20:1 And {1} I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key {2} of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
(1) Now follows the third part of the prophetic history, which is of the victory by which Christ overcame the dragon, as I noted in Re 7:1. This part must necessarily be joined with the end of the twelfth chapter and be applied to the correct understanding of it. This chapter has two parts, one of the dragon overcome, to Re 20:2-10: the other of the resurrection and last judgment to Re 20:11-15. The story of the dragon is twofold: First of the first victory, after which he was bound by Christ, to the sixth verse Re 20:1-6. The second is of the last victory, by which he has thrown down into everlasting punishment, there to the fifteenth verse Re 20:7-15. This first history happened in the first time of the Christian Church, when the dragon thrown down from heaven by Christ, went about to molest the new birth of the Church in the earth, Re 12:17,18:1. For which cause I gave warning, that this story of the dragon must be joined to that passage.
(2) That is, of hell, where God threw the angels who had sinned, and bound them in chains of darkness to be kept till damnation, 2Pe 2:4
20:1 The Millennium
SUMMARY OF REVELATION 20:
Satan Bound for a Thousand Years. Thrones and Saints Reigning with Christ. The First Resurrection. Satan Loosed at the End of a Thousand Years. The Gathering of Gog and Magog and of the Nations. Their Attack Upon the Saints. Their Destruction. The Devil Cast into the Lake of Fire. The Great Judgment.
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit. Having the key of the abyss (Revised Version). The abyss is named in Re 9:1,11 11:07 17:08 It is the present abode of Satan and his evil spirits. The things seen by John are symbolical. They imply that in some way the power of Satan shall be virtually destroyed upon the earth.
And a great chain in his hand. See PNT Re 20:2.
20:1 And I saw an angel decending out of heaven - Coming down with a commission from God. Jesus Christ himself overthrew the beast: the proud dragon shall be bound by an angel; even as he and his angels were cast out of heaven by Michael and his angels. Having the key of the bottomless pit - Mentioned before, Rev 9:1. And a great chain in his hand - The angel of the bottomless pit was shut up therein before the beginning of the first woe. But it is now first that Satan, after he had occasioned the third woe, is both chained and shut up.
20:1-3 Here is a vision, showing by a figure the restraints laid on Satan himself. Christ, with Almighty power, will keep the devil from deceiving mankind as he has hitherto done. He never wants power and instruments to break the power of Satan. Christ shuts by his power, and seals by his authority. The church shall have a time of peace and prosperity, but all her trials are not yet over.
