We finally get to the point where Satan will be defeated and punished. This devotional reading looks at the last battle before the world ends.
Nuggets
- Satan will be released after the end of the thousand years.
- You would think that after being bound a thousand years that Satan would feel defeated.
- We have no idea to what Gog and Magog refers.
- This time, it is different than the Battle of Armageddon.
- The battle is going to be over in a second.
- Satan will join the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire and sulfur to be punished for eternity.
One of the central themes of Revelation is that Lamb will overcome His opponent, Satan. While we may wonder why the final defeat is put off a thousand years, one day those years will be over; and Satan will be punished for eternity.
Let’s see what is in store for the great deceiver.
Let’s Put It into Context #1
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Devotions in the Thousand-Year Reign series
Let's Put It into Context #2
What is the Church going to be doing during the thousand-year reign? Remember, we aren’t going to be ruling with Jesus. That reward is reserved for only two groups of people.
The Church will find themselves in a time of blessing and peace. Satan will be bound, so that Jesus’ disciples won’t have Satan about which to worry.
But that doesn’t mean evil won’t be around. It will be in worldview people.
Clemance described earth during the thousand years in this way. He wrote, “Compared with things as they are now, the earth will be at rest; but it will not be heaven.”
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So, the moral of the story is that the thousand-year reign will not be totally good or totally evil.
Sin is going to be prevalent. But the world is going to be a better place.
Clemance said that there was still a war for which we would have to be prepared. We’ll talk about that in a bit.
Let’s focus – for now – on being prepared.
When do disciples back away from their faith? That would be when things are calm and easy going.
So, the Church will have to be very vigilant to remain walking in the Spirit.
Remember, the two groups will be spirits, so they will be invisible. They won’t be a presence on the earth.
Clemance argued that neither would Jesus. He noted – and I agree – that nowhere in God’s Word does it say Jesus will rule on the earth.
“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years” (Rev. 20: 4 ESV).
End of the Thousand Years
“And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea” (Rev. 20: 7-8 ESV)
Satan will be released after the end of the thousand years.
Satan Released
You would think that after being bound a thousand years that Satan would feel defeated.
He won’t.
I know. We would think that being bound for a thousand years would have Satan turning over a new leaf.
Satan isn’t going to change at all.
Instead, evil will be unleased – again. Satan will go back to his devious ways.
Seiss gave us insight on why Satan will be released. He wrote,
“Some interest of righteousness and moral government renders it proper that he should be allowed this last limited freedom. If for nothing else, it is not unimportant that he should have this opportunity to prove how little an imprisonment of a thousand years had served to change him, or reform his malignity.”
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That last part is interesting. Satan will never change, regardless of time or experience. He is against God.
Satan’s followers also have this stubbornness built into them. Regardless of time or experience, they will also choose against God.
No, it has nothing to do with predestination. Mankind, not individuals, is predestined to get the opportunity for salvation.
We each have free will. We choose to follow God or Satan.
We can’t gloss over the fact that the One Who defeated Satan at the Battle of Armageddon is going to release Him.
In other words, this is all in God’s plan.
We don’t have to understand. We just have to accept that this is what will happen.
Gog and Magog
We have no idea to what Gog and Magog refers.
Maybe it is the corners of the earth. But then, wouldn’t we probably think there would be four names?
Seiss thought that Gog and Magog referred to the isolated places of the earth. These would be areas that have been left behind in the technological advancements of our world.
But then, John may have known where these two places were. He would know what Ezekiel said.
“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, set your face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal” (Ezek. 38: 1-3 ESV).
To me, that makes it sound like Gog is a city in the country of Magog.
Gather for Battle
This time, it is different than the Battle of Armageddon.
Satan doesn’t call for the kings of the earth to aid him this time. They already had failed.
Seiss said the reason for that is that they had already thrown in with him. This time, Satan is coming directly to mankind. He is going to try to convince us that he can overthrow God with our help.
Does Satan really think the outcome is going to be any different? This is a suicide mission.
Still, the master deceiver will convince the people from Gog and Magog that they can overthrow Sovereign God.
Unfortunately, there will still be those who are deceived by Satan’s lies. Many people won’t have gotten it yet – “… their number is like the sand of the sea” (Rev. 20: 8 ESV).
Isn’t it sad how – time after time – mankind chooses to disobey God. Look at Genesis 2: 16-17.
“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen. 2: 16-17 ESV).
Sin started with a choice.
I guess this can be interpreted two different ways. “… for in the day that you eat of it …” (Gen. 2: 17 ESV) can be taken to mean if you eat of it. It was always Adam and Eve’s choice to bite or not.
But then we can interpret it to say when they eat of it. Yes, the outcome of them eating it was always going to be death.
While it was always their choice to bite or not, God knew before He created them that they would bite. He always knew that Jesus would be our Savior and Redeemer.
A lot of good the size of the army is going to do just this. They aren’t going to choose God.
The Battle
“And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them” (Rev. 20: 9 ESV)
The battle is going to be over in a second.
In the Battle of Armageddon, the kings of earth were defeated by the Word of God. Here, it is fire. They are consumed by fire from above.
This destruction is prophesied. “But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (II Pet. 3: 7 ESV).
Satan Punished for Eternity
“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Rev. 20: 10 ESV)
Satan will join the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire and sulfur to be punished for eternity.
We have no clue as to where hell is or how it was made. All we are told is that it was prepared for Satan and his followers. “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’” (Mt. 25: 41 ESV).
I’ve heard it said that hell resides where the water came from for the flood. “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened” (Gen. 7: 11 ESV).
Maybe. Maybe not.
We do know that fire is equated with suffering.
- “And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God’” (Zech. 13: 9 ESV).
- “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw — each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (I Cor. 3: 12-15 ESV).
- “so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 1: 7 ESV).
The sulfur is also brimstone.
- “In his tent dwells that which is none of his; sulfur is scattered over his habitation” (Job 18: 15 ESV).
- “Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Gen. 19: 24 ESV).
Satan is condemned to hell for eternity. The beast and the false prophet are already there (Rev. 20: 10).
Making the Connections #1
What is evil going to be doing during the thousand years that Satan is bound? Clemance believes it will still be here, albeit subdued and restrained.
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Clemance is correct. If evil was extinct, there would be no reason for Satan to be loosed again.
Yes, there has to be a reason. No, understanding it is about our paygrade. It goes in the UNR book – understanding not required.
Making the Connections #2
Satan is already acting on our world. Luckily, so is God.
Thomas was so correct. He wrote, “Hell and heaven are acting on our world through thoughts — the one through the false, and the other through the true.”
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Since following God or Satan is our choice, that starts that in our heads. We reason out whether we believe in God or now.
That drives home the fact that Heaven and hell are working in this world now – Heaven in the form of the Holy Spirit, hell in the form of Satan.
- “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Cor. 4: 4 ESV).
- “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn. 14: 26 ESV).
We just have to decide which one we are going to follow.
Making the Connections #3
Let’s go back to the question of what is the Church will be doing during the thousand-year reign. If we aren’t going to be ruling with Jesus, and the Church will experience peace, I take that to mean the Church will not be raptured yet.
That means the Rapture won’t be until the world ends.
How Do We Apply This?
- Accept that there are things that we will not understand.
Father God. We don’t understand why Satan will be released after the thousand-year reign. We accept that it is in Your plan that he is. Help those living during the thousand-year reign to look to you in times of peace. Amen.
What do you think?
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