Revelation 20 Bible study: A great white throne

John says, "I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand." (20:1). "He seized the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years," (20:2) "and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time." (20:3). "I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as didn’t worship the beast nor his image, and didn’t receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years." (20:4). "The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection." (20:5). "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years." (20:6). These verses name Jesus and Christ in the book's own words. Christians read these six verses in more than one way, and this chapter's question How do Christians read the thousand years? sets out the main readings and chooses none. These notes quote 20:1-6 whole once, here, as the WEB has them. In their own voice they give the thousand years no date and no count, set out no order of events, and say nothing of how these verses stand to what the book tells before them or after them. They name the dragon only as 20:2 names him. They identify nothing in this chapter with any person, people, power, place, nation, army, war or event: not the angel, the key, the abyss or the chain, the thousand years, the thrones or those who sat on them, the souls, the beast, his image or the mark, the first resurrection or the second death, the nations, Gog and Magog, the camp of the saints or the beloved city, the lake of fire and sulfur, the false prophet, the great white throne, the books, the sea, or Death and Hades. They give no time for anything in it, and apply none of it to anyone, then or now.

θρόνοςthronossay THRON-os

Strong's: "a stately seat". "I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it" (20:11): behind throne is this noun. Favor's Revelation 4 studies it where the book first shows a throne set in heaven.