The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 427

Satan wlll be bound, and the •inta will priloJt j df'6 jWued; that U, the power of Nlign: then finally the uttimate punishment the cleTil Iii.ring 1-n m principle oom- of 8a1an-tbe cuting into the lake of fire. pletely O\'fflhrown by our Loni (aee on Some limit the loeality of this reign to a p ~ g .,_), Satan is still permittea particnm BpOt on theea.rtb (e.f, Jenualem), to wage war and unciae awav on &heeadh. IJe,,md wh1.eh li'retheungodly. The objeo- "Hi1 pri.-" :ia tbe"abyu,; olTIIIB. l, S tlona 1o thi8 theory are l (G) Amonm iu (cf. uo T&l'. S). advoeatea almost 8TfllJ' detail is a nui.iw of Ver. 8.-And. ..U IO out to aeoet,. the 4iaptat.e. Some place the millennillln. in the ·uati.oml wbieh are ia the four quarwn of ftlture. others in the past. Of these latter tlK eardl, Geg alMl Kagog; four _._... mme apeeify file ftl'8l thoutand years of the The atgniftcatioa of "Gog and Magog" Oluiman. age, othffl the tholl8and yeen (flde iafrn) UltWB in what aenae "the from. the time of Oonltantin.e. .. The length natiolla' is nsed. It ii in the limited 81111118 ~ 'the period. the number and dasa of the of the ungodly of the world, not in ,the believera who shall be partakers of its glory, wider aense in which the ex,-ion is 1Uled the condition in. whicli they B1'8 to live, the (without any qualifying clause) in ver. S. work In which they are to bo engaged, the Magog iu Gen. L 2 is mentioned among the te1ation in which the exalted Redeemer ill son■ of Japheth who were the anoeators of to Mand to them," are all subjeciill for dis- the northern nation■ (cf. Ezek. :uxvili. 15 agreement. (b) The carnal nature of 1noh and xnix. 2). Heaoe the :name JltlgOg ii a resunection is ·at variance with the IJl8d to denote the nolthem tribe&, whOBe general teaching of the Bible, and unlike in\"uion of Palestine and adjoining paris the spiritual nature which our Lord himself took pllC8 about -.o, .680-600. J'rom 1111Snmed after his r~ection. (c) If the llzek. n s i L it ■-118 that Gog WIii origin- saints receive a glorified body for thai period, ally a leader among these tribe■ ; and from it is impossibletoconceiveofthem as living Ezek. uniii. 17 it -11111 that Ezekiel" in the world in its Jll'888nt state, and a large took th88e DaUl8II to be symbolicaJ of all the part of which la inhabited by the ungodly. foes of the people of God. Jewish tradition {d) U is impossible satisf&otorily t.o conceive makee UIJe of these names to indicate thcee ,wtmt relations could exist between the nation, who were expected to war against Minta in such a ease and the ungodly. If :Jero.■aiem in the lut; daya, and t.o be o"fer- &tan ill bo11nd during this period so that thrown by the Messiah. Hence the employ. he Olm de<.-ein the nations no more, whenoe ment of the tenlll here by St. John u oomes the evil which exiat.a ameng the un- denoting the ungodly people of the W-Ol'ld. godly portion of the world? (11) There is amQDgst whom Satan atill exercj- hill no other example of a literal uae of numben power, though that power ia limited to theae, in the whole of the Apocalypse. (/) The and he is oompletely bound 88 regard■ trll(I teaching ·of the Bible elsewhere not only believers. To gather~• them together 1to negatively fails to support this view, but is battle: tha nuaber of whom is u the l&Di in positive opposition t.o i1, in tuch points ea of the - ; lo U.. _,.; the article points 11, oontinuanoe of evil after Ohriat'e second definitely to the war of eh. xix. 18 and xvi. eoming: the exiistence of an interval between 14. R ill a prolonged tDar, nol; a battle, his eoming and the judgment instead of a beoe.1118 lasting throughout life. The vast- sudden eominJ t.o judgmellt (comp. John vi. D888 of. the boats of Gog and. llaKOI!: ill 40, "I will ?a188 liim up at the last day"). slluded to in Ezek. Xllvili. 9, 16. T).iii Ja (2) The 1piritn&I. inapretation, which in oonfozmity with oar Lord's teaching: makes the thoosand years expreBBive of the "llhny 11,re called, but few ate chosen" whole Chrilti.&n age. This seema t.o a c,er- (Matt. llii. H; cf. AlBo vii 14). tain extent true. since what the thousand Ver. 9.-Aad they ,rat up Oil the 'brea4Ul 1ean signifies does have itl elteci; during of the earth, aaul eom}IUNll the _ , of the this time in the reign of the ainta. But it Aiatl about, ad the beloffCl eiiJ; ONI' fM 11te!DIJ inexa.ot, Bince it makes the tboulllllld bNa4t1I. "They went up" sa an anny to years symbolical of a length of Choe, instead attack tile euemy (cf. Judg. i. 1). Ei~ of a quality attached to n action. What we mU8t render Uio OGffll' • • • - Uio l»- ill meant is not that Christ bound Sa.tan looed ea,, or elee we mud und8lllamd the during the period of the Christian age cnmp as a defensive outpoat plaoed around (though, 88 we have eeen, there ii a sense in or near the city. .In A.otl UJ, S4 the ■ame whioh he is so bound as reguda beli&Yera), word is rendered "cutle." " The beloved for, on the contrary, he goes about like a cityl' is e"fidently Jeroaalem (of. Ps. lxxviii. roaring lion; but fut he bound and over- ti8), that is. the Church of 6od, of which il threw him completely for all Ohriiitiaru. by is always a type in. the Apocalypse (of. ob. his redeeming work. · iii 12 ; ui. 2, 10). The dellcriptioa plainly Ver. 7.-And whea the thouancl ,-n portrays the Chumh militaut laeie oa earth. ue q,pired. Sam uall 'be l.ooled out ot W. h4 IR . . . wn trom w "' or ua'fell, 47! THE ··REVELATION OP ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. (OIL :u. 1-16.