of the nations.
- In Genesis chapter 3, we read of how Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden and deceived mankind.
- Revelation 12:9 calls Satan "the great dragon" and "the old serpent called Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world."
- The reason given for Satan being bound in Revelation 20:1-3 is that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years have expired:
"And he cast him into the abyss and shut him up and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled."
"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." (Revelation 20:7-8).
If we look for statements in the New Testament implying that Satan was bound when Jesus died and rose again, all we will ever find is passages stating the opposite:
Jesus called Satan "the ruler of this world"; and the New Testament calls him "the prince of the power of the air who works in the sons of disobedience", who we are told will give the beast and false prophet his seat, power and great authority (Revelation Chapter 13).
The saints are warned to be weary of his wiles and to resist him, and to put on the full armor of God because "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood" (John 12:31; 1 Peter 5:8-9; Ephesians 6:11-12; Revelation 2:9-10 & Revelation 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; James 4:7 ).
Ephesians 2:2 tells us about Satan's influence over the societies of this world, this Age.
Revelation Chapters 12-13 portray this current status quo as spanning the entire present Age and culminating in the beast's war against the saints in Revelation Chapter 13 (see Revelation 13:7).
THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST
1. Jesus told Pilate that His Kingdom is not of this world [kosmos] in this present time [Greek: nyn] (John 18:36); and
2. Christ's later Revelation to His churches tells us in Revelation 11:15 that the kingdoms of this world [kosmos] will become the Kingdoms of our LORD and of His Christ when the seventh trumpet sounds, and He shall reign to the ages of the ages; and
3. Hebrews 2:8 tells us that (although) all things have (already) been placed under Christ's feet, in this present time [Greek: nyn] we do not see it yet, but what we do see in this present time is Jesus (who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death), crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man; and
4. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:27-28 that Christ, when He returns, shall have put down all the human rule and authority and power (naturally, this can only be referring to the human rule and authority and power of this present world), and when all things shall be subdued unto Christ, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all, because it is manifest that God the Father is excepted, which did put all things under Christ (1 Corinthians 15:27).
Amillenialists argue that Satan was bound when Jesus ascended into heaven, normally citing Revelation chapter 12, and asserting that this is what the chapter says or implies (though the chapter says nothing of the sort. It does not mention any "binding" of Satan).
"AMILLENNIALIST" ARGUMENTS:-
1. THE DESTRUCTION OF SATAN'S WORKS THROUGH CHRIST'S DEATH & RESURRECTION
Satan's works consist primarily in the death that became part of human experience, and the sin that leads to death.
Revelation 20:3 gives the reason Satan will be bound: He will be bound in order that "he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled", and the verse closes with the words "and after that he must be loosed a little season."
The destruction of Satan's works will not last only for a thousand years and be "reversed" for a short period at the close of the thousand years (as though Satan's works were merely "bound" for a thousand years).
"Since then the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same; that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death (that is, the Devil), and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Hebrews 2:14-15.
"And they overcame him (the devil) because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul to the death." Revelation 12:11.
The blood of the Lamb speaks of the death of Christ.
"He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil." 1 John 3:8
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." Romans 8:3.
To equate or even to link Satan's power to deceive the nations with Christ's power to destroy sin and death is a denigration of the power of God.
2. "BINDING A STRONG MAN"
In Mark chapter 3 we read:
"The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said (of Jesus), "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and, "By the ruler of demons he casts out demons." So he called them and spoke to them in parables:
"How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. But no one is able to enter a strong man's house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house." (Mark 3:22-27)
Revelation 20:3 gives the reason Satan will be bound: He will be bound in order that "he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled", and the verse closes with the words "and after that he must be loosed a little season."
"The house" in Jesus' parable represents the demon-possessed man out of whom Jesus had cast out demons (not "the nations"): Satan was not being bound for a thousand years and shut up in the abyss so that he was unable to deceive the nations for a thousand years every time Jesus or one of His apostles cast demons out of individuals.
Nor was there ever any reversal "for a little season" once an individual been delivered.
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 4
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Jesus said,
"This is the condemnation (of those who do not believe on the Son of God):
The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19-20).
Hiding from God began in Eden:
Genesis 3
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Notice how God knew what Adam had done (and that he was hiding from God), nevertheless GOD CALLED HIM ANYWAY?
The Word of God did not ever lack the power to break the power of Satan's lie over the minds of human beings, as though darkness could overcome light (John 1:5).
On the contrary, since the days of Adam and Eve, human beings have always had the choice of whether to believe the Word of God, or continue to hide from God and hence come under the power of Satan's lies.
The assertion of Amillennialism that Satan's lies (darkness) needed to be bound (Revelation 20:1-3) in order for the gospel to spread, is implying that the power of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit would be somehow diminished if Satan were not bound - which is blasphemous, because it implies that Satan is "the opposite" of God in power
- and that's besides doing away with human choice, as though unless Satan is bound no human being can choose to hear the calling of Word of God in the gospel
- in which case the criteria by which Jesus says those who do not believe will be judged, would be unfair and unjust:
"This is the condemnation (of those who do not believe on the Son of God):
The light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19-20).
3. ANGELS WHO ARE BOUND IN A PRISON UNTIL JUDGEMENT DAY
Peter's and Jude's epistles both refer to angels who were bound at a time which was already antiquity to both Jude and Peter when they wrote about it ( 2 Peter 2:4-8 and Jude 1:5-7).
Not only do the above verses not imply anything with regard to the binding of either Satan or his angels at the time of the ascension of Christ, but the references to angels who are bound (found in the above verses) are not found anywhere else in biblical scripture:
An account of the binding of these angels that are mentioned in 2 Peter 2:4-8 and Jude 1:5-7 is found in the book of Enoch - which also speaks of a literal millennial reign of the Messiah and mentions the binding of these angels as having taken place during the days of Noah.
The surrounding context of the text of both Peter's and Jude's statements in the above passages, is itself a time which was already antiquity to the apostles' day, where Peter also mentions the days of Noah (among other ancient epochs in the pre-Christian era), and Jude mentions Sodom and Gomorrah (clearly speaking about events that took place in a time which was already antiquity in the apostles' day).
4. BOUND "IN THAT HE IS UNABLE TO DECEIVE THE NATIONS 'UNTO BATTLE'"
One of the reasons why this assertion isn't scriptural is because it adds the words "unto battle" to Revelation 20:3 (thus adding to scripture in order to take away from scripture) - because not only does this assertion actually contradict the text of Revelation 20, it is used to play down the binding of Satan, bringing it down to the level of human reasoning so that the thousand years can comply with man-made theology which ignores the meaning of words and the context of many passages, changing the meaning.
There is nothing either in Revelation Chapter 12 (the apocalypse of the woman & her seed, and Satan's war against both her and "the rest of her seed"), nor anywhere else in the New Testament that states or even implies that Satan has been bound. The opposite is the case.
AN ADVERSARY EXISTING IN A KING'S KINGDOM
It's logical that if a king has an adversary in his kingdom who is causing disruption, killing or harming the king's subjects, deceiving as many as he can, continuously encouraging dissent against the king and continuously calling the king's authority and integrity into question,
then if the king wants to put a stop to it, he would need to either bind the adversary and lock him in a dungeon, rendering the adversary completely unable to cause more harm, or simply destroy the adversary,
but if the king in his wisdom and sovereign will continues to permit the adversary for a season and a time to continue, whether it be in order to separate the king's loyal and faithful subjects from his adversaries or for any other reason, then this choice and decision is within the king's sovereign right.
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