Revelation 20:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When the book says, "And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them," we should not understand this as the final punishment that will come when it is said: "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt 25:41).

For then they will be sent into the fire. Fire will not come down upon them from heaven.

Here it is fitting to understand by fire from heaven the very steadfastness of the saints, by which they will not yield to those committing cruelties and will not act according to their will.

For the firmament is heaven, and its firmness will make them suffer most cruelly from jealousy, since they will be unable to draw the saints of Christ to the side of the antichrist.

For the fire that came down from heaven will burn him with the nations mentioned. Either it will be visible fire, as in the time of Elijah, which burned the two captains of fifty (4 Kgs 1:10, 12), or the glorious coming of Christ will slay them with the breath of His mouth (2 Thess 2:8), ...

The devil and his people went out on the breadth of the earth, that is, they reached the arrogance of pride. "And they surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city," that is, the Church.

This is what he said above about those gathered at Armageddon (cf. Rev 16:16). For they will not be able to gather from the four corners of the earth into one city.

Rather, in the four corners themselves, each nation will gather to besiege the holy city, that is, to persecute the Church.

"And fire came down from heaven to the earth," that is, from the Church, "and devoured them." Fire is understood here in two senses.

Either through the fire of the Holy Spirit they believe in Christ and are spiritually devoured by the Church, that is, incorporated into the Church. Or they are devoured by the fire of their own sins and perish.

"And they surrounded the beloved city," that is, the Church. Yet the fire descending from heaven will destroy them all.

When retribution finally comes, the author of evil, Satan, together with the devil and the antichrist, will be cast into the lake of fire, that is, Gehenna.

Let the reader know that this book of Revelation above presented three to us. The first is the dragon, the author of evil, appearing in heaven.

The second is the beast coming up from the sea, whom we consider second after Satan, yet surpassing the other demons. The third is the antichrist, who is also called the false prophet (cf. Rev 12:3; 13:1, 11).

A little earlier it was said of the second, the devil, and of the antichrist, that both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev 19:20).

After the term appointed by God for the reign of the devil on earth has elapsed, before the end of the visible world, Satan will be released from his bonds. He will rise up for the last and decisive battle against Christ and His Church.

Although this last battle is described here briefly, time in the prophecies is used chiefly in an indefinite sense. Therefore one may suppose that this battle will embrace a considerable span of time.

Besides this, it is evident that the prophecy speaks of the last times of the world. From the Gospel we know that before the end of the world there will be wars, civil strife, and terrible changes in nature.

In similar features, the prophet Ezekiel once depicted the defeat of Gog's savage hordes by the wrathful Jehovah (Ezek 38:12-22; 39:1-6). The fire that came down from heaven is, of course, a metaphorical depiction of the just wrath of heaven, which will be poured out upon God's enemies in the terrible events before the second coming of Christ.