The Apocalypse of St. John by Rev. E. Sylvester Berry [1921]

[Stone]

Part III

THE UNIVERSAL REIGN OF JESUS CHRIST

CHAPTER XX

1. And I saw an angel corning down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand:

2. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

3. And he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should no more seduce the nations, till the thousand years be finished. And after that he must be loosed a little time.

4. And I saw seats; and they sat upon them; and judgment was given unto them; and the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who had not adored the beast nor his image, nor received his character on their fore head, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5. The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In these the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ; and shall reign with him a thousand years.


1-3. Chapters ix-xix form an important part of the Apocalypse containing, as they do, an extended history of Antichrist and his warfare against the Church. As a preparation for his coming, the star fallen from heaven opens the abyss whence comes forth a great swarm of locusts.1 Then follows a prophetic account of his reign, the overthrow of his empire, and his final condemnation in hell. An angel from heaven now binds the dragon and casts him into the abyss which is closed and sealed that Satan may no longer seduce the nations as in the past. Thus all obstacles are removed and the Church begins her peaceful reign on earth. It should be noted, however, that not all evil spirits are thus sealed up in the abyss; there will still be sin and evil on earth. The individual must still struggle against temptation and seduction. In fact there can be no real progress in virtue without temptation.

4. St. John now sees the souls of those who participate with Christ in the government of His Church. They are the saints who worshipped not the beast nor his image, nor received his character on their forehead, and especially they are the martyrs who gave their lives "for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God." "Judgment was given unto them," for as St. Paul says: "the saints shall judge this world."2 The saints and martyrs are models and patrons for the faithful whom they teach and guide by the example of their lives on earth and by their intercession in heaven. Thus do they live and reign with Christ.

5. The wicked, the rest of the dead, live not the life of the soul because they have been condemned to the eternal torments of hell, which is the second death be cause it follows the death of the body.

6. The reign of the saints and martyrs with Christ in heaven is called the first resurrection. The resurrection of the body at the last judgment shall be the second. Blessed are they who have part in the first resurrection because the second death hath no power over them.


(1) Ch. ix, 2, 3.
(2) I Corinthians vi, 2.




7. And when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go forth, and seduce the nations, which are over the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, and shall gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sands of the sea.

8. And they came upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the be loved city.

9. And there came down fire from God out of heaven, and devoured them; and the devil, who seduced them, was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast

10. And the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.



7, 8. At the close of the period, symbolized by a thousand years, Salman will be loosed again for a short time during which he will seduce many nations. From the four quarters of the earth he will assemble an army, numerous as the sands of the sea, to war against the Church, the camp of the saints. Jerusalem the beloved, then the city of the Popes, will be the chief point of attack; but God will intervene in its defense by raining down fire upon the besieging hosts.

9. These hostile nations are symbolized as Gog and Magog,1 names made famous by the prophecy of Ezechiel in which their invasion and terrible destruction by fire is described at length. "Thou shalt come out of thy place from the northern parts, thou and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army. And thou shalt come upon my people of Israel like a cloud to cover the earth. . . . And I will judge him with pestilence, and with, blood, and with violent rain, and vast hailstones: and I will rain fire and brimstone upon him, and upon his army, and upon the many nations that are with him. . . And I will send fire on Magog, and on them that dwell confidently in the islands: and they shall know that I am the Lord. . . . Behold it cometh, and it is done, saith the Lord God: this is the day whereof I have spoken.

. . And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give Gog a noted place for a sepulchre in Israel: the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea, which shall cause astonishment in them that pass by: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude, and it shall be called the valley of the multitude of Gog. And the house of Israel shall bury them for seven months to cleanse the land. And all the people of the land shall bury him, and it shall be unto them a noted day, wherein I was glorified, saith the Lord God."2

10. Satan is now cast into hell to be tormented with the beast and the false prophet for all eternity.


(1) In Ezechiel, Magog seems to be a people and Gog their ruler.
(2) Ezechiel xxxviii, xxxix.




11. And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them.

12. And I saw the dead great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books according to their works.

13. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works.

14. And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire. This is the second death.

15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the pool of fire.


11. St. John now beholds our Lord seated upon His throne to judge the living and the dead. Heaven and earth fleeing before His face expresses the terror that shall seize upon the wicked: "Men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved."1 Our Lord s coming with power and majesty, and the signs that precede it were not revealed to St. John, probably because they had been sufficiently announced by Christ Himself in the Gospels.2

12. "Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together."3 In like manner at the corning of Christ the dead arise and come to judgment. The books are now opened and all are judged according to their works which are written either in the book of life or in the books of the dead. The books of the dead (wicked) are many while there is but one book of life because "many are called but few are chosen."4

13. The sea represents the nations opposed to the Church in the last days. Its dead are the people of those nations whom Christ shall find living at His coming. They are dead in sin and their works are written in the books of the dead. Death and hell must give up their dead, the wicked who die before the second corning of Christ. Their souls, condemned to hell, are now united to their risen bodies to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Thus do death and hell give up their dead.

14, 15. Those whose names are not written in the book of life are condemned, body and soul, to eternal torments which is the second death. Hence death and hell (the wicked) are cast into the pool of fire to be tormented for ever with the beast and his prophet.

The order of events immediately preceding the last judgment can be fairly well established from various passages of Scriptures. The revolt of Gog and Magog will be punished by a deluge of fire from heaven which will probably occasion the conversion of great numbers. At some time after this the signs foreboding the coming of Christ will strike terror into all hearts,5 and the day of judgment will be near at hand. "When these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand."6 "But of the day and hour no one knoweth, no not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone."7 St. Paul says that the "day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night"; men will be found in the midst of their occupations as happened at the deluge of the days of Noe.8

At length there "shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all tribes of earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds with much power and majesty. And He shall send His angels with a trumpet and a great voice, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds of heaven, from the farthest parts of the heaven to the utmost bounds of them"9 At the sound of the trumpet the dead shall arise. The just found living upon earth in that day and the just who arise from the dead shall be caught up into the air to meet Christ and be united with Him forever. "The dead who are with Christ shall arise first. Then we who are alive, who are left shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ into the air and so shall we be always with the Lord."10

The wicked still living on earth and those raised up from the dead shall also be brought to judgment. Both good and bad are judged according to their works; "they that have done good things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life," and shall hear those words of Christ: "Come ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."11 But they that have done evil shall hear those words of eternal judgment: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels."12

The words of St. Paul, "the dead who are with Christ shall rise first," do not mean that the resurrection of the just will take place before that of the wicked. St. Paul was writing to correct the erroneous belief of the Thessalonians that the just second corning of Christ will enjoy the glories of heaven sooner than those who have died. He tells them that the dead shall arise and then all shall be taken up together to meet Christ. Hence "we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not be before them who have slept."13

Shall those found living at the second coming of Christ undergo death before the judgment? The Church has decided nothing in the matter, but Sacred Scripture seems to indicate that they will not. St. Paul says: "We who are alive shall be taken up." Again he says: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the last trumpet ... the dead shall arise again incorruptible; and we shall be changed."14 He evidently makes a distinction between those who are dead and those who remain alive at the coming of Christ. In the preceding verse the Apostle writes: "We shall all in deed rise again; but we shall not all be changed." This indicates that all must undergo death but the Greek text reads: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." It mast be admitted that this reading agrees better with the context than the one found in the Vulgate.

However the question is of little importance. We must all be changed; "this corruptible must put on in- corruption; and this mortal must put on immortality." 15 The bodies of the just will be spiritualized and glorified as was the body of our divine Saviour; "it is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body; it is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory.16 Now it matters little indeed whether this change be accomplished directly in the living body or indirectly by death and immediate resurrection.


(1) St. Luke xxi. 26.
(2) St. Matthew xxiv, ,216 sq.; St. Markxiii, 22 sq.; St. Luke xxi, 25 sq.
(3) St. Matthew xxiv, 28.
(4) St. Matthew xxii, 14.
(5) St. Matthew xxiv, 29; St. Markxiii, 24; St. Luke xxi, 25.
(6) St. Luke xxi, 28.
(7) St. Matthew xxiv, 36.
(8) I Thessalonians v, 2; St. Matthew xxiv, 37.
(9) St. Matthew xxiv, 31.
(10) I Thessalonians iv, 15, 16.
(11) St. Johnv, 29; St. Matthew xxv, 34.
(12) St. Johnv, 29; St. Matthew xxv, 41.
(13) I Thessalonians iv, 14.
(14) I Corinthians xv, 52; cf. also II Corinthians v, 4,5.
(15) I Corinthians xv, 53.
(16) I Corinthians xv, 43. 44.