This chapter shows the spiral nature of time. For this reason, the starting point and ending point do not match what we would expect with the linear view of time that we now hold.

After the final battle, Satan is chained and bound for a period, "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled" (Revelation 20:1-3). This "thousand years" is not a period that comes after the end of the world, but before it. Thus Satan is transported back in time by the angel. Similarly, the "thousand years" that those who "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4) is this same period before the end of time. Thus this select group is transported back in time as well.

After this 'Golden Age of Christianity', Satan is released "when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison" (Revelation 20:7) and  "after that he must be loosed" (Revelation 20:3). Thus Satan is given a second chance at corrupting the world. Satan is given an unspecified amount of time, "a little season" (Revelation 20:3), to accomplish what he can on the Earth and to win the victory he seeks, "And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea" (Revelation 20:8). He shall deceive many and besiege even the Saints who accompany Christ, "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city" (Revelation 20:9). Despite his power over mankind and the Saints, his efforts fail in the battle against the Kingdom of God on the last day, "and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them" (Revelation 20:9). Defeated, Satan is put back in the pit, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone" (Revelation 20:10). This time around he is punished permanently along with the United States and its allies, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10). "This is the second death" (Revelation 20:14). Depicted as a diagram:
 

Both Satan and the Saints with Christ are given the opportunity to relive the period of the '1000 years' and Satan's 'Short Season', "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished" (Revelation 20:5). For those other than Satan, this is a great honor, "This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:5-6). The determination of who is to participate in the first resurrection is made based upon their readiness and the commitment they have made to Christ, "I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4). After these have lived through the first resurrection, they are appointed to assist Christ in the last Judgment, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them" (Revelation 20:4).

We are then shown a scene of the last Judgment. First comes the end of the world, "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them" (Revelation 20:11). Then the resurrection, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them" (Revelation 20:13). And then Last Judgment, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works... they were judged every man according to their works... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:12, 13, 15). When the Last Judgment is complete, death and hell are finally abolished "death and hell were cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14).