In today's reading we see two very important signs. First, in Daniel, we see that the Lord protects those who are suffering for their faith. In this instance he protects Daniel's three companions and keeps them alive and unharmed by the flames they endured. In Revelation we see the saints who are killed for their faith being present in heaven immediately with Christ. God protects his faithful people and keeps them ultimately unharmed, though sometimes they may lose their mortal lives.
Now what of the thousand years here in Revelation 20? Against the believers in a literal thousand year reign of Christ, I just mention a few problems.
1) It makes no sense at all for Christ to come and have a reign of perfect glory on earth then for Satan to be released.
2) 1000 is ten (a number of completion) cubed - a sign of the trinity and hence perfection. The number 1000 is generally used figuratively in Scripture except when counting specific people, for instance, in a census. In this highly figurative passage of Scripture we would expect that a thousand years refers to a tremendously long period of time.
3) There is no reason in Scripture to make us think there will be several different times of Christ's return and judgment.
The most reasonable answer to this difficulty is that which the Church has held as a general consensus view, that the thousand years is a figurative number and that the period coincides with a time of tribulation (hence the people who are killed for their faith). This would be the age of the Church. At the end of that age, Christ will come to claim his own, the dead will be raised, and there will be final judgment.
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