Resilient – A Revelation Daily Devotional – Day 42
Cedar Creek Church September 7, 2025

Day 42 – September 7

Read or listen to the audio version of the Bible Reading and Daily Devotional.

Read Revelation 20:1-10

The Thousand Years
1And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.
4I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.
The Judgment of Satan
7When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The best characterizations of today’s text on initial examination and study would be “weighty and divisive.” The exact nature and interpretation of the timeline laid out in today’s reading have been the subject of much Christian debate throughout history. While theological debate is certainly a necessary endeavor, it also has the ability to distract from actual Christian living. Remember, this book is not a secret roadmap to be unpacked like a sunken pirate treasure map that many minds have created the eschaton to be. John’s work is a call to stand resilient in faith in all seasons and circumstances of life by looking behind the veil to see what these circumstances truly are from an eternal perspective.

There are likely two headings in the sections you read today. Mine are titled “The Thousand Years” (which is where much of the mentioned debate lies) and then the “Defeat of Satan.” Rather than attempting to solve the debate, consider the two pictures painted in this text.

First, the image of Satan. Our biggest, baddest enemy is chained up and cast into the pit, not by God Himself, but by an angel. Talk about the ultimate insult. For God, Satan is light work, and He can simply have an assistant handle that problem. God delivers the ultimate burn before sentencing Satan to the eternal burn (apologies for the attempted religious humor that likely only caused me to chuckle).

Contrast Satan’s impotence with Christ’s power. What marks the world as He reigns? Peace, prosperity, and clarity. All of Satan’s schemes are gone, and nations are no longer deceived. Global peace and clarity are not the subjects of a Miss Universe pageant; they are realities for a kingdom that is headed by the King of Kings.

As stark as that contrast is, the text takes a heartbreaking turn. As soon as Satan is released, many on the earth immediately flock back to his deceits and the violence that all of human history has watched play out from following those lies. What comes into focus in this scene is what theologians have long called “total depravity.” As a result of sin in the world, humanity on our own loves darkness more than light. We are sucked into shouting matches over temporal arguments, drawn toward being divisive in order that our position may be judged superior, and motivated above all by a love for and pursuit of self-advancement.

The only shot we have is not a glimpse of peace. It is not simply seeing what could be if we were able to stop sinning. It is a new identity given by the Prince of Peace. Satan is not our greatest enemy; he can be easily disposed of. The sin he draws us toward reveals our greatest enemy: death. It is a certainty for all of humanity. But God, in the form of Jesus, stepped out of heaven to wrap Himself in human flesh, to die the death we deserved, and conquered that enemy. Not for 1,000 years, or some other timeline we can create, but for all of eternity. That victory, which we call the Gospel, is the only hope we have of escaping eternal judgment. But what’s more than that, it’s the only shot we have at receiving a heart that clings to our Father more than the lies. Thank you for the Gospel, Father. It is our only shot!

Pray: God, help me to never believe I have graduated from my need for You. Remind me of what you have done for me in every moment of my life. Help me to cling to that and see the lies of the enemy. Amen.