A Brief Presentation of the Topic

John says in Rev. 20.1-3 that the reason for Satan’s imprisonment and chaining in prison is that he should not deceive the nations any longer,

until the thousand years are completed.

Did you ever notice that he also says that the rest of the dead did not come to life

until the thousand years are completed,

and that 

when the thousand years are completed,

Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive (v. 7, see vv. 1-3) the nations. . .?

Also, Isaiah says that on the Day of the LORD, God will punish the hosts of heaven in the heavens and the kings of earth on the earth (see the last verses of Rev. 19), and they will be gathered together like prisoners in a dungeon,

“and after many days they will be visited” (see Isa. 24.21-22).

And Ezekiel says, speaking of the armies gathered against the land that has been restored from the sword, and has been living peacefully without walls in the Messianic kingdom, 

“after many days you will be visited” (Ezek. 38.8, cf. 38.8-14). 

The Hebrew words behind Isaiah’s and Ezekiel’s statements are strikingly similar, virtually identical. In Ezekiel, the crisis pictured in the 38th chapter forms a kind of eschatological “last judgment” on the international hordes of the enemies of God’s people, and it has as its setting an unending and well-established age of peace and “resurrection” that is inaugurated by the coming of God’s Messiah (see Ezek. 36.22–37.28). The outcome is that the intruders on God’s holy and beautiful and peaceful land begin to fight one another (just as in many OT divine rescue stories), and are consumed by fire from heaven (Ezek. 38.21-23).

In Isaiah, the imprisonment of the heavenly and earthly authorities in the underworld gives way to the reign of God in glory before his elders (Isa. 24.23; cf. Rev. 20.4 and compare Rev. 4.4), and a wonderful description of the messianic banquet (Isa. 25.1-8). Isaiah also sees a great crisis in this context of “every tear being wiped away” and the taking away of the great veil between humankind and God (Isa. 25.7). Just like Ezekiel, he foresees the coming of the wicked into the setting of the peaceful age of God’s full presence and protection:

If favor is shown to the wicked,

he does not learn righteousness.

In the land of uprightness he acts crookedly

and does not see the majesty of the LORD.

O LORD, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see it.

They will see your zeal for your people and be totally ashamed;

The fire that is for your adversaries will consume them.

(Isa. 26.10-11; cf. Heb. 10.27, which quotes this passage as a prophecy of the last judgment).

If we look further on in Isa. 26 we find, surprise of surprises, references (literal or figurative makes no difference to the point here) to resurrection for the righteous and denial of resurrection for the unrighteous (see Isa. 26.14-19), a battle set in the context of the resurrection of the righteous and divine protection of them from a final confrontation with the wicked (Isa. 26.20-21), and, of all things, the final slaying of the great serpent, Leviathan (see Isa. 24.20-21 and 27.1 and compare Rev. 20.1-3 and 7-10).

My conclusion from a concordant reading of these passages with Rev. 19–21 (keeping in mind Isa. 26.10-11 and its relationship to Heb. 10.27) is that the last judgment of the unrepentant is what happens to them when they are belatedly granted the gift of resurrection. It is not a courtroom-style examination of their deeds in mortal life, which already has happened at Christ’s coming (Rev. 20.4, cf. e.g. Dan. 7, Mt. 25 and 2 Cor. 5.10). At this judgment they were judged unworthy of resurrection and/or participation in the kingdom. Yet, according to the limitless grace of God, after missing but the first divine “day” (= 1000 years) of the new creation, the unrepentant are given amnesty and are invited to come “through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14). The great judgment is that although “they are shown favor” (Isa. 26.10), they don’t learn righteousness but make attack all over again (a dog returns to its vomit, and a pig returns to wallow in the mire, says Peter, 2 Pet. 2.22), and this time they are irrevocably judged according to their works (Rev. 20.13-15 // Rev. 20.7-10). The grace of God extends to the very, very last second, the very, very last invitation: 

I am not angry–

[i.e. angry at those who approach God’s lovingly protected vineyard, the new Israel: Isa. 27.2, 6]

But if they come against me with thorns and briars,

[i.e. if they attempt to attack the vineyard and sabotage it by planting fruitless and harmful plants in it]

I will be against them and set them on fire–

So, let them come to me for refuge instead!

Let them make peace with me, 

Let them make peace with me.

(Isa. 27.2-5)

I believe that John penned Rev. 20:1-15 with the understanding that the last judgment of the unrepentant comes when they effectively choose fire when peace and reconciliation are freely extended to them one last time along with the gift of resurrection. I admit that this “second chance refused” model for the last judgment does not stand entirely without problems and paradoxes. However: (1) as a model for the significance of the “millennium” in Revelation it is by far the most consistent with John’s whole style and message throughout Revelation, (2) it stands in harmony with the loving and just and merciful character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and (3) it listens deeply and concordantly to all the biblical statements about the final disposition of the unrepentant. 

To learn more about this reading of the millennium of Revelation 20, see my two books, each of which is available for the cost of printing (about $10 and $5.00) on Amazon:

J. Webb Mealy, After the Thousand Years (JSNTSup, 70; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1992), 273pp. This is dense and technical, a full scholarly treatment that Revelation scholar John Court called “an exegetical tour de force” and Revelation commentator Gregory Beale praised as “a methodological contribution without precedent” and a “new paradigm.”

J. Webb Mealy, New Creation Millennialism (n.p.: Amazon, 2019), 178 pp. This one is much shorter, and less technical. The positive exposition of Rev. 19:5–21:8, the millennium passage plus a generous amount of relevant context on either side, is only 50 pages long. The rest is critique of other views and discussion of others who have held my view or one close to it through church history and to the present. This book New Testament scholar Eckhard Schnabel calls “an indispensable resource for anyone thinking, preaching, and teaching about New Testament prophecy in general and about the millennium in particular.”