Revealing Revelation - The Millennial Binding of Satan (Part 2)

In part one of our discussion on the binding of Satan we spent a vast majority of the time dealing with the timing issue of the binding of Satan, which in turn, tells the reader when the “thousand years” began. This famed Millennium, we discovered, begins when Satan is bound and Jesus did this during His first advent!

This quite often leads to cries of ridiculous and guffaws for truly anyone can simply look at the world around us and note that Satan could not be bound. Sin is still rampant, evil still abounds and the work of the minions of Satan appear to not have been curtailed by any ones estimation. This, of course, leads to the important discussion of not just “when: Satan is bound, but for what purpose is this binding?

With that important question in the front of our minds let us consider the passage before us.

Rev. 20:3 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.

This binding, as we discovered previously, is chalk full of symbolic and spiritual language and must be understood as so. No actual chain, pit or seal can actually subdue on non-corporal being that is not extended in space. Remember, the physicality of Satan is not present, but rather, he, like all the angels, are spiritual beings, not constrained by the laws of physicality humans and animals are faced with.

No chain, no matter how thick and strong it would, could keep this being bound for he cannot be limited by spatial restrictions. The same for a pit or seal placed in that pit. He is spiritual and invisible.

Not only that, but most importantly, the passage limits the scope of his binding and the purpose for which he is bound…

…so that he might not deceive the nations any longer…

This binding which took place during the first advent of Christ was for the express purpose that he would no longer be able to deceive the nations and keep the Gospel from penetrating the hearts and minds of those outside of the previous Covenant community, the Jews.

If you recall from the previous post the binding described by Jesus was so that He (Jesus) could plunder the goods of the “strongman’s possession. Those lost souls in the nations that have been for centuries blinded are now able to hear and respond to this Gospel proclaimed.

The finished work of Jesus was a true paradigm shift in human history. Before the first advent the Gospel, the truth by which a man and community could be saved, was nearly exclusively the divine possession of the Israelites under the promise to Abraham and continuing with Moses. But the promise to Abraham was that “all” nations would be blessed through him and through the “seed” that would come from him. That seed, Jesus Christ, fulfilled the promised that all nations would be blessed. This is done when Satan is bound and the nations were no longer utterly deceived.

Jesus, through this binding of the first century, begins to plunder that house of the strongman. He proved this by casting out demons and demonstrating that the kingdom of God had truly arrived and was not postponed!

The Church today must understand this promise and take her rightful place as the bearer of this “Good News” of the Gospel and proclaim it throughout the whole earth for Satan has been bound, the nations are no longer deceived and the Gospel sees a bright and hopeful future! This is diametrically opposed to modern prophecy prognosticators that see no hope for the Church and actually see her fail in history.

This sad bastardization of the truth of Gospel must be opposed for it is unBiblical and unnecessarily pessimistic set against the backdrop of scripture that proudly proclaims a rich and glorious and victorious Church that is being adorned for her Groom. This adorning is completed by the proclamation of the Gospel as the Church recognizes she was handed the keys the to the kingdom and that the gates of Hell will not prevail against her!