Satan Is Gone

Revelation 20:1-10

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.  And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.  And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

When a non-named angel comes down from heaven with the keys and a chain to bind Satan….hmmmm, makes you wonder, just how powerful is Satan anyway.  It’s not the Lamb of God, not Michael, not Gabriel, just an angel.  But, then again, is any angel “just an angel”?  I think not.  God’s army of angels is powerful and given authority when He deems necessary.  Keep in mind that Satan (Lucifer) was one of God’s angels, from before Genesis, but was cast down from heaven because he wanted to usurp God’s power and authority.  All he had to do was humble himself, and God could have given him great authority, but no.  Satan is bound and cast into the bottomless pit, the abyss, for 1,000 years.  

The angel will lock the pit and seal it.  Satan’s deceptive power on earth is taken away for a time.  Some say Satan has already been bound, and we are in the middle of the 1,000 years in the pit.  This can make no sense.  His evil is very evident today, and his minions, demons, and spirits are working daily in all of our lives.  This alone proves that He has not been bound yet.  

We must realize that there will be people who make it through the Great Tribulation and still live on earth.  They will carry on just as they have, with sinful natures, just as we are today.  They will have a righteous leaning, based on decisions to follow Christ, but still living temptation and a sinful nature.  Some will also have survived the tribulation, but not have committed to Jesus Christ yet.  They may be leaning that way, but still on the fence.  There will be a judgment of those who are still alive on earth (Matthew 25:31-34 ~ sheep and goats), and in Revelation 20, we are introduced to the thrones and judgment seats.

Seated upon the thrones are those given the authority to judge the souls of mankind.  These could very likely be the saints, referenced in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 from Paul (those who die as believers), or it could be the elders referenced in Revelation 4, but it is unclear in the scriptures.  Either way, alongside them are the saints from the Great Tribulation, the martyrs who avoid falling to Satan and the antichrist.  Those who were killed for their resistance will now rule and reign alongside Christ on earth, while Satan, antichrist, and the false prophet are absent.  The unsaved dead are referred to as the “rest of the dead” and will not come before Jesus and the saints to be judged until after the 1,000 year millennia.  

The first resurrection is that of the saints.  This is why he says, “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection.”  These cannot be killed again; there is no power in death for this group.  They will be priests of God and reign with Christ for a thousand years.  But, as for the unsaved dead, they will experience the second death when they are cast into the lake of fire.  Woe to those who denied Christ when given every opportunity to follow Him.

Why was Satan set free after 1,000 years in solitary is a question that has been debated and discussed for centuries.  First, let’s imagine a world without Satan, the antichrist, or the false prophet.  There will still be sin because of our original sin nature, but it will be significantly diminished.  Jesus will reign and rule over the entire globe.  No Presidents, no Prime Ministers, no Dictators, no governments, all authority comes from Christ.  People living through that period, maybe even those born during the Millennial period, will have a strong firsthand experience of who Jesus truly is.  They will have every opportunity to follow Jesus and to give their life to Jesus of their own free will.  

What we find out in verse 8 is that there will be those who still rebel against Jesus, even though they have lived with him during that time.  Mankind’s sinful nature will still build up a rebellion and depravity that does not want the authority of God for eternity.  When Satan is unbound and released back into the world, he immediately brings together an army of millions if not billions, for a final battle against God.  Ezekiel 38 talks of Gog and Magog attacking God’s people in the end days.  Here again we see a reference to Gog and Magog as joining forces with Satan.

God allows this to happen in order to finally purge and eliminate every hard-hearted person ever to be upon the earth.  From Satan down through the least of his minions, they attack the people of God.  They encircle the camp of Jesus and the saints from all sides, and it appears as though they could be victorious, but God. 

God puts an end to it all.  He will rain fire down upon them, such that before the battle even begins, they are consumed and overwhelmed, so none shall escape.  Satan is then cast into the lake of fire (hell), along with the antichrist and the false prophet, forever and ever.  There they will be tormented forever, because they refused God.

Is Gog Emerging

“And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them." – Ezekiel 39:21

Three words that people often times forget about when they think of the Lord: “smite”, “wrath” and “forsaken”.  Perhaps because we don’t want to think about that part of God’s character because it creates fear and requires that we actually try to abide by His guidelines.  There is references throughout the scriptures that God is Holy, Perfect and Righteous and at the same time Vengeful, Jealous and Omnipotent.  As such, as is demonstrated in Kings and Judges and throughout much of the Old Testament; He has very little tolerance for those that choose to refuse Him and the love He has offered to the world. 

  In the times before the Messiah came to the earth, mankind dealt with the realization that there was a God through the Prophets: Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Zephania, Zecharia and Malachi just to name a few.   They were intercessors and communicators from God to the children of Israel and Judah, delivering instructions on how to live within God’s plan, and what would happen if they did not.  Kings, Priests and Governments listened intently to their every word to better understand how to serve the one true God, or in some cases how to battle against His people.

  So, did God’s character change?  Is God still a God of wrath, judgment and vengeance?  The answer is unequivocally – Yes.  The book of Revelation was revealed to John, the beloved, while banished to the prison Isle of Patmos.  In this book Jesus Christ, Himself, reveals to John what will happen in the last days.  War, pestilence, suffering, death, destruction and inhumane acts from one upon another will envelope the earth and those that remain during the tribulation.  There is much discussion on whether that includes or does not include the believers and followers of Jesus Christ.  Many, including myself, believe we will be taken up before the tribulation, but there are just as many that believe we will all go through tribulation and then be drawn up.

  The reality is that the day is coming that God will unleash His wrath once again upon the earth’s inhabitants that have refused to accept His love and saving grace.  The time is coming when according to Ezekiel 38 and 39, we will see God, Himself, defend Israel in a manner of such magnificence that all mankind will know that it was God and nothing else.  As tensions mount in the Middle East, are we nearing the realization of a prophecy from 2700 years ago before our very eyes?  As we watch the unveiling of events in the high tension areas of the world, one must wonder if we aren’t drawing ever so near to the last days. 

  This then begs the question about your own salvation.  Should war break out in the Middle East, and God shows His wrath upon those that attack Israel, where do you stand in your belief and relationship with Jesus Christ?  Based on the current tensions in Russia, Syria, Turkey, Iran all surrounding Israel; war is very likely.  Will it take the actual realization of this war to convince you that the Bible and all that is within is God’s own Truth revealed through man?  If you reference other prophecies from Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel or others, you will find the majority have already come to be.  Is that enough to convince you of His existence?  What is it that you are waiting for?  

  God’s wrath and judgment are very real and will bring bitter pain and suffering to those who refuse to follow Him.  The scriptures of war, destruction and vengeance in the Old Testament are all the proof you should need that mankind cannot withstand the wrath of God and I can only believe that come tribulation and ensuing judgment day will be greater than anything recorded in the scriptures of old.  You are right in fearing God, but you are also covered by the grace and love of Jesus Christ as your mediator and intercessor between you and God.  He has taken the wrath intended for you and I and carried it to the cross where He became the sacrifice for our iniquities.  Therefore, we will not receive the full wrath of God as we deserve, as those in the Old Testament did (reference the Midianites, those in Sodom and Gomorra, and the Philistines).  We experience the full love, grace and mercy of the Lord in our life, because we follow the One True Messiah – Jesus Christ.