INTRODUCTION

Revelation 20 describes the defeat and final doom of Satan and those who follow him. (If you are not following Christ then your following Satan).

The defeat of Satan began with the first coming of Christ in the wilderness and especially through the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ to the right hand of the Father above all rule and authority dominion and power. This was the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign as King over all things to the church.

That Christ’s kingdom is not a physical kingdom (a kingdom of this world) but a spiritual kingdom (a heavenly kingdom) is clearly seen in Scripture.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (born spiritually) he cannot see (cannot enter) the kingdom of God.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, (not physical) but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 15:21-25 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits (the first to rise again and receive a glorified body); then, when He comes, those who belong to Him (this perishable will take on imperishable at the resurrection of believers). Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under Hs feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 

1 Corinthians 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Nowhere in the Scriptures does Jesus ever say He is going to established an earthly, physical kingdom here on earth. On the contrary, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Jesus rules and reigns now in heaven at the right hand of the Father: Ephesians 1:19-23. He is King of a Spiritual Kingdom. The only way to enter this Kingdom is through the New Birth (John 3:5). When the Kingdom is complete, Jesus will hand it over to the Father and then preceede to judge the world destroying it with fire and ushering off all the lost to their final judgment.

SATAN BOUND 20:1-3

vs 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key (given to him by Christ who owns all the keys) of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.

The abyss is a place of confinement where Satan’s activity is restrained and kept in check by God in particular from deceiving the nations. It is not the place of final punishment. That is reserved for the lake of fire.

vs 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;

If you do a study of numbers in the Bible you will find that based on the context it is not uncommon for some of them to be taken symbolically rather than literally.

The book of Revelation is full of symbolic numbers. It would seem rather likely, therefore, based on the context, that the number “thousand” (the number of completion) ought not to be interpreted in a strictly literal sense in chapter 20. As we shall see from the context of chapter 20 the number thousand represents an indeterminate length of time (between the first and second coming of Christ).

Because Revelation 20 ends with the final judgment which according to the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 24-25, and Paul in 2 Timothy 4:1, and Peter in 2 Peter 3 takes place at Christ’s return, we may conclude that this thousand-year period extends from Christ’s first coming to His Second Coming.

vs 3 and then 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.

The binding of Satan is a specific binding “he would not be able to deceive the nations (the elect among the gentiles)” that is, keep them in darkness as he does the unbelieving non-elect.

Prior to Christ first coming all the nations—with the exception of the Jews—were under the bondage of Satan. Not, of course, in the absolute sense of the term, for God always reigns supreme but in the sense that he blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not believe the truth about God and worship Him.

Up until the coming of the messiah Jesus Christ, all the nations of the world except Israel were under Satan’s rule. At that time the people of Israel were the recipients of God’s special revelation, so that they knew God’s truth about themselves, about their sinfulness, and about the way they could obtain forgiveness for their sins.

Satan had deceived the nations and kept them in the darkness of paganism without hope and without God in the world. Only since the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, has the gospel gone out into all the world, into every tongue, tribe and nation. While Satan is bound he cannot deceive the nations (elect Gentiles) in such a way as to keep them from learning about the truth of God and coming to Christ.

Jesus has bound the strong man (Satan) from deceiving the nations (His elect among the gentiles). It started when Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4), and continued as Jesus cast out demons and bound the strong man (Satan).

Jesus said in John 12:31-32 Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I will draw all men (elect Jews & Gentiles) to Myself.

It is interesting to note that the verb translated “cast out” (ekballo) is derived from the same root as the word used in Revelation 20:3 “and He threw (ballo) him (Satan) into the abyss.”

Jesus disarmed Satan at the Cross, and put Satan in subjection under His feet through His resurrection.

Colossians 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them through the cross.

Ephesians 1:19-23 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Note, that these passages referring to Satan’s defeat and Christ’s rule are associated with the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We may say, therefore, that the binding of Satan, according to all these passages, begins with the first coming, where Jesus binds the strong man from deceiving the nations (God’s elect among the gentile nations), and keeping them in darkness and away from the gospel.

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away (Gentiles/ethnos/nations), have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

God had allowed Satan to blind the eyes of the nations, so that these nations walked in their own ways. A great change was to take place. God, under the New Covenant would begin to draw sinners from among the Gentile nations to Himself and there was nothing Satan could do to stop it.

Satan is bound so that he can deceive the nations no more. Christ will draw “all men” (Elect Jews & Gentiles from every tongue tribe and nation) to Himself (Revelation 7:9-10). Elect from every nation will be saved.

Revelation 7:9-10 9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

So the “binding of Satan” has reference only to his ability to deceive the nations as he did prior to Christ’s coming. He is not bound in every sense. Satan still incites and tempts men to all kinds of evil. As Peter proclaims, Satan is like a lion roaming about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

A dog securely bound with a long and heavy chain can do great damage within the circle of his imprisonment. Outside of that circle, however, the animal can do no damage, can hurt no one.

Revelation 20:1-3 therefore, teaches us that Satan’s power is curbed and his influence curtailed with respect to one definite sphere of activity: “that he should deceive the nations no more until the just before Christ return when the “Restrainer” is removed as we see in 2 Thessalonians 2. Then the full fury of Satan’s wrath is let out and he will go out to deceive the nations of the world to gather them together to fight against the people of God.

We conclude, then, that the binding of Satan during the gospel age means that, first, he cannot prevent the spread of the gospel into all the world, and second, he cannot gather all the enemies of Christ together to come against the church.