4.

16. (a) Why have the churches of Christendom rejected the Millennial hope? (b) Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the model prayer will be answered?

¹⁶ Re Chapters 20 to 22 of the book of Revelation contain the Scriptural basis for hope in the Millennium.

 5. (a) When will that take place, and thus what will flee away? (b) What vision of Judgment Day will then be fulfilled?

⁵ This will be immediately after the battle of Armageddon, in which the Devil’s earthly organization of political rulers will be defeated by the heavenly warrior Jesus Christ and his angels. (Rev. 19:11 to 20:3)

Hence before Revelation, chapter twenty, tells us about the delivering up of the dead ones by the sea and by death and Haʹdes, it tells us first about the resurrection of the 144,000 spiritual followers of Jesus Christ, in the following words:

Chap. 20 301

20:1-3 484

Then will follow “the thousand years,” during which the Devil will not mislead the nations anymore.​—Rev. 20:2, 3.

Moreover, the Revelation that Jesus gave, later, to the apostle John, assures us that 1,000 years of God’s kingdom by Christ will follow the passing away of the Devil and all his works.​—Rev. 20:2, 3; 1 John 3:8.

20:1-6 600

20:1-6, 11-15 725

It is true that the twentieth chapter of Revelation does not specifically mention the demons when it speaks of Satan’s abyssing and ultimate return for a little while.

So when Revelation 20:3 speaks of Satan’s being seized and hurled into the abyss so that he might not mislead the nations anymore, we may assume that his angels are bound along with him so that they cannot mislead either.

19:11-20:8 191

20:1-3 420

The only place in the Bible where the millennial hope is specifically mentioned is the Apocalypse, or Revelation. (Re 20:1-7)

He gave Revelation chapter 20 an allegorical twist.

Thus, Jeremiah 25:17-26 parallels Revelation chapters 18 through 20 in clarifying the sequence of events as the cup of Jehovah’s rage is passed around.

First, the world empire of false religion must go down, next the political powers, and then Satan himself is to be abyssed.​—Revelation 18:8; 19:19-21; 20:1-3.

And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.”​—Revelation 20:1-3.

After that, the Devil and his demons will be “let loose for a little while,” and then they will be destroyed forever. (Revelation 20:3, 10)

Afterward, Satan himself will be abyssed and prevented from interfering with humanity for a thousand years, and this thousand years is the actual duration of Judgment Day. (Revelation 19:17–20:3)

Then, the Bible says, Satan will be allowed access to mankind for one last time. (Revelation 20:3, 7-10)

After these things he must be let loose for a little while.”​—Revelation 20:1-3.

The Catholic clergy have said that Satan and his demons were then released from “the bottomless pit,” or “the abyss,” to renew their deceptive work for “a little time.” (Revelation 20:1-3, Catholic Douay Version)

And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and . . . he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him.” (Revelation 20:1-3)

◻ It will remove the demonic instigators of war (Revelation 20:1-3)

Augustine was also the one who finalized Christendom’s abandoning the Scriptural hope of Jesus Christ’s Thousand Year Reign during which He will restore Paradise on earth. (Revelation 20:1-3, 6; 21:1-5)

Since Revelation 20:3, 7, 8 says that Satan would be bound for 1,000 years and then “released . . . to deceive all the nations” (The Jerusalem Bible), small wonder that some people in the tenth century were fearful of what might happen in the year 1000.

 4. According to Revelation chapter 20, from where will the dead come forth, but what symbolic place does not give up its dead?

⁴ In Revelation chapter 20, which deals with the resurrection of the “rest of the dead” who do not share in the “first resurrection,” the Bible says that the “sea” and “Hades” give up the dead in them.

According to Revelation chapter 20, from where will the dead come forth, but what symbolic place does not give up its dead?

By reading the Jewish prophets, they had received foregleams of the wonderful millennial hope given by Christ in Revelation, chapters 20 and 21.

The former things have passed away.’”​—Rev. 20:1-6, Re 21:1-4.

And, of course, it was in that same Revelation that John also had a vision of the millennial reign of Christ, which again mentions two groups: those “having part in the first resurrection,” who “will rule as kings,” and “mankind,” who will be blessed by God and who “will be his peoples.”​—Rev. 20:1–21:8.

At the head of heavenly combat forces, this “King of kings” will fight to put an end to all wickedness on the earth.​—Rev. 19:11–20:3.

 7. (a) After Armageddon, what will happen to the Devil and his spirit forces? (Rev. 20:1-3) (b) What future will humankind then enjoy, as indicated by Bible prophecies? (Rev. 21:3, 4; Ps. 37:9-11, 29; Isa. 11:6-9; 33:24; 65:21-24)

⁷ Finally, the Devil and his wicked spirit forces will be plunged into the symbolic abyss of immobility, this paving the way for the unhindered, earth-wide rule of God’s kingdom of a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-3; 21:3, 4)

(a) After Armageddon, what will happen to the Devil and his spirit forces? (Rev. 20:1-3)

Certainly, also, since the ouster of Satan the Devil and his demons from heaven, it has been the “last days” for them before they are hurled into the abyss before the 1,000-year reign of the Messiah Jesus. (Rev. 20:1-3, 7)

Revelation 19:11 through 20:6 answers: Jehovah God’s Messianic kingdom of a thousand years, ushering “upon earth peace among men of goodwill,” first among the earthly survivors of “the great tribulation,” namely, a remnant of those upon whom the holy spirit was poured out during the “last days” and also the “great crowd” of their sheeplike companions who stuck with them to the “end” (télos). (Luke 2:14; Matt. 24:21; Rev. 7:9, 14, 15)

Describing the opening part of that action, Revelation 20:1-3 says that a powerful angel will seize the Devil and bind him for the millennium.

So the fact that Revelation 20:1-10 does not depict the 144,000 as acting with Christ in expressing judgment does not mean that they have no role in this.

This will enable them to rule as kings with Jesus Christ during the millennium when Satan the Devil and his demons are bound and confined in the abyss, no longer able to dominate mankind’s affairs invisibly.​—Rev. 20:1-3.

During that demon-free millennium God’s world government by Christ will rule as an expression of his rightful universal sovereignty.​—Rev. 20:1-6.

All the mischief done by Satan in Eden and since is now undone!​—Rev. 20:1–22:5.

God’s Kingdom Rules!, which covers chapters 14 through 22.

He will be stripped of his power as a god and hurled into an abyss together with all his demon angels. (Rev. 20:1-3)

It will abyss the invisible, yet real, power behind this present system of things, namely, “the god of this system of things,” Satan the Devil, along with his demons. (Rev. 20:1-3)

And Satan the Devil and his demons, who have been like ruling “heavens” over disobedient mankind, will be put out of action or abyssed.​—Rev. 20:1-3.

Thereafter Satan will be released from the abyss and permitted to subject humankind to a final test.​—Rev. 20:3, 7-10.

They are furious because their time of confinement here is short before they are ousted even from the earth and imprisoned in an abyss from which they cannot exercise their wicked influence over all mankind.​—Rev. 20:1-3, 7.

20, 21. (a) How will earth take on a festive appearance in celebration of the divine victory? (b) How will victory be gained over the whole earth in fulfillment of God’s command to Adam and Eve?

²⁰ Just as when there is a national victory and the whole land is given a festive appearance, so after the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” and the imprisonment of Satan the great dragon and his demon angels in the abyss, the whole earth will begin to take on a festive appearance in celebration of the divine victory. (Rev. 16:14, 16; 20:1-3)

¹⁴ Happily for mankind, at the time of emptying “hell” Satan and his demon angels will be bound as with chains and isolated and restrained in what the apostle John calls “the bottomless pit” or “the Abyss.” (Apoc. 20:1-3, Douay; The Jerusalem Bible)

They will have been crushed to pieces in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon, immediately before the binding and abyssing of their invisible rulers, Satan the Devil and his legions of demons. (Rev. 16:13-16; 19:11-21; 20:1-3)

This he will do after first doing away with the visible peace obstructors here on earth. (Rev. 19:11 to 20:3)

In prophetic vision the apostle John saw Satan the Devil and his demons bound and abyssed for a thousand years, during which thousand years Jesus Christ reigned with his victorious disciples over all mankind. (Rev. 5:9, 10; 20:1-7)

The limited information from the Bible on which this question is based appears at Revelation 20:1-3.

When Satan is in that abyss mentioned in Revelation chapter 20, he will definitely not be in Hades, for he is not a human and he will not be assigned to the common grave of dead mankind.

The opening verses of Re chapter twenty show the source of the wickedness, Satan and his demons, bound (as discussed in our last two preceding issues).

They will join with the “great crowd” in serving God during the thousand-year judgment day, and all of these together will have to be obedient, standing loyally through the test of the “little while” that Satan and his demons are loosed from the abyss.​—Rev. 7:9; John 10:16; Rev. 20:3.