ACC ~ Revelation 20 v9 - 10

BY GOD’S GRACE THE SAINTS WILL PROVE UNCONQUERABLE. AUGUSTINE: [That they encompassed the beloved city] obviously does not mean that they gathered or will gather in some one place where, we must suppose, the camp of the saints and the beloved city is to be. For, of course, this city is Christ’s church, which is spread over the whole world. Wherever his church will be (and it will be among all nations, “over the breadth of the earth”), there is to be the camp of the saints and the beloved city of God. There will she be, surrounded by all her enemies, intermingled with her as they are and will be in every people, girded with the appalling magnitude of that besetting, hemmed in, straitened and encompassed by the pressures of that mighty affliction; but never will [the church] give up her fighting spirit, her “camp,” as John says. [The fire from heaven] must not be taken to indicate that supreme punishment of the ungodly, which is to begin only with the words “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire.” For it is then that the wicked are to be cast into fire rather than to have fire fall on them. John’s words, “fire from heaven,” can well be interpreted as symbolizing the staunchness of the saints, their refusal to give in and do the bidding of their raging enemies. For the heavens are called a “firmament,” and by its firmness the ungodly will be tormented by blazing zeal, because [they are] powerless to win over Christ’s holy ones to the camp of antichrist. This is the devouring fire, and it is said to come from God because it is by God’s grace that the saints are to be unconquerable, to the great torment of their foes. CITY OF GOD 20.11-12.

THE IMPIOUS ARE LIFTED UP BY THEIR ARROGANCE. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: “And they ascended upon the heightof the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints.” Lifted up by their arrogance, the impious ascended into the heights, but their earthly arrogance holds them back. They are wise in nothing heavenly, nor do they fear the power of celestial greatness. “They surrounded the camp of the saints.” [This means that] they wished to exist in common with the saints, but of them the prophecy is fulfilled that says, “They shall return at evening and be hungry as a dog and go around about the city.” In the present passage he calls the city “beloved,” saying, “they shall surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city.” TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.8.

SATAN, THE ORIGINATOR OF EVIL, WILL BE PUNISHED FOREVER. OECUMENIUS: “And they surrounded the beloved city,” that is, the church. However, “fire brought from heaven” will destroy all of them, and moreover when the consummation has occurred, Satan, the originator of evil, together with the devil and the antichrist, will be thrown into the lake of fire, that is, Gehenna. Let the one who reads take note that in earlier material the Revelation has transmitted information about three figures: the first was the dragon, who was shown in heaven and who is the originator of evil; the second is the beast who rose from the sea and whom we claimed was second to Satan but prominent among the rest of the demons; and the third was the antichrist, who is also called the false prophet. However, it was stated a little earlier that the second, the devil and the antichrist were “thrown into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.”But now it speaks of Satan, or the devil, who earlier it had called “dragon.” Therefore, you who read this book know that we have interpreted the phrase “the thousand years,” in which the devil was bound and thrown into the bottomless pit and again loosed, to refer very precisely to the incarnation of the Lord and his life upon the earth, during which the devil’s activity was for a short time impeded. But now it is revealed that his punishment and that of those deceived by him is not a thousand years and then there is a loosing of the evil one. Rather, this punishment is “forever and ever.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.8-10.

THOSE WHO PERSECUTE THE CHURCH. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: “And the devil and his people went up into the height of the earth,” that is, in the presumption of their arrogance, and “they surrounded the camp of the saints and the city of the beloved,” that is, the church. This refers to what was earlier said about those assembled at Armageddon. They cannot be gathered into one city from the four corners of the earth. Rather, in every corner [of the earth] each people will be gathered together for opposition to the holy city, that is, for persecution of the church. “And fire shall descend out of heaven from God,” that is, out of the church, “and consume them.” In this passage the fire may be interpreted in two ways. Either they will believe in Christ through the fire of the Holy Spirit, and they will be spiritually consumed by the church, that is, incorporated into the church, or they will be consumed by the fire of their own sins and will perish. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.9, HOMILY 18.

MANY ANGELS WILL PROTECT THE CHURCH. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Just as fierce animals come out of their caves, so, it says, those led by the devil and the demons with him will come from their various locations and spread themselves out over the earth to ravage the camp of the saints, clearly meaning the church, which is established throughout the four corners of the world. But they do not know that it is not only a single angel but many angels who encamp round about them who fear God, as the psalm says.They will come to subdue the new Jerusalem, the beloved city, from which the divine law has gone into all the world through the apostles. Then, they say, the antichrist will seat himself in the temple of God. This refers either to the ancient temple of God among the Jews that was destroyed because of their audacity against Christ and which those Jews who hate God still expect to be rebuilt by him, or it refers to the true temple of God, namely, the catholic church. The antichrist will usurp for himself what does not belong to him and “proclaim himself to be God,” as the apostle says. Not long afterward, it says, fire comes down from heaven. This will be either a physical fire such as that which burned the two groups of fifty at the time of Elijah, or the passage refers to the glorious coming of Christ, who will slay them “by the breath of his mouth” and consume the aforementioned nations and their leader, the devil. Christ will hand them, along with the antichrist and the false prophet, over to the lake of fire, where they will be tormented forever and ever. Christ the Savior has taught us to pray that we enter not into temptation, and so, recognizing our weakness, let us do that earnestly, that we be saved from the trials of that which is prophesied. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.9-10.

THE DEVIL WILL BE PUNISHED FOREVER. AUGUSTINE: John goes on to state succinctly the full punishment that is to be meted out in the last judgment to the hostile city and its prince, the devil. … Why has the church been so intolerant with those who defend the view that, however greatly and however long the devil is to be punished, he can be promised ultimately that all will be purged or pardoned? Certainly it is not because so many of the church’s saints and biblical scholars have begrudged the devil and his angels a final cleansing and the beatitude of the kingdom of heaven. Nor is it because of any lack of feeling for so many and such high angels that must suffer such great and enduring pain. This is not a matter of feeling but of fact. The fact is that there is no way of waiving or weakening the words that the Lord has told us that he will pronounce in the last judgment: “Depart from me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.” In this way he showed plainly that it is an eternal fire in which the devil and his angels are to burn. Then we have the words of the Apocalypse: “and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” In the one text we have “everlasting,” in the other, “forever and ever.” These are words that have a single meaning in the divine Scripture, namely, of unending duration. CITY OF GOD 20.14; 21.23.