The Common Theme of Revelation - The Vision of the Dragon in the Abyss

Together with the Visions of the Woman with 12 Stars and the Two Prophets, the Vision of the Dragon in the Abyss forms the common theme of Revelation. These three cover the whole human history from Jesus until the end of times.

The first two are connected because they can both be connected to fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in the year 70. And they both cover a period of 1260 prophetic days where Israel is not in its homeland.

The way the Vision of the Dragon in the Abyss is connected to these is by this sentence in chapter 11:7

Revelation 11:7 When they have finished their witnessing, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war on them, gain victory over them, and kill them.

There's only one beast that comes from the abyss and that's the one mentioned in Revelation 20. So let's have a look at that chapter.

Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. 2 He seized the dragon, the old snake, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the abyss, then locked and sealed it over him. This was to keep him from continuing to deceive the nations until the thousand years were over. After this he must be released for a little while.

We'll skip verses 4-6 for a minute.

7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison. 8 He will go out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog. He will gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 They came up across the whole earth and surrounded the saints’ camp, the city that God loves. But fire came down from heaven and consumed them. 10 Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet also were. There painful suffering will be inflicted upon them day and night, forever and always.

To summarize this: the dragon is thrown into the abyss, bound for a thousand years and then comes out of the abyss. 11:7 is connected with 20:7 and I put both in bold. Like two pieces of a puzzle, we can connect the two Visions.
Next thing we can do is connect the end of the Vision of Woman with 12 Stars with the beginning of this one. Now the summary of the story of Satan is like this:

1. (Satan had a beast of an empire emerge from the sea of nations, the Romans; chapter 13).
2. He tried to annihilate the Messiah. 
3. But he was thrown out of heaven unto the earth.
4. He raged around for some time trying to annihilate Israel and her children (Christians), by means of the Roman empire.
5. Then he was bound and thrown into the abyss.
6. For a thousand (prophetic) years Israel was kept secure and the church could grow without any real threat to its existence.
7. Then he was released from the abyss so he could setup the nations again against Israel and Christians. First thing he did was having a beast of an empire emerge from the sea of nations to try to annihilate the Jews (Hitler's Third Reich). 
8. He failed and he now is setting up the nations to try to annihilate the Jews from the land of Israel (through the Gog-coalition).
9. But that will fail too and the devil eventually will end up in the lake of fire.

 A couple of things are very important to understand here.

No Thousand year Kingdom of Peace
The term 1000-year Kingdom of Peace, or Messianic Reign is nowhere used in the bible. Revelation 20 is the only place where this 1000-year period is mentioned, but it does not talk about a Kingdom of Peace here. Neither does it say the Messiah will reign during that period. It only says the devil is bound.
It also specifies what the devil is not being able to do during the period it is bound. He can not deceive the NATIONS (verse 3). But he can still deceive individuals, like a mafia boss is doing out of his prison. When he is released, he immediately starts to deceive and gather the NATIONS to attack Israel again.
The Messianic Kingdom of Peace that is going to come, is going to be forever, not just for a thousand years.

The devil is already loose again
Right now we already live in the times the devil has been let loose again! Maybe he was already let loose somewhere before the Age of Enlightenment. That's where the Age of Reason started that gained so much power that it was able to drive Christianity far back again. Within the culture of this Enlightenment, the Theory of Evolution could thrive. The Theory of Evolution was the basis for Social Darwinism that made the philosophy of the Nazis possible where inferior races could be destroyed to make room for superior races. It took the devil some time to get from a Christian worldview to an empire that could destruct human beings by the masses on an industrial scale.
Again, the devil has been let loose already for a long time.

The first resurrection
Now let's have a look at the part we skipped

4 Then I saw thrones, and people took their seats on them, and judgment was given to them. They were the ones who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and God’s word, and those who hadn’t worshipped the beast or its image, who hadn’t received the mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life and ruled with Christ for one thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead didn’t come to life until the thousand years were over. This is the first resurrection. 6 Favored and holy are those who have a share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will rule with him for one thousand years. 

People that were beheaded in the time that John wrote this book, where John the Baptist (by Herod) and Paul (by Nero in the year 64).
This section talks about a first resurrection as well as a second death. That's completely new for the entire bible, but it does make sense. The first death is the physical death. The human spirit goes the Sheol (Hebrew name), Hades (Greek name) or realm of the dead (in common English). That's like a prison or lobby where everybody is waiting for the Day of the Final Judgement. But (true) Christians don't go there. They will resurrect from Sheol spiritually to be with God. That's why the guy being crucified next to Jesus would be in Paradise the same day as Jesus.
The second resurrection is the physical resurrection, the second death is the spiritual death.

When we understand that the first resurrection is the spiritual resurrection after death from Sheol, we can see that verses 4-6 here says that people such as John the Baptist and Paul ruled with Christ during this thousand year period (most likely to build and protect the (true) church).