20:8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.

and will come out to DECEIVE

Many question why God would allow the devil deceive the earth again. We don't know God's ways, but, in a way, this verse snippet shows more about the character of God, the Almighty. God is longsuffering (2 Peter 3:8-9-13). The devil is one of God's created beings. In fact, he could well be one of the presence angels like Michael or Gabriel (Revelation 12:7) and such. With this "permission" to approach God, he has been busy accusing us of all kinds of sins/evils (Revelation 12:10). God, the Father, loves all His created beings and even though the devil has been a "problem child/creature", He still wishes the devil would change.

Secondly, God is omniscient. He knows what the devil will choose to do when He releases him. How differently this verse would read if the devil would have accepted this last chance to acknowledge God's Son, Jesus Christ, as his Master and Lord! But, since God knows what the devil's choice is, God tells John to write that the devil "will come out to DECEIVE"

the NATIONS which are in the four corners of the earth,

During the 1,000 years, Christ has ruled the earth, NATIONS have formed again. Many commentaries indicate that there likely are people who did not take the mark of the beast and survived the tribulation into the millennium. If this is the case, these people's ethnicity will have followed them into the millennium.

These NATIONS are scattered all over the earth (reconfigured after the seventh bowl, Revelation 16:20). We know, today, that the earth is spherical, and thus doesn't have four corners (although the reconfiguration of the seventh bowl could make the earth cubic with four corners. Interesting to think about). Furthermore, if we read the Bible literally, it reads predominantly like a "Flat Earth Bible". Ancient scientists (500 BC - 350 BC) did discuss why the earth had to be round. The reader is left to come to their own conclusions about the four corners.

Gog and Magog, to gather them together FOR THE WAR; the number of them is like the SAND of the SEASHORE.

Gog and Magog, are used here symbolically and refer to the final enemies of Christ who obviously duped them into this FINAL WAR. They apparently plan to attack the saints who are in control of the earth (verse 6). We can marvel at the number of people (like the SAND of the SEASHORE) who will take the deception. This especially seems alarming considering that all evil has been totally suppressed during the previous 1,000 years. One can only conclude that evil isn't derived from the devil or from the earth itself, but rather that EVIL resides deeply within the nature of all mankind. Even at this time, the end of the millennium, the NATIONS (or perhaps better said, all humans alive then) will come to grips with what has been mostly dormant deep inside themselves.

All this EVIL will soon be exposed before the GREAT WHITE THRONE (verse 12).