Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 20:1

"And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand." — Revelation 20:1 (ASV)

THE BINDING OF SATAN

And I saw an angel come down . . .—Rather, And I saw an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain on (not merely in his hand, but hanging from it, as it would be when carried on his hand) his hand. It is needless to settle who is represented by this angel. It is enough that in the vision he shows by the key and the chain he carries that power resides in Him, who has the keys of death and of Hades (Revelation 1:18), to bind, as He has death-wounded, the one who had the power of death. The bottomless pit is the abyss, as we have seen elsewhere (Revelation 9:1; Revelation 11:7; and Revelation 17:8. Compare Luke 8:31); it is figuratively the abode of the devil and his associate angels (Matthew 25:41).