“But the rest of the dead did not live till the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has a portion in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Anointed, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years may be completed, the Adversary will be loosed out of his prison, and will go forth to deceive those nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to assemble them together for war; whose number is as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:5-8).

Concerning the first clause of verse 5, “the rest of the dead did not live till the thousand years were ended,” there seems to be good reasons for believing that the words do not belong to the original Greek text. It is a well known and an incontrovertible fact that there are a number of spurious passages in the Bible, some of which are found in the book of Revelation — texts that were probably inserted into the more modern manuscripts by copyists of the original. Amongst these, this passage is listed.¹ Mr. Russell, using as an authority Prof. C. Tischendorf’s Notes on the readings of the two oldest Greek manuscripts — the Sinaitic and the Vatican No. 1209 — has thus remarked: “In this verse the words ‘But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished,’ are spurious. They are not found in the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts, the Sinaitic, Vatican Nos. 1209 and 1160, nor the Syriac manuscript. [He further calls attention to the fact that] many passages found in the modern copies are additions which do not properly belong to the Bible. Since commanded not to add to the Word of God, it is our duty to repudiate such additions as soon as their spurious character is established. The words indicated probably crept into the text by accident, in the Fifth Century; for no manuscript of earlier date (either Greek or Syriac) contains this clause.”

As further bearing on this matter it will be noticed that the very location of the words, coming as they do between the two passages: “and they lived and reigned with Christ the thousand years,” and “This is the First Resurrection,” seems almost in itself to be convincing evidence that that part of the text is spurious, as it is not only confusing to the sense but meaningless. Considering these words as an interpolation, we find the text is in perfect harmony with all other Scriptures that plainly teach the priority of the resurrection of the overcomers of the Gospel Age. That this may be clearly seen we quote the words with the spurious passage eliminated: “And the persons of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God, even those who did not worship the beast, nor his image, and did not receive the mark on their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived and reigned with the Anointed one the thousand years. This is the First Resurrection.” Furthermore, its omission makes the whole passage harmonize with the many Scriptures describing the thousand years as the great Judgment Day during the progress of which the awakening, trial, and resurrection of the world will be going on. It would seem, therefore, that there are the very best of reasons for concluding that the clause is spurious.

Humanity Lives at Close of Millennium

However, by way of assisting any of the Lord’s people who may not feel sure about the text being spurious — who may have such a regard for the King James text as to decry any attempt to do away with any portion of it, we call attention to the clear and convincing argument offered by Mr. Russell, as showing that even though the words, “But the rest of the dead did not live till the thousand years were ended,” were genuine, they do not at all conflict with other Scriptures which teach that the awakening and raising up (resurrection) of the world of mankind will take place throughout the thousand years of Christ’s reign and not after that reign is over:

“The repudiation of this clause is not essential to the ‘Plan’ as herein set forth; for the rest of the dead — the world at large — will not live again in the full sense, in the perfect sense that Adam lived before he sinned and came under the sentence ‘dying thou shalt die’ [until the thousand years are ended]. Perfect life without weakness or dying is the only sense in which God recognizes the word life. From His standpoint all the world has already lost life, is dying, and might now be more properly [and are] described as dead than as alive (2 Corinthians 5:14, Matthew 8:22).

“The word resurrection (Greek: anastasis) signifies raising up. As related to man, it signifies raising up man to that condition from which he fell, to full perfection of manhood — the thing lost through Adam. The perfection from which our race fell is the perfection to which they will gradually rise, during the Millennial Age of restitution or resurrection (raising up). The Millennial Age is not only the age of trial, but also the age of blessing, and through resurrection or restitution to life all that was lost is to be restored to all who, when they know and have opportunity, gladly obey. The process of resurrection will be a gradual one, requiring the entire age for its full accomplishment; though the mere awakening to a measure of life and consciousness, as at present enjoyed, will of course be a momentary work. Consequently it will not be until the thousand years are finished that the race will have fully attained the complete measure of life lost in Adam. And since anything short of perfect life is a condition of partial death, it follows that, although the above words are no part of the inspired record, it would be strictly true to say that the rest of the dead will not live again (will not regain the fullness of life lost) until the thousand years of restitution and blessing are complete.”

“Blessed and holy is he who has a portion in the First Resurrection; over these the Second Death has no authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Anointed, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” These words scarcely require any comment. They “show the holiness as well as blessedness of all that reigning company. Another thought is suggested by the fact that these shall be priests to teach, as well as kings to reign. They will not only see to the execution of God’s laws, but will give instruction and assistance to mankind, such as will enable them to render obedience.”

“The call of spiritual Israelites to joint-heirship with Jesus in his spiritual Kingdom belongs to this Gospel Age only. The Church’s change of nature from human to Divine begins with the begetting of the holy Spirit and will be completed in the resurrection change. St. Paul explains this and declares, ‘Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.’ (1 Corinthians 15:50). He also tells us that the earthly rulers of the future cannot be perfected until after the Church’s resurrection (Hebrews 11:38-40). So also Jesus declared that the least one in the [spiritual] Kingdom would be greater than John the Baptist, the greatest of the Prophets (Matthew 11:11)” (C. T. Russell).

Those who have come to see that the subjects of the First or Chief Resurrection comprise the overcomers of the Gospel Age, who with Christ are called the Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16,29) through whom all others of mankind are to be blessed, have no difficulty in understanding the fact that their resurrection and exaltation to power must precede all others. All this is implied in the statement of St. John: “They shall be priests of God and of the Anointed, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” As the above writer has said: “Theirs is the First Resurrection (Revelation 20:5). The great work before this glorious anointed company — the Christ — necessitates their exaltation to the Divine nature; no other than Divine power could accomplish it. Theirs is a work pertaining not only to this world, but to all things in heaven and in earth — among spiritual as well as among human beings (Matthew 28:18, Colossians 1:20, Ephesians 1:10, Philippians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 6:3).”

The simple statements of this Scripture in themselves teach that the subjects of this “First” Resurrection have a very exalted place and occupation during the thousand years. St. John calls them kings and priests. In other Scriptures they are called judges. These are not empty titles, but are full of solemn significance and mean that those to whom they are given, share with Christ in the administration of the government of the coming world. As kings they are to rule, as judges they are to judge and to administer and execute justice (Isaiah 32:1). As kingly priests they are to be entrusted with the cares and responsibilities of a Royal Priesthood. The Scriptures clearly teach that when the present dispensation is fully ended, Christ will enter upon a new and particular administration of human affairs. Our infinite God has ordained that he shall judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). “When he shall sit on the throne of his glory,” then before him, during those thousand years, shall be gathered all the nations, and the great work of separating the “sheep” from the “goats” shall progress until the end of the thousand years, when the work will be finished — the “sheep” class rewarded, and the “goat” class punished. Engaged with him in this work will be the overcomers, the sharers with him of his own, the First, the Chief Resurrection. This work is that of ruling or shepherdizing the nations with a rod of iron — the following up of the victory of the “great day of God Almighty” — enforcing the rule of righteousness and justice in place of the iniquitous rule of the “dragon.” Not only will the survivors of the awful time that introduces the Millennial Day be dealt with, but the residue of men who lived and died during past generations will be awakened from the sleep of death, become enlightened concerning God’s purpose for them, and be dealt with in justice and mercy; and we have the Divine statement to the effect that “when the judgments of the Lord are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.”

Coming now to the consideration of verse 7, regarding the loosing of Satan, we note in connection with the vision of the thousand-year reign of Christ and his saints (Revelation 20:4-6) that there is not the slightest reference to the earthly character of that reign, except that contained in the expression that Satan was bound that he should no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were ended. This, of course, would imply that Christ’s reign was over the nations of the earth. The reason why the various characteristics and details of this reign are not portrayed in the vision would seem to be that the book of Revelation being the closing book of prophecy, the Christian student is supposed to be familiar with the peculiar characteristics of the earthly phase of this reign which had already been portrayed in the writings of the Prophets of Israel, as well as frequently referred to by Christ and his Apostles. In the Old Testament prophecies the heavenly character of this reign is implied in the wonderful changes that are described to take place in the earth and its peoples as contrasted with present conditions. As an illustration of this, let the reader note the wonderful prophetic picture: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). It will be seen in this quotation that the heavenly aspect of this remarkable period is veiled in strong figurative language; the “mountain” referred to being a symbol of the Kingdom of God. Another illustration of this will be found in the words of the Prophet which read: “And in this mountain [heavenly phase of the Kingdom] shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people [of earth] a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:6-8). We quote one more prophecy to illustrate and establish this point — a Scripture that describes this Millennial reign as being the great Judgment Day: “O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory. The Lord hath made known His salvation: His righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of the heathen [nations]. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for He cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the people with His truth” (Psalms 98:1,2,8,9).

Humanity’s Last Temptation

We observe, therefore, in considering this vision of the release of Satan, that the earthly features of the reign of Christ and his saints will need to be kept in mind; in other words, that the thousand-year reign of Christ and his saints is nothing more or less than the great individual judgment or trial day of the world. With these thoughts before us it seems most apparent that the loosing of Satan and the permission of a second attempt to defile the earth is for the express purpose of testing the myriads of humanity — all mankind who will have been living on the earth and enjoying the blessed privileges of this Judgment Day — the testing being for the purpose of deciding which ones of humanity have not used these privileges to develop a character of heart loyalty and obedience to God.

Three classes are brought to our attention as closely related and living during these thousand years: first, there will be the immortal ones, Christ and his glorified Joint-heirs, the heavenly Kings, Priests, and Judges, who will be invisible to earth’s dwellers; second, the Old Testament saints, who will have been resurrected to perfect human conditions in the beginning of the thousand years, and who will constitute the visible intermediaries acting under the heavenly Kings, etc.; and third, the world of mankind, who will be on trial or probation for life or death everlasting. Seen from this standpoint the vision of the release of Satan and his permitted temporary activity in opposition to God amongst humanity, is, like all the visions of chapters 20, 21, and 22, designed simply to portray one aspect or picture of the final testing and results of this Millennial reign of Christ and his saints.

Consulting the writings of the commentators who have endeavored to explain this vision of the restraint and release of Satan, we find that nearly all, if not quite all of them, with the one exception of Mr. Russell, interpret it as referring to peoples who live through the judgment scenes that mark the overthrow of the present order. It was not until the ushering in of the period of Christ’s personal presence that clear light began to shine on that feature of the Divine Plan that relates to this Millennial reign and the resurrection of the dead. It is not only interesting but profitable to read, as confirming the truthfulness of progressive interpretation, some of the comments on this vision. Mr. Guinness, referring to this period, says:

“Now we have never known and consequently cannot conceive a world free from Satanic deceptions; but who does not feel at once that it would be a marvelously different world? When Satan is exiled from the earth for a time, it is evident that man will have a probation of a character different from any that he has as yet experienced; it will be a probation of man free from the Tempter, and though Scripture does not lead us to expect that sin will be altogether absent from among the Gentile nations of the earth during the course of this probation, it does undoubtedly intimate that its existence will be reduced to a minimum. The Lord Jesus Christ began to overthrow the power of the Devil when he resisted his temptation in the wilderness; he obtained a further and magnificent victory when he broke open the prison house of death, and leading captivity captive, ascended up on high. This binding of Satan is a further stage of his triumph over the great foe, and the final one comes at the close of the Millennium when the Devil is cast into the lake of fire.”

Mr. Lord, while regarding Satan as a real person, believed that his restraint and his release again were intended to portray very much wider effects than would be represented in his personal influence and operations. On these points he says that Satan, in the vision of his binding, includes the whole body of the fallen angels; and his emergence from prison denotes their release universally, and their return to the seduction of men on the earth. Another has said:

“It seems a great pity after the world has rested for a thousand years that this arch-enemy of its peace should again be let loose upon it. But there seems to be some sort of necessity for it. The statement to John was that ‘he must be loosed a little while’ (verse 3). Some interest of righteousness and moral government renders it proper that he should be allowed this last limited freedom.”

Referring to the particular matter of deception practiced by Satan, the same writer goes on to say: “Satan succeeds in rendering them [the ones deceived] dissatisfied with the holy rule of God’s glorified saints and induces them to believe that they can successfully throw it off and crush it out. How he does this we are not told; but under him they come forth in swarming myriads, enter the same holy land [as others (Ezekiel 38, 39) did a thousand years before], and compass about the citadel of the saints and the beloved city in the vain hope of wresting the dominion from its immortal possessors. The insane war, however, is quickly terminated. One brief sentence tells the fearful story: ‘There came down fire out of heaven and devoured them.’ When Israel was encamped in the wilderness, a guard of Levites was set about the tabernacle and the command to them was, ‘The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.’ (Numbers 1:51). So a guard of immortal king-priests keeps the ways to the Throne and Temple of Jehovah in that day, and the presumptuous dupes of Satan’s last deception who dare to approach with hostile intent are instantly hurled to a fiery destruction. Not a man of them escapes” (Joseph Seiss).

Concerning who are represented by these who seek to wrest the earthly rulership from the divinely appointed ones, none of the earlier commentators it seems had a clear conception. In the increased light of the days of the presence of the Son of Man, this matter as well as others bearing on the same is better understood. Of all expositors, Mr. Russell is the only one who has given a clear unfolding of this vision of the loosing of Satan. Concerning the Divine purpose to be accomplished in this release of Satan we have the following from his pen:

“At the close of the Millennium, when men shall have been made perfect, the world of mankind will be subjected to a final test, not as to their perfection of human nature, but as to their loyalty to God. The test upon Mother Eve was of this character. She was not deceived in the sense of not knowing the meaning of loyalty to God or what constituted disobedience. God had forewarned her. She knew what was right. But she was deceived so far as the consequences were concerned. So with Satan. He was deceived as to the outcome of his course, in thinking he would be able to carry out his plans despite the Lord.

“So, we believe, it will be at the end of the Millennial Age. Some of mankind will be deceived as to the result of the course they will take. All who are entirely loyal to the Divine Law will perceive the error of the wicked. During the Millennial Age Christ, as the Mediator, will stand between mankind and the full requirements of Justice; and mankind will be, as it were, in a household of protection. When all evil influences are restrained, mankind will have a very favorable opportunity for coming to a full knowledge of the Divine requirements. After they shall have enjoyed the blessings of restitution to the full, then it will be appropriate that a test shall come, to see whether their adherence to righteousness is merely a matter of policy or whether they have reached such a condition of heart-loyalty to God and righteousness as not to be removed from righteousness by any influence.

“At the end of the Millennial Age, then, after they shall have been turned over to the Father, he will thus test mankind to see whether or not they have learned full obedience. Evil influences will be let loose for a season. If they have not learned thoroughly the lesson of obedience they will be unworthy of everlasting life and will demonstrate that theirs has been merely a policy service. It will be because they have not come into fullness of heart harmony with God that they will be peculiarly susceptible, in this trial respecting their loyalty.

“Satan was tested as to his loyalty to God. Adam and Eve were tested as to their loyalty to God. In the time of Noah the angels were similarly tested — not as to whether they preferred right to wrong, but as to their entire loyalty. Jesus himself was tested as to his loyalty to the Father. So mankind, at the end of the Millennial Age, will be tested as respects their heart harmony with God.”

Concerning what is represented in this Post-millennial vision by the “beloved city” and the “camp of the saints,” we will find it interesting to compare the views of some of the expositors. Mr. Lord comments on these matters, saying: “The beloved city is the New Jerusalem, which is the symbol, as will be shown in the exposition of the next chapter, of the glorified saints in their relations to unglorified men, of priests and kings, as great Babylon is the symbol of the priests and rulers [governmental powers] of the apostate hierarchies.” Concerning who or what is represented by the “camp of the saints,” he says: “They probably represent the subordinate, unglorified rulers of the obedient nations.”

Mr. Russell’s interpretation is very much the same as the above. His comment is that “the ‘beloved city’ is the New Jerusalem, the Church in glory, not the Church in the flesh.” His thought with regard to the “camp of the saints,” is somewhat similar to Mr. Lord’s, only more clear and definite because of his clearer apprehension of that feature of the Divine Plan concerning the earthly phase of the Millennial Kingdom or Judgment Day.

“At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be loosed, that he may go forward to test the people that are on the earth, to manifest to what extent their hearts are loyal to God and to the principles of righteousness. The result of this test will be that some will fall away (Revelation 20:7-10).

“We read, ‘And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.’ (Revelation 20:9). The ‘beloved city’ is the New Jerusalem, the Church in glory, not the Church in the flesh. The rebellion incited by Satan will be not only against the earthly princes, but also against The Christ.

“By that time having reached perfection of organism and powers, the people will assert themselves in thus going up to encompass the camp of the saints. That the Church cannot be meant is evident from the fact that human beings could not attack an unseen force of spirit beings, as the Church will then be.”

“We do not expect that the communication between the spiritual rulers [the glorified Church] and their earthly subjects will be after this manner [as in Old Testament times] during the Millennium; for we find that God has made provision that a certain class of humanity, already tried (during the period before the Gospel Age) and found worthy of perfection and everlasting life, shall throughout the Millennial Age serve as the intermediaries between the spiritual Kingdom, the saints, and their subjects, mankind.

“These intermediaries, while not the Kingdom in the proper sense of the word, will be so fully the representatives of it amongst men that they will be recognized as the Kingdom by men; they will represent the Kingdom before men and be the only visible representatives of it. Hence we have termed these ‘the earthly phase of the Kingdom,’ visible among men (Luke 13:28).

“These, ‘Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets’ and Ancient Worthies referred to by our Lord and by the Apostles (Matthew 8:11, Hebrews 11:4-40), having passed their trial, will be awakened from death perfect — fully restored to human perfection; and will not require a ‘resurrection by judgment’ a thousand years long, as will the residue of mankind.”

In regard to Satan’s operations to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog, Mr. Lord’s interpretation, which is very much the same as that of Mr. Russell, is: “Satan’s enticing Gog and Magog to gather together to battle, denotes … his enticing them to resist and endeavor to subvert the rule, both of the glorified and unglorified saints and to elevate themselves into their place. That it is by his influence that they are to be incited to war, indicates that they had before been universally [outwardly] obedient.

“This prophecy, then, foreshows that after the risen saints have reigned with Christ … Satan and his legions are to be allowed again to return to earth and tempt men; that seduced by them, remote nations are to revolt from the sway of the saints which Christ has established over them, and attempt to exalt themselves to supreme authority; and that they are to be destroyed by a direct interposition of the eternal Word, and the tempting angels thereafter to be consigned to perpetual imprisonment in hell [Gehenna].”

Loyalty to God the Last Test

Mr. Russell enlarging and defining more particularly the nature or character of the test to be applied to mankind at the end of the thousand years has thus written:

“Possibly the temptation that will come to mankind at that time will be the desire to take possession of the government of earth before it is fully turned over to them. If this be true, since they will know that it is God’s intention to turn the earth over to mankind when the end of the thousand years shall come, they will be anticipating the immediate transfer of everything from the Ancient Worthies, who shall have been ruling as ‘princes in all the earth.’ (Psalms 45:16). When the time shall be fully come, they will be disappointed. ‘And they went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city’ (Revelation 20:9).

“This shows the condition of many of the world at that time. Many of them will become restless. They will say, ‘These Ancient Worthies are holding back the government from us. We do not need to have anything to stand between us and the government of the world.’ This attitude will be disloyalty to God. Knowing that all things are of Divine arrangement, they should say, ‘The thousand years, seemingly, are over. We thought this Government would be turned over to us. But we will leave matters entirely in God’s hands. If He sees best to give us the Government, well and good. But if He sees best to hold it back after the time is up, we shall be satisfied.’ Such would be the attitude of loyalty.”

Another instructive comment on this vision, showing that it occurs after the work of the glorified, immortal saints, and the princely intermediaries, the Ancient Worthies, is completed, is as follows:

“The great Mediator will indeed ‘destroy from amongst the people’ all who will not obey him, throughout the Millennial Age; so that at the transfer of his Kingdom and the vacating of his Mediatorship, the world of mankind will be perfect. The Mediator will step from between God and man, and Divine tests will be applied, to prove, to demonstrate, the heart-faithful. The sentence upon the disloyal is: ‘There will come fire from God out of heaven and destroy them.’ This indicates a testing and punishing by Divine Justice. This would not be possible so long as the Mediatorial Kingdom held sway. However, we understand that our Lord will be the Father’s Representative in connection with that exhibition of Divine Justice which will follow his Mediatorship, just as he was the Father’s Representative and Agent before he came into the world to be our Redeemer.

“The trial will follow the thousand years of Christ’s reign, at the conclusion of which he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father. Hence the loosing of Satan and the testing of the perfected race will be the result of their being turned over into the hands of absolute Justice, and in contradistinction to their having been in the hands of Mercy through the Mediator for a thousand years. That judgment, or test, therefore, will be of the Father, of Justice — a similar test to that which originally came upon Father Adam.

“However, it is written that all things are of the Father and by the Son. We are to understand that the glorious Son of God will be the Father’s active Agent in respect to that Judgment as well as in all matters. But it will be the Father’s Judgment, or the judgment of Justice, for the Son’s Mediatorial Kingdom will have ended.

“We cannot doubt then that in the close of the Millennial Age, God will again for a ‘little season’ permit evil to triumph, in order thereby to test His creatures (who will by that time have become thoroughly acquainted with both good and evil, and the consequence of each, and will have had His justice and love fully demonstrated to them), that those who finally prefer and choose evil may be cut off — destroyed. Thus God will for all eternity remove all who do not love righteousness and hate iniquity.

“The grand outcome of that trial will be a clean universe. As the Revelator expresses it, ‘Every creature which is in heaven and on the earth … heard I saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever. But this result will be accomplished in harmony with all God’s dealings past and present, which have always recognized man’s freedom of will to choose good or evil, life or death.”

Revelator Reads Second Death Sentence of Satan

“And that enemy who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the beast and false prophet [were cast] and they will be tormented day and night for the ages of the ages” (verse 10).

By comparing this verse with verse 3 a difference will be noted between the symbols employed to denote Satan’s imprisonment and his final punishment — the one is that of the “abyss,” the other is the “lake of fire.” The lake of fire is a symbol which we found used once before in the Revelation visions. It will be recalled, as is mentioned in this text, that the beast and the false prophet, representing systems or organizations, were cast into a lake of fire at the beginning of the thousand years. There, the symbol very evidently denotes destruction, that is, the destruction of the systems and not necessarily that of the individuals. In a succeeding vision to the one under consideration, we have the statement that death and hades were cast into the lake of fire, which very evidently denotes the destruction of death, that is, that Adamic death and the state of death will cease. In the same way we understand it is used in the verse we are considering.

If it were not for the last clause of this verse, we might consider this a sufficient explanation, and here rest the matter. In the passage under consideration, however, it is declared that the Devil is not only cast into the lake of fire (destruction), but is to be tormented forever. One has said:

“In the interpretation of the Scriptures we can afford to throw nothing out simply because it may conflict with any former views advanced. Scriptures seemingly ‘contradictory’ must be ‘harmonized,’ not cast aside. Still it stands as a matter of reason and logical common sense that in order to interpret any particular passage, the general harmony found in the testimony of other passages must not be destroyed, neither should one passage be arrayed against another in seeming conflict with it; nor should one conclude that a ‘majority of texts’ favor a certain construction, and array them against a minority, seemingly out of harmony.

“In our humble opinion there can be no question but that the ‘general tenor’ of the Word opposes the teaching of a ‘life in torment,’ as the end of a career. So far as the ‘beast and the false prophet’ are concerned, being purely symbolic, they could not as systems be tormented in any case. But we believe the ‘Devil’ to be a being, a personality, an entity whom it might be possible to ‘torment forever and ever,’ were such condition the decree of the Almighty.

“However, we do not believe the Almighty has any such intention. We read, ‘But all the wicked shall He destroy.’ (Psalms 145:20). Speaking of our Lord [in Hebrews 2:14], we read, ‘that through death [through the death penalty], he [Christ] might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil.’ This declares that Satan shall be destroyed by ‘death,’ and it would be impossible to inflict conscious torment upon that which is ‘destroyed.’”

It is certainly most reasonable to suppose that as Satan is to be finally destroyed, the “torment” referred to in this text will end in death. Therefore, the whole matter rests upon the meaning of the words, “forever and ever.” In this connection we note that the phrase forever and ever does not always convey the thought of never ceasing. It will be admitted, however, that in many cases in the Scriptures it has that meaning. The phrase “to a completion” is very often its meaning. Mr. Russell has thus explained this text in connection with utterances of the same character found in the context:

“Revelation 20:9 tells of the destruction of those individuals who join with Satan in the last rebellion; and verse 15 tells of that same destruction in other words, using the symbol ‘lake of fire.’ They are devoured or consumed in fire. This being the case, the torment of verse 10 cannot refer to these human beings who are consumed, destroyed. Hence the question narrows down to this, Will Satan and a false prophet and a beast be tortured forever? and does this verse so teach?

“We answer in God’s own words, ‘All the wicked will He destroy.’ Concerning Satan, the arch-enemy of God and man, God expressly advises us that he will be destroyed, and not preserved in any sense or condition (Hebrews 2:14).

“The beast and false prophet systems, which during the Gospel Age have deceived and led astray, will be cast into a great, consuming trouble in the close of this Gospel Age. The torment of those systems will be aionian, i.e., lasting. It will continue as long as they last, until they are utterly consumed. So also the system of error, which will suddenly manifest itself at the end of the Millennial Age and lead the ‘goats’ to destruction, will be consumed (Revelation 20:7-10). That deceiving system (not specified as to kind, but merely called Satan [Adversary] after its instigator) will be cast into the same sort of trouble and destruction, in the end of the Millennial Age, as the beast and false prophet systems are now being cast into it, in the end of the Gospel Age.”