vengeance shall go forth even unto the princes of the peoples — that is, the rulers, whether the devil or his angels. In the last conflict the vengeance of the blood that has been shed shall go forth — even as it was foretold: 'in blood thou hast sinned, and blood shall pursue thee' — for a thousand six hundred furlongs, that is, throughout all the four quarters of the world. For it is a fourfoldness made fourfold, as in the four faces of fourfold form and in the wheels. For four times four hundred is sixteen hundred. Chapter XV. Repeating the same persecution, the Apocalypse says: 'seven angels having seven plagues, the last,' since in these the wrath of God is finished.
For the wrath of God always smites the contumacious people with seven plagues — that is, perfectly, as it says in Leviticus — which shall be in the end, when the Church shall have gone forth out of the midst. But as for his saying that they stood upon a sea of glass, having harps and vials — that is, that upon their baptism they stood steadfastly settled in the faith, and having their confession in their mouth, were about to exult in the kingdom before the Lord. Let us return to our subject. Chapter XIX. 'And I saw heaven opened: and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.' For by the white horse and him that sat upon it he shows our Lord coming with the heavenly army to reign.
'For from the sea of the north even unto the sea of Phoenicia, and even unto the ends of the earth' — these greater parts shall be cleansed at the coming of the Lord. All the souls of the nations shall be gathered together unto judgment. Chapter XX. 'And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a chain in his hand. And he laid hold on that dragon, the ancient serpent, who is surnamed the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal over him, that he should not seduce even the nations any more, until the thousand years be finished. After this he must be loosed a short time.' 'And I saw seats, and them that sat upon them, and judgment was given.'
'And the souls of those slain for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and such as had not worshipped the beast nor its image, neither had received the inscription on their forehead or on their hand — and they reigned with Jesus a thousand years; the rest of them lived not until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.' 'Blessed and holy is he that hath part in this first resurrection: on these the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.' The thousand years in which Satan is bound are those from the first coming of Christ unto the end of the age; but they are called 'a thousand' by that manner of speaking whereby a part is signified by the whole, as is that saying:
'the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,' though they be not a thousand. But as for his saying: 'This is the first resurrection' — there are two resurrections; but the first resurrection is now, that of souls through faith, which suffers not men to pass over unto the second death. Concerning this resurrection the Apostle says: 'If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.' 'And he cast him,' he says, 'into the abyss' — because the devil, shut out from the believers, began to possess the impious, in whose blind hearts daily, as in a deep abyss, he is enclosed. 'And he shut him up,' he says, 'and set a seal over him, that he should not seduce the nations, until the thousand years be finished.'
'He shut him up over him' is said, that is, he forbade and restrained him, that he should not seduce those belonging to Christ. 'And he set a seal over him,' because it is hidden who belong to the party of the devil and who to that of Christ. For even of him who seemeth to stand, we know not whether he is to fall; and of him who lieth, whether he shall rise again, is uncertain. But as for his saying that he was 'bound and shut up, that he should not seduce the nations' — the nations signify the Church, of which the same Church consists, which previously he held seduced. 'Until,' he says, 'the thousand years be finished' — that is, what remains of the sixth day, which consists of a thousand years. 'After this he must be loosed a short time.'
'A short time' signifies 'three years and six months,' during which the devil, under the Antichrist, is about to rage with all his might against the Church. Then he says that 'afterwards,' the devil being loosed, he shall draw the seduced nations throughout the whole world into war against her, the number of which enemies shall be 'as the sand of the sea.' 'And they went up,' he says, 'over the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city; and fire came down from heaven from God, and devoured them. And the devil also, who seduced them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also the beast and the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.'
This now pertains to the last judgment. For I do not think that the kingdom of a thousand years is earthly; or if it is to be so understood, then when the thousand years are completed they cease to reign. But as the capacity of my understanding perceives, I will set forth. The number ten signifies the Decalogue, and the number a hundred shows the crown of virginity.
For he who has kept whole his purpose of virginity, and has faithfully fulfilled the precepts of the Decalogue, and has watched over his impure manners or impure thoughts within the chamber of the heart, that they should not have dominion over him — he truly 'is a priest of Christ,' and, completing the thousandfold number, is believed wholly to 'reign with Christ,' and rightly is 'the devil bound' with respect to him. But he who is entangled in vices and in the doctrines of heretics, in him 'the devil is loosed.' But since, when the thousand years are completed, he says that 'he is loosed' — the number of the perfect saints being completed, in whom virginity reigns in body and heart — at the coming of that abominable advent, many, seduced by him through the love of earthly things, shall be supplanted, and together with him shall enter into the 'lake.'
And after a little while the earth restores the bodies of the saints who had previously rested: receiving with the eternal King an immortal kingdom, those who are virgins not only in body but also in tongue and in thought — these he shows shall exult with the Lamb. Chapter XXI. As for the city which he says is foursquare and resplendent with gold and precious stones, and the street paved, and a river through the midst, and the tree of life on either side bearing fruits, twelve, throughout the twelve months, and there is no light of the sun there, because the Lamb is its light; and its gates of single pearls, three gates on each of the four sides, and they cannot be shut:
by the 'foursquare city' he shows the gathered multitude of the saints, in whom the faith could in no way waver — just as it was commanded to Noah, that he should make the ark of squared timbers, which could bear the onset of the flood. By 'precious stones' he shows men strong in persecution, who could neither be moved by the storm of persecutors nor dissolved from the true faith by the onslaught of rain. Therefore they are joined with 'pure gold,' out of which the city of the great King is adorned. But their 'street' is shown to be hearts cleansed from all defilements, where the Lord may walk. And the 'river of life' shows the grace of spiritual nativity to run.
The 'tree of life on either bank' shows the coming of Christ according to the flesh, whom the old Law foretold should come and suffer, and who is made manifest in the Gospel. The 'twelve fruits throughout the several months' show the diverse graces of the twelve apostles, which, receiving from the one tree of the cross, they satisfy with the preaching of the word of God the peoples consumed with hunger. And since he says that in the city the sun is not necessary, he plainly shows that the Creator of the lights shines undefiled in the midst of it, whose splendour no sense shall be able to conceive nor tongue to utter. On the four sides he says there are three gates, set with single pearls: I take these to be the four virtues:
prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance, which cleave mutually to one another, and while they are mingled together make up the number twelve. But the twelve gates we believe to be the number of the apostles, who, shining in the four virtues like precious pearls, by manifesting the way to the saints — the light of their doctrine — cause them to enter into the city of the saints, so that the choir of angels may rejoice over their conduct. That the gates cannot be shut: it is plainly shown that by no storm of gainsayers can the doctrine of the apostles be overcome.
Even the waves of the nations and the insane superstition of heretics, while they rage against the true faith, their conquered foam is dissolved; because the rock is Christ, by whom and through whom the Church, being founded, is overcome by no waves of raging men. Therefore those are not to be listened to who affirm that the kingdom of a thousand years is earthly, who think with the heretic Cerinthus. (For the kingdom of Christ which now is shall be everlasting in the saints, when the glory of the saints shall have been made manifest after the resurrection.)