The Bottomless Pit
The apostle John wrote, “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Revelation 20:1-3).
The bottomless Pit is translated from the Greek word “abusos,” or in English “abyss.” In the Greek Old Testament, it refers to the formless earth before Creation: “And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Genesis 1:1, 2). In Luke 8:31, it refers to a place where demons have no one to possess or use. “And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.”
At the second coming, the wicked will be slain (Isaiah 11:4) and the righteous will be taken to heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). During the following 1,000 years, the devil will be chained (Revelation 20:1-3). This chain will be symbolic. A spirit being cannot be confined with a literal chain. It is symbolic in the sense that there will be no one for the devil to influence or deceive (Revelation 20:3).
For 1,000 years Satan and His angels will behold the fruit of their rebellion. They always been busy causing evil but now they have time to think. They will become captives or prisoners on this earth contemplating the evil they created and waiting for their judgement. “And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited” (Isaiah 24:22).
The End of Sin
At the end of this period of time, Satan will be released from his prison for a short time and the wicked dead are raised, soon to make preparations for taking the New Jerusalem. John wrote, “Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:7–9).
The wicked will be annihilated. They will suffer the “second death” (verse 6). Death and hell will never be a part in the new earth; they belong only to this world. Death is the final enemy to be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26, 53–55). Then, God will create a new heavens and a new earth and the redeemed will forever in peace in God’s glorious kingdom (Isaiah 65:17; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
