Religion and Theology

The Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible and is classified as one of the New Testament books. It was written a couple of centuries ago by an apostle named John. The book of Revelation is an account of the vision that the apostle experienced towards the end of his life. The vision that John saw was symbolic and most of the information contained in this book requires interpretation in order to be understood. This discussion specifically focuses on the 20th chapter of this book, and in particular verses 1-6 (Barr, D. L. 2003).

The first verse of the 20th chapter of Revelation begins with the apostle seeing an angel who comes from heaven and with him is a key to a pit that is said to be without a bottom. In addition the angel having in hand a big chain. This verse symbolizes the power that the angel of God has over the devil. The chain that the angel has is for chaining the devil and the bottomless pit signifies the endless misery of hell where the devil belongs. The first, second and third verses concentrate on binding of the devil as the 2nd  verse records that the angel bound the devil a thousand years. Verse three records that after the angel bound the devil he threw him into a bottomless pit so that his work of deceiving nations may be discontinued until the one thousand year period is over (Beasley, M. G. R. 2004).

Looking at verses four to six, the focus now changes from earth to heaven. John records that he saw some people sitted on thrones while others were receiving judgment for being witnesses of Christ Jesus and standing by the word of God. They were crowned and they lived with Christ in His thrown for thousands of years. The rest of the people remained dead until the one thousand year period elapsed and then there was the first resurrection. By interpretation what is referred to as the first resurrection implies the new phase in which those that believed in Christ while on earth enter.

Looking at these verses there is a great connection with the verses in the book of Genesis. The books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel are key in helping us understand and interpret the contents of the book of revelation and in particular chapter 20. In these two books there is a detailed coverage as to how human beings can achieve contentment while on earth by believing Jesus Christ while at the same time being loyal and full of faith. It is also in these two books that Satan is portrayed as powerless as he was unable to prevent the redemption and incarnation of Jesus Christ. Satan is viewed as manipulative as he attempts to derails and distract believers from their faith in Christ (Barr, D. L. 2003).

The thoughts and applications derived from this passage is that we are able to get the complete serenity and peace if we believe in Christ. We have all that we need when we give Christ a chance to reign in our lives. The devils work is to steal, kill and destroy and thus we must at all times ensure that we keep far away from him. Christ requires our faith in him to be active as this is the only way he shall be able to judge us. Those who declare him as Lord and in the presence of all men and fight for the true gospel of Christ will be rewarded during the second resurrection as they shall reign with him for thousands of years to come (Beasley, M. G. R. 2004).

The 20th chapter of the book of revelation mainly focuses on the three millennium views which are the pre-millennium, post millennium and millennial. The beginning of this chapter is purely millennial. The beginning of this chapter has been interpreted by many theologians as being metaphoric. The Amillennialism represents the reign of the son of God Jesus Christ which will be closely followed by the second coming of Jesus. Those that died while believing in him will reunite with Christ during this period (Beasley, M. G. R. 2004).

Premillennialism period is the period when human beings are living in part of the Kingdom of God which will later grow and become greater. It is this period that Jesus will come again and reign over the earth. The devil will have no position. The third era is where the whole world will be converted to Christianity. It is at this period that the new earth will be filled with prosperity and peace. Christ will bring judgment the whole world and the righteous will go to heaven while the evil will be condemned to eternal misery (Barr, D. L. 2003).
It is therefore up to us to keep ourselves prepared so that when this time comes we shall be ready and we shall be found to be righteous so that we all shall go with Christ. The book of revelation is a key book in the Bible as it helps us understand what will happen during the last days.