When Satan Is Bound: Revelation 20 Explained

But it's good to see everybody tonight. We're back in the book of Revelation

tonight, as you know. And we're actually going to pick up.

We're in chapter 20. Last week, we did really the bird's eye view,

if you will, that overview from the top looking down in verses 1 through 3 is

where we're going to start tonight as we break it down.

And just to kind of bring us back to what we were talking about last week,

the biblical revelation about the millennium, it reveals four essential truths

about it. And we're going to break them down starting tonight.

And it's the removal of Satan, which is what we're going to start with tonight,

the reign of the saints, the return of Satan, and the revolt of society. Okay?

So we start tonight with the removal of Satan, verses 1 through 3.

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and

a great chain in his hand.

And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan,

and bound him for a thousand years.

And he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him so that he

would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed.

After these things, he must be released for a short time.

So the first matter for the king's attention as he sets up his kingdom is the

confinement of the chief rebel, the removal, as 2 Corinthians 4.4 describes.

Of the God of this world, little g, the prince of the power of the air,

the spirit that's now working in the sons of disobedience, as it talks about in Ephesians 2.2.

It will dramatically change the world.

By this time, God will have destroyed all human rebels.

Those, if you remember, those who survived the tribulation judgments will have

been executed at Armageddon, back in chapter 19, or the goat judgment,

which is talked about in Matthew 25.

The ringleaders of this worldwide rebellion, the beast, Antichrist,

and the false prophet will have been thrown into the lake of fire.

We saw that in chapter 19, verse 20.

And the final step in preparation for the kingdom will actually be the removal

of Satan and his demon host so that Christ reigns without the opposition of supernatural enemies.

And it frequently does in the book of Revelation. The phrase literally in Greek, kaithon.

It means then I saw or and I saw. You've heard John say this many times.

It actually indicates chronological progression.

Okay, that's what we're seeing here. The location of this passage here in the

chronological flow of Revelation is consistent with a premillennial view of the kingdom.

And after the tribulation, chapter 6 through 19,

Christ will return, we saw in chapter 19, and set up his kingdom,

as we're seeing in chapter 20 here, which will be followed by the new heavens

and the new earth, as we're going to see in chapter 21.

Thus, the millennial kingdom comes after Christ's second coming,

but before the establishing of the new heavens and the new earth.

We talked about these views last week, but amillennialist, Anthony,

I believe his name was Hokema, I believe, if I remember his last name,

he has to acknowledge this.

We'll just say Anthony or old Andy, right?

If he takes this scripture at face value, the chronology of revelation supports premillennialism.

And he actually writes this about it in his book. He says, let us assume,

for example, that the book of Revelation is to be interpreted in an exclusively futuristic sense.

Let us further assume that what is presented in Revelation chapter 20 must necessarily

Revelation 20 · chapter mention

follow in chronological order.

What was described in chapter 19? we are then virtually compelled to believe,

he himself admits, that the thousand-year reign depicted in chapter 20, verse 4,

must come after the return of Christ described in chapter 19, verse 11.

So basically tonight, I want you to see, if we look at this,

the passage clearly teaches that Christ's return precedes the millennial kingdom.

It's a scenario that is incompatible with post-millennialism and amillennialism,

but it's exactly what premillennialism teaches, right?

There's a big word, right? But to get around the difficulty of chronology of revelation,

you know, the difficulty that that proposes for those views,

basically an amillennialist or post-millennialist must deny that chapter 20

follows chapter 19 chronologically.

But if they do have a denial of that,

Then that phrase I mentioned earlier, chi-ethon, as we talked about,

it also ignores the continuity of the context that it's in.

Because think about it, having dealt with the Antichrist and the false prophet

in chapter 19, Christ deals with their evil master who? Satan, in chapter 20.

Why reject such an obvious chronology or order of events here, right?

And it's apparently done for

no reason other than to eliminate pre-millennialism, just to eliminate.

That's the only reason, because it's not because there is any justification

from the text, from Scripture itself.

So if you think here tonight, the identity of the angel whom John saw coming

down, as described in the verses we read there,

coming down from heaven to bind Satan, it's not disclosed to us.

We're not told who this angel is.

It may be Michael the archangel, but we don't know for sure.

But he's the great adversary of Satan, for sure, Michael the archangel,

because we're told that back in chapter 12, also in Daniel chapter 10,

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

if you remember, chapter 21, chapter 12, and in Jude chapter 9, it all talks about this.

But whoever the angel is, something important to note from the text,

is he possesses great power because he is sent to earth with a specific agenda. What is it?

Yep, to see Satan for the thousand year duration of the kingdom,

bind him, cast him into the abyss and seal it, and then release him at the end of the thousand years.

So, I mean, God has granted quite authority to this angel, right?

Because he is going to single-handedly take it, bind it, seal it.

And so as we look at the words there, that abyss, or abyss, that appear seven times in Revelation.

And it's always in reference to the temporary place of incarceration,

if you will, for certain demons.

The abyss is not the final place of punishment the lake of fire is, as we read in Matthew 25.

But nevertheless, it's a place of torment, which the demons actually fear to

be sent. We learned that in Luke chapter eight.

And the prisoners in the abyss are among the most vile and the most evil of all demons.

And it includes spirits or includes the spirits now in prison who were once

disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah,

it says in 1 Peter 3. Those demons...

Who have attempted to corrupt, attempted to destroy, some that it talks about

in Jude 6, they won't be released.

They will be transferred directly from their temporary incarceration in the

abyss to their permanent place of punishment in the lake of fire.

Now, I started to mention this, and I'm just going to pass over this.

We'll go deeper if y'all would like to one day. But in Genesis 6,

Genesis 6:1–4

verses 1-4, some people describe this, is, you know, when it says the sons of

God and the daughters of men,

you know, how they came together and then the Nephilim that was there and all

that, some people say, hey, that was fallen angels.

That's demons who attempted to corrupt the human race by cohabitating with human women.

But that is a view that's out there, and it might be a very appealing view and

might make sense on the surface.

But I will say this, I also, there are other views of that as well.

And Ken Ham actually has another view of that as well, is that this is not talking,

that particular passage is not necessarily talking about fallen angels cohabitating

with women and all that, and breeding and all that, and having this super race.

But actually talking about the sons of God can be referred to as mankind and

talking about following there in the line there of the righteous.

And the other, the daughters of men, would be following in the line of Cain, right?

And so it's actually the human race is there.

There's one who's following after God, one who's not, who's doing just the opposite.

And they intermarry like scripture tells them. We know that's not going to work very well.

And therefore they became more corrupt, that humans as a whole became more corrupt.

And one of the reasons he shares this, and I'm just going to do this quickly,

is because one, there's scriptures in the Bible that says that,

you know, angels do not marry or are given in marriage, right?

And there's no indication anywhere in scripture that angels are sexual beings at all.

It's just not there. And also you think about why God sent a worldwide flood.

Was it because you would think if it was because of these fallen angels who

bred with human women, and therefore we had the Nephilim that came as a result of that.

But the Nephilim were strong and mighty, mighty men, you know,

could have been giants and all that.

But we stop and think if that was the result of how, why things got so bad,

why when God judged the world and sent the flood, did he say it was because the wickedness of men?

Why wouldn't he have just called out and said, it's because the fallen angels,

the demons have intermarried and it got so bad I had to destroy it.

So the text just doesn't support that in a lot of ways. But there's still people who hold that view.

I thought I would mention it because these demons, if you hold that view,

they would actually be some of the most corrupt and they would be held here

in the abyss, never to be released.

They would just be taken straight to the lake

of fire the punishment of the lake of fire now

if you'd like to go deeper in that then talk about genesis chapter 6 we can

Genesis 6 · chapter mention

do that in the near future but i just kind of did that as a side note tonight

but other demons though sentenced to the abyss will be released at the fifth

trumpet judgment to torment sinners y'all remember that back in chapter 9.

And so the key that's mentioned here that's given to the angel by God signifies

his delegated authority.

In other words, this angel has a huge task.

I mean, you would think with Satan being, you know, one of the highest created beings, right?

I mean, you would think that, man, how's this angel have this kind of power to do this?

Well, he's given this key by God himself, and it signifies his delegated authority,

and God grants the angel this type of power and authority to do the task at hand.

And he has the power, though, with his key to open the abyss and then to shut

it after casting Satan inside of it.

And then we see here in the passage, this metaphor, if you will,

of binding demons with a chain.

And it also appears in the book of Jude, Jude 6.

But this chain, it's a great one because of Satan's greatness and power.

As he, like I said, the highest created being, as it says in Ezekiel 28,

Ezekiel 28:14

verse 14, The angel actually laid hold of Satan,

seized him, who is unmistakably identified by the same four titles,

if you see here, given him all the way back in chapter 12.

First, he's called the what? The dragon. Remember that?

That's a title that's given to him 12 times, y'all, in Revelation.

And it emphasizes really his bestial nature, his ferociousness,

his oppressive cruelness, right? And then, if you notice here,

the title, Serpent of Old, right?

Where does that harken back to? Serpent of Old.

Garden of Eden, right? Back to the Garden of Eden and Satan's temptation of

Eve in Genesis 3. 2 Corinthians 11, it talks about it.

Diabolos, meaning slander or malicious gossip, an appropriate title for the

accuser of our brethren, if it talked about back in chapter 12.

Satan, y'all, is a malignant liar. In fact, he is the father of lies,

if you remember in John 8, 44.

Satanus, or Satan, in its Hebrew root there, Satan, are used 53 times in Scripture.

Both words just mean adversary. Since Satan opposes God, he opposes Christ and all believers.

And then we look here in the passage and we see the length of the period for

which Satan will be bound is actually defined as how many years?

1,000 years. Remember last week, we talked about that nowhere in the book of

Revelation is numbers, when a number is stated, is ever used symbolically, period.

It's always a literal number, and it means what it says.

So he is bound for 1,000 years.

And this is the first of six precise and important references to the actual

duration of the millennium.

How long? 1,000 years.

Satan's binding poses a serious difficulty for both post-millennialists and amillennialists.

Because, you know, they argue that Satan is already bound, the amillennialists.

Did you know that? They're saying he's bound today.

They believe we're now in the millennium, though they don't view it as 1,000

literal years in length.

But many postmillennialists also believe that Satan is presently bound,

because otherwise it's difficult to see how the church could usher in the millennium from their viewpoint.

Yet the biblical description of Satan's activity in this present age makes it

impossible to believe that he has already been bound. How many of you believe he's bound right now?

I mean, not what we see in scripture.

Satan plants lying hypocrites in the church. Did you know that?

Acts 5, 3. He schemes against believers.

He disguises himself, it says in scripture, as an angel of light to what? To deceive people.

And that's in 2 Corinthians 11. He attacks believers.

It tells us in 2 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and he must be resisted.

It says in James 4, 7, he hinders those, Brother Ronnie, in the ministry.

It says in 1 Thessalonians 2, 18.

And he actually, you know what else? He actually leads believers astray in 1 Timothy 5, 15.

But all millennialists and post-millennialists generally argue that Satan was

bound at the cross. That's what they will say.

And his binding simply means that he can no longer deceive the nations and keep

them from learning God's truth.

And we're probably sitting here scratching our heads, you know,

where do you actually see that in scripture, right?

We see the opposite, but Satan did not keep the Gentile, think about this,

he didn't keep the Gentile nations from the knowledge of the truth before his

alleged binding at the cross. He didn't do that.

The Egyptians actually heard about the true God from who, do you remember?

Starts with a J, Joseph, right? And from the Israelites during the 400 years they lived in Egypt.

The Assyrians of Nineveh not only heard the truth from Jonah,

but what else did they do?

They repented when they heard it, right?

The queen of Sheba, she actually heard about the true God from Solomon in 1 Kings.

The Babylonians from Daniel, think about it, and his Jewish friends as well.

And the Persians from Esther, from Mordecai and Nehemiah.

And so we got to think, in what sense is Satan restrained from deceiving the

nations in this present age, if you hold that view,

since he binds, or he blinds, I should say, the minds of unbelievers.

And he is now working in the sons of disobedience, it says in scripture.

So, and he holds unbelievers captive, 2 Timothy, in his kingdom.

So honestly, tonight, Eastwood, the testimony of scripture is that Satan is

anything but bound in this present age, but he will be during the coming earthly

kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's only then, at this point we're reading about in Revelation,

that he will be incarcerated, if you will, in the abyss, which will be shut

and sealed, according to these scriptures, so that he cannot deceive the nations any longer.

Think about it this way. His activity in the world will not be merely restricted

or restrained, but totally curtailed.

He will not be permitted to influence, get this, the world in any way whatsoever.

And we'll talk about this more later, but that doesn't mean that the living

people in the millennium will be incapable of sinning.

And I'll explain that. But amazingly, a vast part of the population,

you think about it, born of the believers who alone entered the kingdom,

will, in that perfect environment, that utopia, if you will,

they will love their sin and reject King Jesus.

They'll be judged, it says, with a rod of iron.

And those who engage in open rebellion under Satan's leadership when the thousand

years have been completed.

And it says in scripture, Satan must be released for a short time.

You know what the end will be? They will be utterly destroyed.

Now, some of us always say, and this makes me think, Brother Ronnie,

it's like, you know, we're always pressing for this utopia because in this time,

and we'll talk about this more, I mean, there's going to be peace.

There's going to be prosperity in that sense. I mean, there'll be justice.

Actually here during this millennial reign, people will, according to scripture,

will actually live longer.

Their physical health will be longer. In fact, I don't know the exact time or

that's a promise, but it will be longer. People will not be as sick.

And also it even mentions in a couple of passages, you know, about a hundred years.

And so we probably think about all this today and we think, Hey,

man, if we just had peace in the world, if we just had harmony,

if everybody just got along, if we just did this, well, in this millennial kingdom,

where, like I said, believers will be that ultimately alone part of,

but they will continue, obviously, through that thousand years, right?

And think about the children of those who will grow up in that type of society,

right, or in that type of world.

But still, it doesn't solve the problem there of the human heart, does it?

But then what's going to happen? Satan's going to be released at the end for a short time.

And then we're going to come into the reign of the saints. Who's the saints?

Right. Listen to this. He says, then I saw thrones and they sat on them and

judgments was given to them.

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony

of Jesus and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the

beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand,

and 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 completed.

This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in

the first resurrection.

Over these, the second death has no power.

But they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a

thousand years, verses 4 through 6.

So with Satan, his demon host, and all God-rejecting sinners out of the way,

the millennial kingdom of peace and righteousness is going to be established.

The supreme ruler in that kingdom will, of course, be who?

Jesus Christ, right? The Lord Jesus himself, he alone is King of kings and Lord of lords.

And the Lord God, it says, will give him alone the throne of his father David, Luke 1.32.

Yet he's graciously promised y'all that his saints will reign with him.

They will rule subordinately over every aspect of life in the kingdom.

And being glorified and protected, they will perfectly carry out his will.

In fact, in this vision, John sees that, if you will, like a panorama of God's

people resurrected, rewarded, right?

And reigning with him, he saw what? He saw thrones symbolizing both judicial and regal authority.

And then God's people sat on them, it says here, and judgment was given to them.

In other words, the glorified saints will both enforce God's will and they'll

adjudicate disputes that arise.

You know, several suggestions that they've been offered concerning the identity

of the saints who sat on the thrones, right?

But I think they can be best identified if we look to scripture by seeing who

God promised would reign.

Let's take a look. Daniel 7, verse 27 promises that the Old Testament saints

Daniel 7:27

will reign in the millennial kingdom.

It says, then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms

under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the highest one.

His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him.

Also, Jesus promised the apostles that you who have followed me in the regeneration,

when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, he says,

you also shall sit upon the 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

We find that in Matthew chapter 19, verse 28.

Matthew 19:28

And then New Testament believers, which is what we are, right,

are also promised that they will reign with Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 6, too, actually, Paul wrote this. He said,

do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

And then while 2 Timothy 2, 12 actually declares this, if we endure,

we will also reign with him.

And in Revelation, we look back, it's all the way back in chapter two,

Jesus promises, he who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end to

him I will give authority over the nations.

And then Revelation 3.21, he adds this. It's probably very familiar.

You probably remember this.

He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne,

as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne.

So Revelation 5.10 makes it clear that the saints will reign on the earth,

not in a spiritual sense or in the heavenly sphere.

Listen to this says you have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our god

and they will reign upon the earth.

So the present passage that we're looking at, it introduces the last group of

saints who will reign with Christ in his kingdom.

And as John's vision continues here, John actually says here,

if you look at the text, it says he saw the souls of those who had been beheaded

because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God.

And those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received

the mark on their forehead and

on their hand. So these are the martyred believers from the tribulation.

Pelikizo, beheaded, if you will. It literally means to cut off with an axe.

It's a figure of speech. It just means to put to death or to execute there in the original language.

Because the empire, y'all, of Antichrist actually exterminated tribulation saints

because of their testimony of who? Jesus.

Because they faithfully proclaimed the word of God and because they had not

worshiped, as it says here in the text, the beast or his image and had not received

the mark on their forehead and on their hand.

Because the tribulation saints church was faithful to the death,

it evidenced their true salvation, right?

And it says, it talks about this, they too came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Exesa, they came to life. It can't refer to a spiritual resurrection.

It's regeneration or a new birth because the tribulation martyrs were already

spiritually alive, but it's used in connection with physical death.

And that root form of that Greek word is used throughout the New Testament to

describe physical bodily resurrection.

In fact, you can look at it. It's all over the New Testament.

And then John adds this footnote that the rest of the dead did not come to life

until when, until the end.

Until the thousand years were completed right and these are the unbelieving dead of all the ages,

whose resurrection to judgment and damnation is described in verses 11 through 15.

John actually calls the resurrection of the saints though from all the ages the what resurrection.

The first resurrection that resurrection is also called in scripture the resurrection

of the righteous in the New Testament, and the resurrection of life,

and the resurrection of those who are,

Christ at his coming in 1 Corinthians, and even the better resurrection in Hebrews.

And the use of that anastasis or resurrection that offers this further evidence

that the resurrection that's described here in verse 4 in this passage,

it's a physical resurrection.

And that word, I want to say this again, is used 42 times in the New Testament,

always of a physical resurrection except for once in Luke 2,

I believe it's 34, where the context just demands another meaning there.

But the phrase blessed and holy is the one here who has a part in the first

resurrection. Why is that?

Well, first of all, it says blessed. Remember I talked about Beatitudes in Revelation,

you know, like blessed. You think about the Beatitudes, blessed are.

Well, here's another Beatitude in Revelation.

Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection.

It's the fifth of seven Beatitudes total in the book of Revelation.

Those who have a part in the first resurrection are blessed, first of all, why?

Because the second death has no power over them. Hallelujah.

I mean, the second death has no power. In fact, when we talk about the second

death, it's actually defined in verse 14 as what? The lake of fire, right?

It's eternal hell, in other words. In other words, if you're part of that first

resurrection, you don't have to worry about ever tasting hell.

You're never going to hell, right?

You're not going to be a part of that second death. And the comforting truth,

y'all, is that no true child of God will ever face God's eternal wrath. You know why?

Jesus already faced it on the

cross. And the scripture says he drunk the wrath of God down to the dregs.

Have I told y'all this before? I know I have a pet peeve. I get it.

Get a jug of orange juice in the fridge.

Have that last little teeny bit left at the bottom. I ain't drinking it. You can have it.

All right. I just don't like the drinks. But scripture tells us Jesus drank

it all on our behalf, all the cup of God's wrath in my place,

in your place. So we don't ever have to taste that.

Jesus took it all. As the old hymn says, Jesus paid it all, right?

And having now been justified by his blood, Paul wrote, we shall be saved from what?

What are we saved from? The wrath of God through him.

Yes, Romans 5, 9. And so to the Thessalonians, he added, Jesus rescues us from what?

The wrath of God, the wrath to come.

For God has not destined us, it says, for wrath, but for obtaining salvation

through our Lord Jesus Christ, It says in 1 Thessalonians.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation.

You know what that literally is saying?

I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to save us from the

wrath of God. That's what we're saved from.

So those who participate in the first resurrection are also blessed because

they will be priests of God and of Christ, it says.

Believers are already a royal priesthood called to proclaim,

according to Scripture, the excellencies of him who has called them out of darkness

into his marvelous light, 1 Peter says.

So believers now serve as priests by worshiping God and leading others to the

knowledge of him, right?

And will also serve in that capacity during the millennial kingdom.

And then a final blessing for the participants of those in the first resurrection

is that they will reign with the Lord Jesus Christ. For how many years?

A thousand literal years.

Along with believers who survived the tribulation, politically and socially,

the rule of Christ and his saints will be universal according to Scripture.

And it will also be absolute and also righteous according to the Bible.

Spiritually, their rule will be a time when the believing remnant of Israel is converted.

Talks about this in Jeremiah 30 and Romans 11. And the nation is restored to

the land that God promised to Abraham that we've been talking about in Sunday school.

It'll be a time when the Gentile nations also will worship the king.

And the millennial rule of Christ and the saints will also be marked,

y'all, by the presence of righteousness and peace, it says in Isaiah 32.

It'll be marked by joy, Isaiah 12 and Isaiah 61.

Physically, I mentioned this earlier, it'll be a time when the curse is lifted.

How do I know that? I go to the Word of God, Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 30, Isaiah 35 tells us this. When food will be plentiful,

according to Joel chapter 2, and when there will be, here it is,

Joel 2 · chapter mention

physical health and well-being. How do I know that?

Isaiah 33, 24, and Isaiah 35, 5, and 6.

And it will lead to long life, Isaiah 65, 20.

Wow. We will reign with Christ.

I'm going to stop there tonight. and next time we'll pick up with the return

of Satan because he's going to have to be released from his prison for a short time.