Revelation 19:11-20:15 depicts the long awaited battle between Christ and the forces of Satan. Christ arrives as Divine Warrior on a white horse, and he is backed by the armies of heaven who are clothed in white linen (19:11-14). Already in these first few verses, John’s theme of juxtaposing God and Christ with Satan and his forces starts to unfold. As Koester observes, Christ is described as wearing many diadems which “challenges the pretensions of the dragon and the beast, who display diadems on their heads and horns as a mockery of divine power” (175-176). In addition, Christ and Satan are both depicted coming to the battlefield with their respective armies behind them. The battle is instant and decisive; the beast and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire, their armies are killed by the sword from the rider’s mouth, and the birds feast on the fallen enemies (19:17-21). An interesting point to notice is that those who rode into battle with Christ didn’t lift a finger during the actual fight. With so many earlier verses referring to the ones dressed in white as “conquerors” (3:4-5, 21), one might have expected those in the army to play a more direct role in the final battle. Instead, it was Christ’s actions alone, or rather the word of God from Christ alone, that triumphed over the forces of evil. Koester offers an insightful explanation as to how the called and chosen in white robes can still be regarded as conquerors. Those who faithfully resist idolatry, greed, and other forms of sin through the way they live and die will triumph over evil (Koester 177).
After the quick battle, an angel throws the dragon into the abyss for a thousand years, only to be let out again at a later time (Rev. 20:1-3). John then describes the first resurrection, where “those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus” are given authority and reign as priests with Christ for a thousand years (20:4-6). At this point the readers of Revelation might recall certain earlier passages regarding what God’s triumph would look like for those who followed Him. One example would be the “new song” that is sung in Rev. 5:9-10, which describes Christ ransoming saints from every nation and making them into priests to serve and reign on the earth. In another verse, John relays Christ’s promise to give those who conquer a place on his throne (3:21). The establishment of the millennium and reign of the saints described in Rev. 20:4-6 thus gives an illustration of John’s earlier visions of God’s triumph. However, this illustration is slightly vague on who is included in the millennium and who must wait for the final judgment in Rev. 20:11-15. At first glance it would seem that only the martyrs, the spiritual elite, are included in the millennial reign and safe from the second death. Koester challenges such a reading, arguing that John uses the term martyr simply to represent the faithful and not just those who were beheaded. By the end of the last judgment all of John’s earlier affirmations of God’s authority and triumph still hold true: All of those who endured in their faith to Christ are redeemed and brought to everlasting life (Koester 186).