Book of Common Prayer

Reigning for a thousand years

20 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. In his hand he held the key to the Abyss, and a large chain. ² He grabbed hold of the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and the satan. He tied him up for a thousand years, ³ threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he wouldn’t be able to deceive the nations anymore, until the thousand years were complete. After that he must be let out for a short time.

⁴ Then I saw thrones, with people sitting on them, who were given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had had their heads cut off because they had borne witness to Jesus, and because of the word of God; and also those who had not worshiped the monster or its image, and had not received the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years. ⁵ The rest of the dead did not come back to life until the thousand years were complete. This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them. They will be priests to God and the Messiah, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

Final judgment

⁷ When the thousand years are complete, the satan will be released from his prison. ⁸ Out he will come to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. He will summon them for battle, a throng like the sand of the sea in number. ⁹ They came up over the full width of the earth, and closed in on the place where God’s holy people are encamped, and the beloved city. Then fire came down from heaven and burnt them up. ¹⁰ And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the monster and the false prophet had already been thrown. They will be tortured day and night forever and ever.

The evidence in support of Jesus

³⁰ “I can’t do anything on my own authority,” Jesus went on. “I judge on the basis of what I hear. And my judgment is just, because I’m not trying to carry out my own wishes, but the wishes of the one who sent me.

³¹ “If I give evidence about myself, my evidence isn’t true. ³² There is someone else who gives evidence about me, and I know that the evidence he brings about me is true. ³³ You sent messengers to John, and he gave evidence about the truth. ³⁴ Not that I need evidence from human beings; but I’m saying this so that you may be saved.

³⁵ “John was a burning, bright lamp, and you were happy to celebrate in his light for a while. ³⁶ But I have greater evidence on my side than that of John. The works which the father has given me to complete—these works, which I’m doing, will provide evidence about me, evidence that the father has sent me. ³⁷ And the father who sent me has given evidence about me. You’ve never heard his voice; you’ve never seen his form. ³⁸ What’s more, you haven’t got his word abiding in you, because you don’t believe in the one he sent.”

Jesus and Moses

³⁹ “You study the Bible,” Jesus continued, “because you suppose that you’ll discover the life of God’s coming age in it. In fact, it’s the Bible which gives evidence about me! ⁴⁰ But you won’t come to me so that you can have life.

⁴¹ “I’m not accepting glory from human beings; ⁴² but I know that you haven’t got the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come in the name of my father, and you won’t receive me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him! ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you’re not looking for the glory which comes from the one and only God?

⁴⁵ “Don’t think that I’m going to accuse you to the father. There is someone who accuses you, namely Moses, the one you look to in hope! ⁴⁶ You see, if you’d believed Moses, you would have believed me—because it was me he was writing about. ⁴⁷ But if you don’t believe his writings, how are you going to believe my words?”