65 - Bible Commentary | Karuna Sadan

📖Revelation 20:1

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

Apostle John sees “an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.”

Authority & Power: Keys represent authority. Whoever holds the keys decides who enters and who is shut out.Lord Jesus said, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Revelation 1:18).

In the spiritual realm, this means Jesus has absolute authority over life, death, and eternity. satan no longer controls the power of death—Christ broke it through His resurrection (Hebrews 2:14).

In Matthew 16:19, Jesus says to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Here, Jesus extends a delegated authority. Peter, and later the other apostles (Matthew 18:18), were entrusted with the responsibility to open the kingdom through the preaching of the gospel. The “keys” were not physical objects, but spiritual authority to unlock salvation for people and to establish kingdom order on earth.

The Angel is not Named: This shows that the power is not in the angel himself but in the authority delegated by God. Many people give undue importance to satan, as if he were equal in power to God. Yet Scripture shows otherwise. In Revelation 20, it is not the Father who confronts him, nor even Christ Himself, but an unnamed angel who binds him with ease. This is a dramatic declaration: satan is not God’s opposite or rival; he is a created being, entirely subject to God’s authority. At any moment, God could end his activity. Yet in His wisdom, God allows satan to continue for a time, knowing that even his rebellion will ultimately serve God’s greater purposes.

The Great Chain: This is symbolic, not literal. Spiritual beings cannot be bound with physical iron. The chain signifies a divine restraint placed on satan’s activities.

What is the Bottomless Pit ?

📖Revelation 20:1speaks of an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit, and in verses 2 and 3, we see satan is bound and thrown into the bottomless pit.

The Greek word for the bottomless pit is abussos, meaning “the abyss,” a deep, immeasurable place. It is not the final lake of fire (which comes later in Revelation 20:10, 14), but a temporary prison for demonic forces. In Luke 8:31, the demons begged Jesus not to send them into “the abyss,” showing they recognise it as a place of confinement and torment.

The abyss or the bottomless pit is essentially a holding chamber—a spiritual prison where evil spirits are restrained until God’s appointed time.

Where is it located ?

The Bible does not give us an exact GPS location. The abyss seems to be a spiritual realm that intersects with our physical reality but is not directly accessible by humans. Some Jewish teachings connect it with the depths of the sea.

“Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for punishment with fire, and it devoured the great deep and would have eaten up the land.”(Amos 7:4)

Scripture often sees the ocean as a picture of chaos and demonic activity. I, too, believe this because when God sent the flood on the earth, the giants (the nephilim) that were on the land were destroyed, but the nephilim in the sea - nothing is mentioned about them being destroyed.

In Revelation 9:1–2, the abyss is opened, and smoke rises “like the smoke of a great furnace,” unleashing locust-like demonic beings. This gives the impression of an underground chamber sealed until God permits it to be opened.

Extra-Biblical References

Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 10:4–6): Fallen angels are bound in “the valleys of the earth” until the day of judgment. This strongly parallels Revelation’s abyss imagery.
Greek Mythology: In Greek mythology, Tartarus was not just the underworld—it was the deepest, most dreadful pit beneath even Hades. Interestingly, the New Testament uses the same Greek word, Tartarus, in 2 Peter 2:4: “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment…”

Here, Peter tells us that the angels who rebelled against God are bound in a place of confinement awaiting final judgment. This is the bottomless pit or the abyss.

So, the abyss appears in both biblical and extra-biblical thought as a place of restraint for rebellious spiritual beings.

Scientific Theories

Throughout history, people have speculated about “entrances” to the abyss:

Siberia’s “Well to Hell” Story: In the 1980s, there was a story circulating on the internet that claimed Russian scientists drilled a borehole so deep (about 12 km) that they heard screams of the damned. There was an actual recording of it. I too heard it, and it sounds very authentic.
The Mariana Trench: At nearly 11 km deep, it is the deepest known part of Earth’s oceans. Some conspiracies link it to the abyss, citing its “bottomless” appearance, though it is a physical location, not a spiritual prison.
Hollow Earth Theories: Some fringe theories suggest vast subterranean worlds exist, possibly linked to biblical “abysses.”
CERN Conspiracies: Certain groups allege that the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is an attempt to “open portals,” sometimes linked to the abyss of Revelation 9.

While I really cannot vouch for the authenticity of these theories, they show humanity’s fascination—and fear—of the bottomless pit.

📖Revelation 20:2

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Apostle John emphasizes four descriptions: “the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and satan.”

1. The Dragon

The image of the dragon highlights satan’s terrifying and destructive nature. Dragons in Scripture symbolize chaos and fierce opposition to God’s order (see Revelation 12:3–4). John wants us to picture satan not as a harmless snake but as a monstrous, fire-breathing enemy whose mission is to devour, destroy, and terrify.

2. The Serpent of Old

This takes us back to Genesis 3, where satan first appeared to Eve in the Garden of Eden. As the cunning serpent, he deceived humanity into sin, twisting God’s words and planting doubt. John’s phrase reminds us that the same ancient deceiver is still at work—his tactics haven’t changed since the beginning.

3. The Devil (Diabolos)

The Greek word diabolos means “slanderer” or “accuser.” satan constantly hurls accusations against God’s people (Revelation 12:10), seeking to shame and condemn. Like a relentless prosecutor, he magnifies failures and distorts truth. But in Christ, his accusations hold no power, for Jesus is our Advocate before the Father.(1 John 2:1)

4. satan (Hebrew ha-satan)

In Hebrew, ha-satan means “the adversary” or “the opponent.” This title captures his main role: resisting God’s purposes and opposing God’s people. He is not merely a tempter but an enemy who strategically fights against the kingdom of God. Yet, his opposition only underscores the supremacy of Christ, who has already crushed him underfoot

This fourfold naming removes all confusion —Apostle John wants us to know without doubt who is being bound. (Romans 16:20)

Chapter 20