Clearing Up Confusion Over Distinctions #14

Zaspel’s second objection to the parallel of Rev. 12:12 to 20:2 is that Rev. 12 and 20 are a contrast, not a comparison. He assumes the essential difference between the casting to Earth in 12:12 and the casting into the Abyss or bottomless pit of 20:1. As Zaspel is apparently jealous to do in order to gain his conclusions regarding chapter 20, his conclusion of their difference is not one that is explicitly proclaimed in the text itself. Given the apocalyptic nature of the book, I think that the reader’s working assumption should be to investigate meaning these types of terms together, and not necessarily determine that they speak of totally different persons places or things simply because they are referred to in different nomenclature throughout the book. The case may be that, after a close and careful look at these terms, we must conclude that they represent different things, but the assumption of their essential difference due to varied nomenclature is non necessarily helpful, but not surprising when one assumes the literal hermeneutic on apocalyptic literature.

One other passage that may help shed some light on Revelation 20 is 2 Peter 2:4 “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…”

I think the point of this quotation should be apparent, that Peter is describing the situation of the angels who sinned in like manner as John describes Satan bound in the first parts of chapter 20. We cannot say with great certainty when God cast the angels into Hell and bound them with chains to be kept until He has prepared their judgment, which presumably takes place between the occurrences of the events of Rev. 20:10-14, but we can say (and I think with a fair amount of certainty) that Satan and the angels that sinned and followed him were cast into Hell and committed to chains at the same time, to be held for judgment at the same time; I don’t think we have any real reason to believe differently. I think it is helpful to view Rev. 12:12; 20:1-3a, and 2 Peter 2:4 in close proximity.