ACC ~ Revelation 20 v2

THE DESTRUCTION OF DEATH IS HUMANKIND’S SALVATION. IRENAEUS: This is the reason that he put enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed, with both of them maintaining the enmity: he, the sole of whose foot should be bitten, has power also to tread upon the enemy’s head; but the other bit, killed and impeded the steps of humanity until the seed came which was appointed to tread down his head. This was the seed who was born of Mary, of whom the prophet speaks, “You will tread upon the asp and the basilisk; you will trample down the lion and the dragon.” This means that sin, which was set up and spread out against man, and which rendered him subject to death, would be deprived of its power, along with death, which rules [over people]. The lion, that is, antichrist, who will be rampant against humankind in the latter days, will be trampled down by him. He shall bind “the dragon, that old serpent,” and subject him to the power of man, who had been conquered, so that all his might should be trodden down. Now Adam had been conquered, all life having been taken away from him. But the foe was conquered in his turn, and Adam received new life. The last enemy, death, is destroyed, which at the first had taken possession of humankind. Therefore, when man has been liberated, “what is written shall come to pass, Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” This could not be said with justice, if that man, over whom death did first obtain dominion, were not set free. For his salvation is death’s destruction. When therefore the Lord vivifies man, that is, Adam, death is at the same time destroyed. AGAINST HERESIES 3.23.7.

CHRIST RESTRAINS SATAN’S POWER TO SEDUCE THE ELECT. AUGUSTINE: Our Lord Jesus Christ himself said, “No one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.”By “strong man” he means the devil, who was able to hold the human race in bondage. By his “goods” that Christ was to “plunder,” he means God’s future faithful ones whom the devil was keeping for himself because of their ungodliness and various sins. It was for the purpose of binding this strong man that John, in the Apocalypse, saw “an angel coming down from heaven … who bound [the ancient serpent] for a thousand years.” The angel, that is, checked and repressed his power to seduce and possess those destined to be set free.

Now, the “thousand years” can, so far as I can see, be interpreted in one of two ways. One interpretation is that this event is to take place in the sixth and last millennium (the sixth “day”), the latter span of which is now passing, and that when John spoke of the last part of this millennium as a “thousand years” he was using, figuratively, the whole to indicate a part. (After this “sixth day” will come the “sabbath” that has no evening, namely, the endless repose of the blessed.)

The other interpretation makes the “thousand years” stand for all the years of the Christian era, a perfect number being used to indicate the “fullness of time.” For the number one thousand is the cube of ten. Ten times ten equals one hundred, which is already a square, but still a plane figure. To give it depth and make it a cube, one hundred is further multiplied by ten to make a thousand. Now it is true that the number one hundred is sometimes made to stand for “all.” Thus, the Lord promised to anyone leaving all things to follow him, “he shall receive a hundredfold.” … How much more properly, then, does the number one thousand stand for the whole, since it is the cube, whereas one hundred is only the square of ten? In the same way there is no better interpretation of the text, “he has remembered his covenant forever: the word that he commanded to a thousand generations,” than to take “a thousand” as meaning “all” generations. CITY OF GOD 20.7.

THE CROSS IS THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMY. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: In Greek letters, one thousand is designated with an “alpha.” In the alpha we have the beginning, which is Christ; in the name [of Christ] we have the cross,which is our victory and the destruction of the evil enemy. Therefore, both by the cross of Christ and by the authority of the cross he bound the enemy of the world who deceived those who dwell upon the earth. For to that eternity no time is added, and the eternity of his time will be enclosed by no end, nor will there ever be an end to the number of years. And so by the sovereignty of the Lord through the power of the cross he bound him in the abyss. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.2.

THE LIFE OF CHRIST IS THE DAY OF SALVATION. OECUMENIUS: The Revelation does not present to us the millenialism of the atheistic Greeks and the transmigration of souls and the Lethian water and I do not know what other idle talk and nonsense when it says that the devil will be bound for a thousand years and will again be loosed to deceive the nations. Stay away from such destructive teachings, which are suitable to the silliness of the Greeks. What, however, does it say? The prophet says, “For a thousand years in your sight, O Lord, are as yesterday which is past, and as a watch in the night.” Therefore, a thousand years in the sight of God is regarded as one day. And in his second letter, the holy Peter says the same thing when he writes, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” And this is so. Moreover, the holy Isaiah speaks of the entire incarnation of the Lord as a “day,” saying, “In the time of favor I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you.”And, not only this, the psalmist calls this same “day” also a “morning.” For somewhere it says, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it,” speaking of the joy of our salvation. And somewhere else the psalmist says, “In the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I will wait upon you and you will see me.” For our prayers have become worthy in the sight of God the Father and become acceptable through the mediation and reconciliation of the Lord. And moreover, it says concerning Jerusalem, “God will help her right early.” And so, the incarnation of the Lord was a “day” and a “morning,” since, as it were, the “sun of righteousness”—for Malachi speaks of him in this way—shone upon us, providing us with the “light of knowledge.”And Zechariah foretold of this divine light when he said, “Whereby the dayspring will visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” And in agreement with this, the prophet said, “God is the Lord, and he has shined upon us; celebrate the feast with thick branches, even to the horns of the altar.” . . .

Since it says that the day is reckoned by God “as a thousand years,” and moreover since the sojourn of the Lord on the earth is called a “day,” it calls this day a “thousand years,” as though with God there were no distinction between one day and a thousand years. At this time, the time of the incarnation of the Lord, the devil was bound, not being able to resist the marks of the Savior’s deity. And, therefore, when they sensed that they were spiritually bound, the wicked demons cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of the living God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” And the Lord also made clear their bondage when he said, “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.”Since, therefore, as it was indicated, we understand the incarnation of the Lord and his sojourn upon earth to be called “one day” and a “thousand years” without distinction in the holy Scriptures, such a number is used figuratively. Note, therefore, what the Revelation says. “I saw another angel coming down from heaven holding the key of the bottomless pit and a chain.” And it says, when he seized the devil, “he bound him and threw him into the bottomless pit.” That which is accomplished spiritually by the Lord is shown to the Evangelist as though on a painted tablet. For since John was a human being and could not see spiritual realities, that which occurred is depicted for him in material terms. … “That he should deceive the nations no more,” it says, “till the thousand years were ended.” It was necessary that the sojourn of the Lord on the earth have a somewhat greater support and protection, to prohibit the unclean demons from attacking it in the same way as they did against humankind before the time of the incarnation. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.1-3.

DURING THE TIME OF PREACHING. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Also the great Justin says that at the coming of Christ the devil will first learn that he is condemned to the abyss, that is, to the Gehenna of fire. It is, therefore, possible also to understand the sentence of Christ against the devil in the words just spoken. The seer says that the angel administers this sentence, thereby revealing that [the devil] is weaker in power than the ministering powers and showing the vanity of one who insolently opposes him who has rule over all things. For our understanding, he speaks of a “chain,” meaning the work of restraining [the devil’s] evil. It is in no way good to understand the “thousand years” as referring to a thousand years as such. For when David says “of the word that he commanded for a thousand generations,” we ought not to understand this to mean a hundred years times ten. Rather, David means many [generations] taken as a whole. So also in this case, we regard the number “thousand” to signify either many or that which is complete. If we take it to mean “many,” then it refers to the preaching of the gospel into all the world and the sowing of the seeds of piety in the world. [Or] should it mean “complete,” then it signifies that during this time, having been released from the life learned from the law, we have been called to the “perfect man,” to the measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ. Therefore, the “thousand years” are the time from the incarnation of the Lord until the arrival of the antichrist. Whether the matter is as we have interpreted it, or the thousand years are one hundred times ten, as some believe, or the thousand years are less than this, this is known to God alone, who knows how long his patience is beneficial to us, and he determines the continuance of the present life. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.1-3.

THE NAMES OF THE DEVIL INDICATE HIS WICKED WORKS. BEDE: The devil is interpreted to mean “flowing downwards,” although in the Greek it means “accuser,” while Satan means “adversary” or “deceiver.” Therefore, he is called “dragon” because of the wicked harm he inflicts; he is called “serpent” because of the cunning of his deception; he is called “devil” because of the fall from his previous status; and he is called “Satan” because of the stubbornness of his opposition to the Lord. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 20.2.

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