God bends all the reprobate, and even Satan himself, at his will.  John Calvin, Institutes, Book 1, Chapter 18. 

THE DEFEAT OF SATAN - REVELATION 20:7-10

20:7-10
The Defeat of Satan

These verses tell the story we have seen before. It happens at the end of the age, the end of the metaphorical one thousand years. The nations gather from all over the earth to attack the church. In the previous verses (19:11-21), we saw the armies led by the Beast and the False Prophet leading the attack. They gathered their forces by deception. These verses tell us the deception originates with Satan. He is released to deceive the nations and gathers them for the final battle. This is the same event as 19:19.

But they are destroyed. Just as the Beast and the False Prophet were thrown into the lake of fire, the devil is also thrown in. And they are tormented forever. The story has been retold, this time focusing on Satan and his defeat.

This passage names the nations as God and Magog. This is a reference to the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39, where God’s enemies are slain and their bodies eaten by birds of prey summoned by God. Verse 9 of Revelation 20 says they are destroyed by fire. Ezekiel 39:6 says “And I will send fire on Magog”. He also spoke of fire and brimstone and Revelation 20 speaks of the lake of fire. All of God’s enemies are cast into hell. That was the message of the third angel in Revelation 14:9-11. He said “the smoke of their torment goes up forever an ever and they have no rest, day or night”.

During his first coming, Jesus said he came to destroy the works of the devil. He began that by casting out demons and preaching the gospel. This passage shows us the completion of that work as Jesus casts Satan into hell forever.

REVELATION 20:4-6 - THE SAINTS REIGNING WITH CHRIST

20:4-6
The 2nd Vision of the Millennium: the Saints Reigning With Christ

In verses four through six, John records a second vision of this same time period. There is also significant disagreement on the meaning of these verses.

John saw thrones and people sitting on them. The ones sitting on the thrones are described as “souls” and as those who were beheaded for testifying to Jesus and those who did not worship the beast or receive its mark. (4)

Premillennialists believe the thrones are on earth and that these people reign on earth with Jesus during the millennial reign on earth. This is partly because they believe there will be a 1,000 year reign of Jesus on earth and partly because verse one says the angel came down from heaven.

However, it seems that these verses refer both to Revelation 4:2-4, where John gets his first vision of heaven, and Daniel’s visions of the Ancient of Days taking is seat and passing judgment in favor of the saints. The vast majority of the uses of “thrones” in Revelation refer to thrones in heaven.

In Revelation 3:21, Jesus made the following promise: The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne”. To conquer was to continue in faith, despite persecution, until death.

In Revelation 4, John saw God’s throne surrounded by 24 thrones on which elders sat. The wore white garments and golden crowns. In Daniel 7, after the vision of the beasts, Daniel saw thrones being placed, the Ancient of Days taking his seat on his throne, and proceeding to judge. It says also that the “court” sat in judgment and the books were opened. Here in chapter 20, these souls sit on thrones and are given authority to judge, just as in Daniel 7.

Since Daniel 7 occurs in heaven, and Revelation 4 occurs in heaven, it seems that this vision of Revelation 20 also involves events in heaven.

2 Timothy 2:11-12 says: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him”.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 says “the dust (the body) returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it”.

In Revelation 6, in the fifth seal, John saw under the altar in heaven the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and their witness. (6:9) This is very similar to the description of chapter 20: they we're souls of those “beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God”. (20:4) Again, this indicates events in heaven during the church age (the millennium).

This group is actually composed of all who died in faith. In includes those who were executed for their faith, but also those who did not worship the beast or its image. (4)

A further description of this group is that they came to life and reigned for 1,000 years with Christ on earth. It is called the first resurrection. The Premillennialist view is that this is the physical resurrection of believers before an earthly millennium. They believe the lost do not rise until the end of the millennium because verse 5 says “the rest of he dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended”. Thus, they believe that believers are taken to heaven, given glorified bodies, but returned to an imperfect earth to rule with Jesus for 1,000 years over an earth populated by both immortals and mortals. (I think it would be a real bummer to leave a perfect heaven for an imperfect earth.) At the end of 1,000 years, they believe there will be another resurrection.

Jesus, however, taught that there was one resurrection of mankind’s physical bodies. He said “an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment”. (John 5:28)

So, this first resurrection, that results in the soul being in heaven, is the believer’s soul coming into the presence of Christ at death. Paul called death “departing to be with Christ”. (Philippians 1:23)

John is not seeing a resurrection of physical bodies, but rather then death of the physical bodies of believers that causes their souls to appear in heaven. It is another of the many paradoxes of Revelation. The believer appears defeated because his body is dead but, in reality, he is victorious, having died in faith to have his soul appear in heaven to be with Jesus.

John said these who have this first resurrection are blessed, because the second death has no power over them. Believers die in their bodies, go to heaven and stay with Christ. They are priests of God, giving praise to him in heaven, and reign with him. At the resurrection of their (and our) physical bodies, (the 2nd resurrection by implication), they receive glorified bodies for the new creation. 1 Corinthians 15 shows us that this occurs when Jesus returns, at the sound of the last trumpet. It tells us Christ must reign in heaven until the last enemy is put under his feet, not 1,000 years before.

This happens at the sound of the last trumpet. (1 Corinthians. 15:52) The last trumpet (7th trumpet) in Revelation occurs in 11:15. All say “the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever!”
This is the second coming of Christ & the resurrection.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, northings to come, nor powers, nor nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:37-38)

BINDING SATAN: REVELATION 20:1-3

The first six verses of chapter 20 are the source of many arguments. Although I have generally avoided turning this study of Revelation into a lecture about the doctrine of eschatology, the point has come where some extra knowledge may be helpful.

There are several schools of thought on the interpretation of Revelation. Some of these revolve around these six verses. The subject of discussion is the “millennium”. The word “millennium” does not appear in the English text. The word comes from the two Latin words meaning “thousand years”. Those words are “mille” for one thousand, and “annus” for years. In the Latin Vulgate, this would be the language used in these verses. Latin was also the language in which Biblical scholars and theologians wrote for centuries.

There are three main views of the millennium:
1. premillennialism;
2. postmillennialism; and
3. amillennialsim.

Premillennialism

Premillennialism is the view that Christ will return before the millennium. The believe that Revelation 19 and 20 are in chronological order. That means they believe the events of chapter 20 happen after the events of chapter 19.

This means they believe Christ’s return from heaven and the battle of Armageddon occur before the millennium.  He will come to earth and rule for 1,000 years from Jerusalem. Most premillennialists think it will literally be 1,000 years of 365, 24 hour days. Believers who have been resurrected will return with Jesus in their resurrection bodies. This means they will be sin free and curse free. This will be a golden age when the products of sin, such as violence and disease, will be suppressed. Those humans who do not have resurrection bodies when the millennium begins will still live to a ripe old age. This comes from Isaiah 65:20-25.

At the end of this period, despite the reign of Christ, Satan will be released and rebel with a vast army of fallen humans. They will attack Jerusalem in a great battle, but Jesus will Jesus will defeat him and send him to the lake of fire. God then will destroy or remove the present heavens and earth and create a new one.

Postmillennialism

This is the belief that Jesus will return after the millennium, which will be a golden age in which Satan is bound. They believe the gospel will spread over the world and dominate all human life during this period. However, at the end of this golden age of 1,000 years, there will be a period of intense rebellion against God. There will be persecution of the church. Christ will then return, raise the dead and judge them and create the new heavens and earth.

Amillennialism

Amillennialists believe that Jesus returns after the millennium, but that the millennium is the church age. Specifically, it is the time between Jesus’ exaltation and until right before Jesus’ return. The 1,000 years is symbolic of a long time, being 10 x 10 x 10. They see the end of the age as one big event: the return of Christ, resurrection, judgment and the new earth all happening at the end of this age. This is what I believe.

20:1-3
The 1st Vision of the Millennium: Satan Bound

Chapter 20 begins with “then I saw”, showing a shift of his attention from one vision to another. He has seen Babylon, the world of pleasure and greed, destroyed, followed by the defeat and destruction of the Beast and False Prophet and all of their followers by Jesus. In this vision, he will see the binding, or restricting, of Satan. He will later see him destroyed.

The vision began with John seeing an angel come down from heaven. He comes down from heaven, because Satan is not in heaven accusing the saints, but on earth. We saw this in chapter 9, as the star fell from heaven to earth at the sound of the fifth trumpet. This angel holds the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, bound him with the chain for a thousand years in the pit. He sealed it over him. But, John tells us the dragon must be released for a little while after the 1,000 year confinement.

Verse 2 makes clear the dragon is Satan, the devil. He is also called the serpent, reminding us of his deception of Eve, leading to the fall of mankind into sin. He is Satan, meaning accuser, who accused the saints. He is the dragon that tried to destroy the woman and her baby by deception that poured from his mouth. (12:15)

The visual factors here tell us this is a symbolic story. Satan is not a dragon, he is a spiritual being, a fallen angel. No physical chain would bind him.

The chain, though, is a symbol of binding. Satan is restricted. And we are told the reason: that he might not deceive the nations until the thousand years is ended. (3) We have seen from previous chapters this truth: Satan has deceived many to reject Christ and attack the church, but only at the end of the age, the end of the millennium, will Satan be able to deceive nations to gather together to attack Christ and the church with the aim of destroying them. We have seen John’s vision of the false prophet deceiving kings and those who dwell on earth (unbelievers) by his miraculous signs. (13:14) The kings gave their authority to the Beast and they all gathered to attack. This happens at the end of the age. So, Satan is bound, or restricted until then, in his ability to deceive the nations into an all out attack on the church.

The key is also a symbol of authority. If you hold the only key to a lock, you are the only one who can unlock or lock it. In 1:18, Jesus said he holds the key to Hades. Likewise, the seal is the symbol of ownership and control. We have seen the seal of the Beast is on those whom he controls. They worship him. But the seal of the Holy Spirit is on those owned by Christ.

One of the problems with the premillennial, chronological view, is that the battle in Revelation 19 results in the annihilation of the armies of the beast, including kings, the captains, the mighty men and all men, slave and free, that have the mark of the beast. (We know all people received the mark that were not sealed in Christ, according to 13:16) There would be no need to restrain Satan from deceiving them after this: they had already been deceived and destroyed.

This is actually the third time we have seen the restriction of Satan in the church age: First, with the two witnesses in chapter 11 who are protected for a period of time before the Beast is allowed to overcome them; second, with the heavenly woman who is protected from the dragon in the wilderness in chapter 12; and third, this vision in chapter 20 showing the dragon to be bound.

Before the coming of Christ, we see the nations deceived. Satan deceived Eve, certainly. But he certainly deceived the Gentile nations of the Old Testament. God chose Abraham’s descendants and revealed himself to them, protecting them as long as they kept his covenant. But the Gentile nations remained in spiritual darkness. In fact, they oppressed and attacked God’s people. Egypt, Philstia, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Syria and Rome all tried to destroy God’s people. Each nation worshipped idols and engaged in occult practices. They tried to force this worship on God’s people.

When Jesus appeared the first time, he repeatedly engaged Satan and exerted power over him. He bound him in several instances by casting out demons. Jesus told a parable about this. Matthew 12 records an instance where Jesus cast a demon out of a man who could not speak or see. The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan. Jesus said his casting out of the demon showed that the kingdom of God had come upon them. He spoke of entering a strong man’s house and plundering it. It is a metaphor for entering the kingdom of Satan and imposing the kingdom of Christ. That causes Satan to be limited or bound.

Matthew applied a prophesy of Isaiah to Jesus, saying the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. (Matthew 4:14-17; Isaiah 9:1 and 42:7) He said this because Jesus had gone up north to preach, where the Gentiles lived. The Gentiles were in spiritual darkness, under the deception of Satan, until Jesus gave them light. Jesus had the authority to restrict Satan’s deception and bring understanding.

But, more so, when Jesus is resurrected and ascended to the right hand of the Father to reign, Satan is further restricted. Jesus disarmed rulers and authorities and put them to shame. (Colossians 2:15)

This binding or restriction is good news for the Gentiles, for when Satan was restricted in his ability to deceive, the gospel began spread to all of the Gentile nations. Jesus could command the disciples to go into all nations to make disciples because all authority in heaven and on earth was given to him, not Satan. (Matthew 28:18-19) Paul picked up that theme when preaching at Antioch of Pisidia. When the Jews opposed him, Paul said he was turning to the Gentiles and that turning was according to God’s command, saying “I have made you al light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth”. (Acts 13:47 quoted verses from Isaiah together). In fact, Paul said the gospel was bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. (Colossians 1:6)

Since Satan was restricted, the gospel spread through Europe and Asia. This will happen until right before the end of the age. Only then is he allowed again to deceive the nations (“released”), so that he may bring about his own destruction and those of his followers.

One thing that happens with the placement of this vision of 1,000 years is that it shows that the end will not come soon for those in the Asian churches to whom this letter is written. They have seen that Jesus will triumph. They will see Rome and its successors destroyed. But it will not be soon. Indeed we are 20 centuries down the road of time and Jesus has not yet come nor defeated all of his enemies in a final battle. And, although we are barraged with those who tell us Jesus will surely come this year or next, we see that our job is endure to the end in faith, no matter if the end is soon or way off in the future.

End times fever sells a lot of books. Some guys write a book forecasting the end overtime anything unusual happens. Especially if the Middle East or Russia act up, or heaven help us both at the same time, the fever gets hotter and hotter. My favorites (meaning the ones I really dislike) are the ones who say “I know the Bible says we cannot know the date, but I am convinced it is about to happen and I do not see how you could think otherwise”. But then it does not happen. God wants us to endure in faith as opposed to trying to figure out the date of the end.

“It costs something to be a true Christian. Let that never be forgotten. To be a mere nominal Christian, and go to church, is cheap and easy work. But to hear Christ’s voice, follow Christ, believe in Christ, and confess Christ, requires much self-denial. It will cost us our sins, our self-righteousness, our ease, and our worldliness. All must be given up. We must fight an enemy who comes against us with thousands of followers. We must build a tower in troubled times. Our Lord Jesus Christ would have us thoroughly understand this. He bids us “count the cost.” – J.C. Ryle

Spiritual Blessings in Ephesians 1:3-6

These blessings all come in Christ.  God blesses us “in Christ”.  God has chosen to extend his blessings to the world through Christ.  Only those who are united with Christ receive them.  

These are spiritual blessings.  Paul says God “blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  I think what he means by “spiritual blessings” are in contrast to “material blessings”.  This new kingdom is spiritual.    

These spiritual blessings are in contrast to many of the promise of material blessings in the Old Testament.  For example, look at Deuteronomy 28:11.  If Old Testament Israel obeyed God and kept his covenant, he would make their crops and livestock increase.  God does not promise the church its members’ salaries will increase or their cars will multiply.  That is why prosperity preachers tend to quote Old Testament promises to Israel to say believers will receive wealth and health if they believe and give.

These blessings come in the “heavenly places” according to the ESV, or the “heavenly realms” in the NIV.  I take this to again mean the spiritual realm.  This phrase appears 5 times in Ephesians.  Christ ascended to the heavenly realm.  Later on, in verse 20, Paul speaks of Christ raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places.  Psalm 110:1 starts it off with a prophecy that the Lord would do this.  Jesus, in Matthew 22:44, applied Psalm 110  to himself.  Several other New Testament verses speak of this. 

In Ephesians 2:6, Paul said God raised us up with Christ and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ.  So, even though we live here in this physical realm in our mortal bodies, in Christ we enter into spiritual life and blessings of God.     

Blessings in Christ from Ephesians 1:3-6

These blessings all come in Christ.  God blesses us “in Christ”.  God has chosen to extend his blessings to the world through Christ.  Only those who are united with Christ receive them. 

These are spiritual blessings.  Paul says God “blesses us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.  I think what he means by “spiritual blessings” are in contrast to “material blessings”.  This new kingdom is spiritual. 

   

These spiritual blessings are in contrast to many of the promise of material blessings in the Old Testament.  For example, look at Deuteronomy 28:11.  If Old Testament Israel obeyed God and kept his covenant, he would make their crops and livestock increase.  God does not promise the church its members’ salaries will increase or their cars will multiply.  That is why prosperity preachers tend to quote Old Testament promises to Israel to say believers will receive wealth and health if they believe and give.

These blessings come in the “heavenly places” according to the ESV, or the “heavenly realms” in the NIV.  I take this to again mean the spiritual realm.  This phrase appears 5 times in Ephesians.  Christ ascended to the heavenly realm.  Later on, in verse 20, Paul speaks of Christ raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places.  Psalm 110:1 starts it off with a prophecy that the Lord would do this.  Jesus, in Matthew 22:44, applied Psalm 110  to himself.  Several other New Testament verses speak of this. 

In Ephesians 2:6, Paul said God raised us up with Christ and seated us in the heavenly places in Christ.  So, even though we live here in this physical realm in our mortal bodies, in Christ we enter into spiritual life and blessings of God.