9 They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven, and devoured them.
surrounded the camp of the saints – this literally reads, the camp of the “holy ones,” and bears the same meaning as Zech 14:5, “Yihvah, my ELOHIM shall come and all His holy ones (Angels).” This is the camp of the Yihvah, described in the Day of the LORD, in Joel 2:11, “Yihvah gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great.” The Camp of the Angel of Yihvah was first seen in Gen 32:2, the Camp of Angels that protected Jacob (Israel) from his brother Esau.
and the beloved City – the idea that “the beloved City,” refers to the spiritual New Jerusalem was promoted by theologians before Israel was reestablished as a nation in 1948. The expression “beloved City” is never applied to the Church, anywhere else in the Bible, but it is similar to the expression “beautiful land” that describes Israel in the attack of the King of the North in Dan 11:41.
There are several reasons why we can believe that the actual City of Jerusalem is the target of Satan’s attack.
① Satan’s attack comes after the repentance of “the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” described in Zech 12. The “inhabitants of Jerusalem” are the last people who will be saved before the Lord returns. As Paul said, “all Israel will be saved,” after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, (Rom 11:26). At that time, Jerusalem will be the center of Christianity, “living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the Eastern Sea, and half of them toward the Western Sea” (Zech 14:8). Zech 12 describes three groups who are delivered in the Day of the Lord: the House of David (the Church), Judah (Israel), and “the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The House of David is clearly distinguished as a subset of the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” in Zech 12:12. In Zech 12:8, we read, “in that Day, Yihvah will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem” – therefore we can safely say the “the beloved City” in Rev 20:9 refers to the literal City of Jerusalem.
② The Bible lists the nations that attack Israel, in Ezek 38, and Dan 11:40-45. There are also great descriptions of the attack in Rev 9:13-19, and Rev 16:12-16. It is very difficult to find a symbolic spiritual meaning for all these descriptions. Daniel lists Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Libya and Ethiopia as other victims of the King of the North. How could these be included along with the Church, if Jerusalem is the New Jerusalem?
③ Revelation 16:18 describes “a great earthquake” that follows this attack. The “earth” has the meaning of the people of the world, and “quake” has the meaning of war, as can be historically proven of the Reformation “earthquake” described in Rev 11:13, “there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the City fell.”
and fire came down – this is the conclusion of man’s existence on this earth. God will send fire down to protect “the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”