Right after reporting the announcement of the destruction of Babylon, John hears what sounded like “a vast crowd in heaven shouting, ‘Praise the Lord! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God. His judgments are true and just. He has punished the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality. He has avenged the murder of his servants';” (Revelation 19:1–2).

As words of praise like these continued, John saw heaven opened and a white horse whose rider was named “Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war” (Revelation 19:11). His eyes were like blazing fire and he had many crowns on his head. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and he was called “the Word of God” and on his robe and thigh were written the name “King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords” (Revelation 19:11–16).

Then John saw the “beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army” (Revelation 19:19). In other words, they were preparing to fight against Jesus Christ himself! The beast and the false prophet were captured and thrown alive into a lake of fire. An angel then descends from heaven, binds the devil, and throws him into the “bottomless pit,” where he stays with the beast and the false prophet for a period of a thousand years (Revelation 20:1–5).

At the end of the thousand years, the devil is released from the pit and allowed to deceive people once again. He even attempts to gather an army and surrounds God';s people, but fire falls from heaven and destroys the army. Then the devil is thrown into a “fiery lake of burning sulfur,” where he, the beast, and the false prophet would be tormented for all of eternity.

With the devil put in his eternal place, the end of this age comes as all those who had died were judged before a “great white throne,” which was God';s throne (Revelation 20:11–12). The dead would then be judged according to the things they had done, and those whose names were not found in the Book of Life were thrown into the lake of fire, along with death and the grave itself.

Study Questions

How does knowing the devil';s ultimate end affect your life of faith?

Do you find the prophecies in the book of Revelation more frightening or more comforting? Why?