1I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2He 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, 3and 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.
4I 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. 5The rest of the dead didn’t live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed 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.
7And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison 8and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9They went up over the width of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God and devoured them. 10The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. 12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. 14Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
The appearance of the locusts was that of horses with crowns and faces of men, women’s hair, lions’ teeth, iron breastplates, and scorpion tails which sting men to torment them. John’s repeated use of “like” indicates he was viewing actual creatures and attempting to describe what he saw with terms familiar to his readers and similar to what he was seeing.
Is John describing something purely figurative, or is he describing something literal and an event that will happen in history yet future? Arguments for these being figurative language describing demons begin by noting that they do not eat anything green. Apollyon is their king, yet Proverbs 30:27 says locusts have no king. The abyss seems to be a prison house for demons (Luke 8:31; Rev 20:3; and Matt 8:29). Finally, they cannot afflict the sealed of God (Rev 7:2-4). The literal view sees the use of like and as indicating a physical reality behind the vision. These creatures may exist at this very time within the bottomless pit and torment its prisoners, namely, demons. They could have been created by God for that purpose and will be used in the Tribulation to torment those loyal to Satan. There is nothing in the description of the creatures or their activities that demands a figurative interpretation.