y
his arts of deception. No prisoner was ever more effectually chained.
The symbolical language of the prophet pictures the scene:

"I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless
pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that
old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand
years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a
seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the
thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a
little season." Rev. 20:1-3.

These are the events that mark the beginning of the thousand years:
Christ's second coming, the resurrection of the just, the ascent of all
the redeemed to the city of God, the death of the wicked, and, in
consequence, the binding of Satan.

2. Events During the Thousand Years

In Heaven

Scene after scene of glory is spread before us in the visions the
prophets were given of the redeemed in the city of God. The prophet John
says:

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and
palms in their hands.... Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve Him day and night in His temple." Rev. 7:9-15.

They "serve" in the temple of the Lord, the prophet says; while the poet
sings:

"Whence came the armies of the sky,
John saw in vision bright?
Whence came their crowns, their robes, their palms,
Too pure for mortal sight?

"From desert waste, and cities full,
From dungeons dark, they've come,
And now they claim their mansion fair,
They've found their long-sought home."

One service in which the saved have part during the thousand years is
the work of judgment that still remains, preparatory to the final
visitation of sin and the destruction of Satan and all his works. The
prophet saw this work going forward in the heavenly courts, the
redeemed associated with Christ in the service:

"I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto
them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of
Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast,
neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads,
or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand