Revelation 20:10

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) And the devil that deceived them . . .—Better, And the devil that deceiveth them, or was deceiving them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the wild beasts and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented by day and by night unto the ages of the ages. The devil cast from heaven (Revelation 12:9), bound in the abyss (Revelation 20:3), is now flung into the flaming lake. There they (i.e., the devil, the wild beast, and the false prophet) are tormented unto the ages of ages. (Comp. Revelation 14:10-11; and Note on Revelation 19:20.)

THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD.—The three enemies have been overthrown and driven forth from the earth which they have sought to destroy (Revelation 11:18). The judgment of human beings must follow.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:7-10 While this world lasts, Satan's power in it will not be wholly destroyed, though it may be limited and lessened. No sooner is Satan let loose, than he again begins deceiving the nations, and stirring them up to make war with the saints and servants of God. It would be well if the servants and ministers of Christ were as active and persevering in doing good, as his enemies in doing mischief. God will fight this last and decisive battle for his people, that the victory may be complete, and the glory be to himself.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the devil that deceived them - See the notes on Revelation 20:3, Revelation 20:8.

Was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone - In Revelation 19:20, it is said of the beast and the false prophet that they were "cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone." Satan, on the other hand, instead of being doomed at once to that final ruin, was confined for a season in a dark abyss, Revelation 20:1-3. As the final punishment, however, he is appropriately represented as consigned to the same doom as the beast and the false prophet, that those great enemies of God, that had been associated and combined in deceiving the nations, might share the same appropriate punishment in the end. Compare Revelation 16:13-14.

Where the beast and the false prophet are - See the notes on Revelation 19:20.

And shall be tormented day and night forever - Compare the notes on Revelation 14:11. All the great enemies of the church are destroyed, and henceforward there is to be no array of hostile forces; no combination of malignant powers against the kingdom of God. The gospel triumphs; the way is prepared for the final consummation.

Section d. - Condition of things in the period referred to in Revelation 20:9-10;

(1) There will be, after the release of Satan, and of course at the close of the millennial period properly so called, a state of things which may be well represented by the invasion of a country by hostile, formidable forces. This, as shown in the exposition, need not be supposed to be literal; but it is implied that there will be decided hostility against the true religion. It may be an organization and consolidation, so to speak, of infidel principles, or a decided worldly spirit, or some prevalent form of error, or some new form of depravity that shall be developed by the circumstances of that age. What it will be it is impossible now to determine; but, as shown above (section c, (4)), it is by no means improbable that this will occur even at the close of the millennium.

(2) there will be a decided defeat of these forces thus combined, "as if" fire should come down from heaven to destroy an invading army. The "mode" in which this will be done is not indeed stated, for there is no necessity of understanding the statement in Revelation 20:9 "literally," anymore than the other parts of the chapter. The fair inference, however, is that it will be by a manifest divine agency; that it will be sudden, and that the destruction will be entire. We have no reason, therefore, to suppose that the outbreak will be of long continuance, or that it will very materially disturb the settled order of human affairs on the earth - anymore than a formidable invasion of a country does, when the invading army is suddenly cut off by some terrible judgment from heaven.

(3) this overthrow of the enemies of God and of the church will be "final." Satan will be "cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, to be tormented day and night forever." The beast and the false prophet are already there Revelation 19:20; that is, they will have ceased long since, even before the beginning of the millennial period (Revelation 19:20, compared with Revelation 20:1-3), to have opposed the progress of truth in the world, and their power will have been brought to an end. Satan now, the last enemy, will be doomed to the same hopeless woe; and all the enemies that have ever opposed the church - in all forms of paganism, Mohammedanism, Popery, and delusion - will be destroyed forever. The world then will have peace; the church will have rest; the great triumph will have been achieved.

(4) for reasons stated in the analysis of the chapter, 5. (c), it is possible that there will be a long period of continued prosperity and peace between the events stated in Revelation 20:9-10, and the final judgment, as described in Revelation 20:11-15. If so, however, the purpose of the book did not require that that should be described at length, and it must be admitted that the most "obvious" interpretation of the New Testament would not be favorable to such a supposition. Compare Luke 17:26-30; Luke 18:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3-4. The great glory of the world will be the millennial period; when religion shall have the ascendency and the race shall have reached its highest point of progress on earth, and the blessings of liberty, intelligence, peace, and piety, shall have during that period been spread over the globe. In that long duration, who can estimate the numbers that shah be redeemed and saved? That period passed, the great purpose contemplated by the creation of the earth - the glory of God in the redemption of a fallen race, and in setting up a kingdom of righteousness in a world of apostasy - will have been accomplished, and there will be no reason why the final judgment should not then occur. "The work of redemption will now be finished. The end for which the means of grace have been instituted shall be obtained. All the effect which was intended to be accomplished by them shall now be accomplished. All the great wheels of Providence have gone round all things are ripe for Christ's coming to judgment" (President Edwards' History of Redemption).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. that deceived—Greek, "that deceiveth."

lake of fire—his final doom: as "the bottomless pit" (Re 20:1) was his temporary prison.

where—so Coptic. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "where also."

the beast and the false prophet are—(Re 19:20).

day and night—figurative for without intermission (Re 22:5), such as now is caused by night interposing between day and day. The same phrase is used of the external state of the blessed (Re 4:8). As the bliss of these is eternal, so the woe of Satan and the lost must be. As the beast and the false prophet led the former conspiracy against Christ and His people, so Satan in person heads the last conspiracy. Satan shall not be permitted to enter this Paradise regained, to show the perfect security of believers, unlike the first Adam whom Satan succeeded in robbing of Paradise; and shall, like Pharaoh at the Rod Sea, receive in this last attempt his final doom.

for ever and ever—Greek, "to the ages of the ages."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

After this shall be the end of the world, when the devil shall be restrained to hell, the place of torments, where he shall have all heathens, and all the rabble of antichrist, who shall be there tormented constantly and for ever and ever.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the devil that deceived them,.... Both before death, in the present life, by tempting and drawing them into immorality and profaneness, or idolatry, superstition, and will worship, or persecution of the saints; and after their resurrection, by instigating them to make this foolish attempt upon the saints of the most High:

was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone; the same with the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; this will be his full torment, in which he is not as yet; and this will not be until the judgment is finished hereafter described; though it is here mentioned to issue the account of Satan at once, and to show what will be his final state and condition:

where the beast and false prophet are; Revelation 19:20 who for so many years have been companions in wickedness together; the beast being the first beast that received his power, seat, and authority from the dragon, or devil; the false prophet being the second beast, or antichrist in his ecclesiastical capacity, as the beast is antichrist in his civil power, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with signs and lying wonders:

and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever; that is, not only the devil, but the beast and false prophet, for the word is in the plural number: and this will be the case of all wicked men, of all whose minds are enmity to God and Christ, and to his people; and is a proof of the eternity of hell torments.

Geneva Study Bible

{18} And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

(18) The third part, eternal destruction against those that are overcome: as I noted in the same place.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. And the devil that deceived them] Lit. that deceiveth, but the sense is general: as if we were to say “their deceiver.”

into the lake &c.] Revelation 19:20.

where] Read, where also.

the beast and the false prophet are] It might be better to supply were cast. That they are there still, not consumed by their more than thousand years of torment, is not stated in this clause but is in the next.

shall be &c.] To prevent ambiguity we should render, they shall be, all three of them.

for ever and ever] Lit. to the ages of the ages, as strong an expression for absolute endlessness as Biblical language affords. The expression “day and night” seems hardly consistent with the view often expressed, that the eternity here spoken of is unaccompanied with a sense of duration like that which we call time.

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 20:10. Καὶ βασανισθήσονται) The more recent Latin copies badly omit καὶ:[221] and thence construe it thus, where both the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented; as though the devil himself were not to be tormented. The purity of the text is the more to be defended in this place, lest the casting of the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire previously to that of the devil should be obliterated, whereas the particle καὶ necessarily infers it. [Not until now does the punishment of Satan commence. Until this limit he continues to sin without restraint, if you except his imprisonment during the thousand years, during which there is an interruption of his worst doings.—V. g.]

[221] A Vulg. and Rec. Text support καί; h omits it: also it and Vulg. read the plur. pseudoprophetæ.—E.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever; and they shall be tormented. The last clause shows that this is the final judgment and punishment of the devil. Thus at this verse is completed the whole series of visions commencing at Revelation 12, in which arc set forth the origin and progress of the influence of evil, and the final termination of the conflict between God and his Church on the one hand, and the devil and his adherents on the other. It remains now only to shadow forth the surpassing glory of the saints in their everlasting home, and thus to bring the book to a conclusion. This, therefore, is the theme of the remaining chapters. (On "the devil that deceiveth them," see on ver. 3; and on "the lake of fire and brimstone," see on Revelation 19:20.) Shall be tormented (cf. Matthew 8:29, "Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?"). Revelation 20:10