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What is the period of a thousand years in Revelation 20?

Revelation 20 nowhere speaks about some millennial reign of Jesus. It speaks about the devil being not allowed to attack Israel.
And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. (Revelation 20:7)
See this blog.
The key to understanding what the 1000 years mean, can be found in chapter 17:8
The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. (Rev.17:8)
This is a SUMMARY of what chapter 20 is describing. Or to put it differently: chapter 20 SPECIFIES what 17:8 is saying.
You can ask yourself this question: where in Revelation is a beast mentioned that comes out of the abyss? The only place is in chapter 20. That's why 17:8 is a reference to chapter 20.

17:8 20:2-3,10
The beast that you saw was 2 He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth,
and is not and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished.
and is about to come up out of the abyss After this, he must be freed for a short time.
and to go into destruction 10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur

THAT means the 1000 years of chapter 20 is the period that 'the beast is not' in chapter 17. That's in between when it was and is about to come up again.


Now the scarlet beast with the whore riding on it, is a depiction of the Roman empire. See this blog for details of what chapter 17 means. The whore is Rome, the scarlet beast is the dragon or devil and together they represent the Roman Empire.
The seven heads are the FIRST seven emperors and the eighth king is the LAST ruler of a resurrected Empire.
The beast that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes to destruction. (Rev. 17:11)
That means the 1000 years of Revelation 20 is the period between the disappearance of the first beast with the seven kings which is the Roman Empire... and the return of the beast with the eighth king which is the Third Reich of Hitler.

In other words: the 1000 (prophetic) years of Revelation 20 is the period starting when the Roman Empire disappeared and it ends when that similar empire of Hitler emerged again.


Also see this blog in more detailed about the meaning of Revelation 20.
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