Revelation 20:1–3 - Unbound to Love and Obey God
In Mark 3 in the NT, as Jesus carries out His earthly ministry, some people accuse Him of doing supernatural works by the power of Satan. They say, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Jesus responds, but he does so with a parable – with a simple story to illustrate his point. He says, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.”
Seems logical enough. Satan doesn’t cast out demons. But listen to what Jesus says next: “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.”
Jesus is casting out demons. So, who has entered who’s house to plunder?
In the NT book of John, twice Jesus calls Satan “the ruler of this world.” In John 12, Jesus says, “Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Obviously, Jesus has come into the house. And to perform God’s work, Satan must be bound.
What does “bound” mean? The Greek word Jesus uses meant “to fasten with chains.” The word was used to describe an animal tied to a spot, or a person chained in a jail cell. The work of Christ was being accomplished because Satan was now restricted. Revelation 20 confirms this to be the case.
Scripture teaches that during the entirety of the gospel age, Satan has been bound by God. From the first coming of Christ into the world, until the future second coming of Christ in glory – a period of time referred to symbolically here as “a thousand years” – the devil is limited.
And as a result, all the nations of the earth are blessed. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says, “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.” But Satan cannot do that to those who are called by God.
Now, certainly, the church still endures great difficulty. Jesus said that we would, and Revelation has repeatedly confirmed this. But things are different since Christ came into the world, and God’s people can take heart. Christ has overcome the world.
So, we can be confident. We can be courageous, knowing two things that stand out in these verses. God's enemy is bound, and God's people are set free. So let’s look at these. And just so know you, I’m going to be referring to previous chapters of Rev. a lot this morning. I hope you will follow along with me!
Last week, in the second half of ch. 19, we saw Christ appear as a warrior riding a white horse. He defeats the antichrist and the anti-Christian governments and religions in power at that time. And all those who are not saved are slain. It was a vivid picture teaching us about the future of everyone apart from Christ.
In that chapter, the defeat of every enemy of Christ is illustrated – except one. One remains – and he’s the most wicked and most powerful one. In fact, he’s the one working in and through all the others. He is Satan – the devil – depicted in Revelation as a serpent and a dragon.
Naturally, after what we saw in ch. 19, you’d expect Christ to deal with him next. And he does – but the vision is not exactly what you might expect. However, based on what we’ve seen previously in Rev., we shouldn’t be surprised, because for the vision of ch. 20, Christ once again backs up in time. Jesus did this before – with chapters 11 and 12. Let me explain.
At the end of ch. 11, the 7th trumpet sounds and there’s a description of the second coming of Christ on Judgment Day. But then, immediately, with the beginning of ch. 12, Christ shows John a pregnant woman giving birth with a dragon standing by to devour the child. It’s an obvious reference to the birth of Jesus Christ and Satan’s attempt to destroy Him.
As I’ve said before, Revelation is not entirely linear. Redemptive history is illustrated in cycles that reveal various details about the events.
Like the end of ch.11, the end of ch.19 gives a description off Judgment Day, and like the beginning of ch.12, ch. 20 begins a different perspective on what happened when Jesus came into the world.
Now look at verse 1. John sees “an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.” This bottomless pit is part of the action in chapter 9 as well. This is hell. In ch. 9, locusts representing demons come from the pit, and their king is an angel known as the Destroyer. Ch.9 speaks to what God allows Satan to do. Ch.20 speaks to what God does not allow him to do.
Now, in chapter 12, Satan was referred to as the dragon, the ancient serpent, and the devil. He is here as well; notice verse 2. With this chain and key, the angel “bound him for a thousand years.” This 1000 years – called “the millennium” – is the subject of some debate. What does it mean?
Well, we’ve seen the number 1000 before in Revelation. In chapter 5, John sees myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels. “Myriad” describes an unlimited number – more than could be counted.
Then chapter 9 shows an army numbering twice 10,000 times 10,000. That equals 200 million, but it’s a symbol for all of the evil armies throughout the last days.
Then in chapter 11, John sees a great earthquake. It’s a figurative description of the literal destruction of the Earth on the last day. And in that vision, seven thousand people die. We saw earlier in Rev. that the number 7 symbolizes completion in the Scripture and 1000 is a multitude. So, on Judgment Day, a complete multitude will die.
But with this thousand years specifically, how can the OT and NT help us understand?
In the OT, Psalm 90 comes to mind, where Moses says to God, “A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” And in the NT, 2 Peter 3, where the apostle Peter tells the churches, “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
In both examples, time is in view, but “a thousand” is not the point or the focus. The focus is on the power and sovereignty of God, His eternal nature, and His perfect plan. That seems to be the focus and the point here in Revelation 20 as well. And just as with other numbers in Revelation, we should read this as symbolism.
So it’s a long period of time. Only God knows exactly how long it will be. This verse suggests that the length of time has been divinely set. And so in that sense, it is absolutely perfect and complete. Again, Satan is somehow bound during this time.
Some read this as a special time before the end when Christ will have a “millennial reign” something like the production of a “Christian world” before His return. But neither Jesus, nor Paul, or Peter spoke about such a time before the return of Jesus.
Rather, Jesus was clear that His kingdom is not of this world, and what they describe in the gospel age is much more simple. There will be time that contains both tribulation and gospel preaching to the nations, and at the conclusion of that time, the end will come. Jesus will return in glory. We live during that time.
Regarding the 1000 years, still others picture a period of tribulation followed by a millennial reign of Christ. These folks imagine that Christ will return but He won’t end world history yet. There are many problems with this view. Typically those people see God treating ethnic Israel and the Church differently.
But as we saw in Romans 9-11 before we began Revelation, the Church is Israel. The Israel of God is the Church, which includes both Jews and non-Jews. Israel is not people of one nation, but those who come to Christ from all nations.
And when you add that no one knows the hour or the day when Christ will return, and no one knows how long He will wait until He comes, you get the sense that the time frame here is not the point. These verses of chapter 20 are about what goes on during this time. And clearly, from verse 2, Satan is chained in some way.
Of course, we know also from Rev. 12 and from other NT passages and from our own life experience that in other ways, Satan is freed. Looking at chapters 12 and 20 together, clearly there are things Satan can do and things he cannot do. The message is that Satan is not able to do all that he wants to do.
William Hendriksen gives a good analogy about the binding of Satan. He writes, “A dog securely bound with a long and heavy chain can do great damage within the circle of his imprisonment. Outside that circle, however, the animal can do no damage and hurt no one…Satan’s power is curbed and his influence curtailed with respect to one definite sphere of activity.” What is that sphere?
Look with me at verse 3. John watches as the angel bound Satan for a thousand years, “and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” With the first coming of Christ, God’s people are not in one nation, but every nation. Not just one language, but every language.
Believers come from every tribe. Everywhere. People of all races and ethnicities and cultures are being gathered by Jesus. He’s bringing in all His elect. He’s showing grace to sinners worldwide in every generation. And for all the evil Satan can do – for all the wickedness he inspires – he cannot stop this!
He is bound. He’s stopped, he’s prevented. He cannot stop salvation or destroy the true Church. Jesus saves, and those He saves He can never lose. In John 10, Jesus tells His disciples, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Satan can do many things. But He cannot keep God’s people captive in sin and death.
God's people are set free. This is the way in which God has bound the enemy: so that the gospel may spread and the Church may grow. Satan is chained by God so that those who are born again – who trust Christ — may be unchained from sin.
If you are in Christ, Satan will throw whatever he can at you. And you may fall for his tricks. He may attack you physically or mentally. There will be spiritual attacks, emotional battles. But if you have Jesus, you are not a slave of Satan. He is bound, and you are unbound – unbound to love and obey God.
People in this world behave with all sorts of wickedness and selfishness in the name of “freedom.” But that’s not freedom. That is slavery. In Romans 6, Paul tells the churches,
“When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
No matter what you see happening in our country or the world, the true Church will never fail. There will be many who turn away, there will be many who reject Christ, but Christ and His gospel will always prevail.
Would your response to the circumstances of your life be different if you were confident in this? Not that all your problems would be fixed, but would you aim to love and obey God more?
Would you entrust more of your life to Him? Would you read His Word with more fervor?
Would you pray with more boldness?
Would you join God on His mission with more courage and commitment?
Would you adjust your decisions based on what God says in His moral law?
Fathers, would you lead your families differently?
Husbands and wives, would you treat one another differently?
And above all, would you rest more in Christ?
And would you enjoy the little victories over sin each day? If you believed that the power of God was so complete and the triumph of Jesus Christ was so sure and the grace of God was strong? I believe you would. I believe you would. And of course, you can. You can begin again today.
Now before we go to the Lord’s table, notice the last part of verse 3. Satan is bound “until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.” We learned about this in Revelation ch. 11. It describes a time just before the second coming of Christ – a period symbolized by three and half days. It’s a very short window of time when there is no more opportunity to be saved.
At that time, the true Church will have fulfilled her purpose and will appear defeated. God will let the world gloat for a moment. This is the “little while” that Satan is released. But like the false report of Mark Twain’s death, the report of the church’s death will be greatly exaggerated. Again, the true Church cannot be destroyed.
It’s a sobering thought, but let it be a warning. Today is the day to leave sin and cling to Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. If you want Christ, take Him today. Today, renew your commitment to Jesus Christ. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. He stands ready to receive sinners with great joy! God has bound the enemy so that today the Word of God could be presented to your ears and to your heart so that you may believe in Christ today and be set free!
You know, throughout history, as the gospel has gone out just like it has here this morning. Some servants of the Lord have been bound – jailed, locked up for preaching Christ. That’s what happened to the apostle Paul. But in a letter to his pastoral protege Timothy – a letter he wrote to encourage Timothy and the churches both then and today – he makes a fascinating statement. Sitting in a jail, Paul told the believers, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
Bow with me in prayer and then let’s meet Christ at His table together.
Jesus responds, but he does so with a parable – with a simple story to illustrate his point. He says, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.”
Seems logical enough. Satan doesn’t cast out demons. But listen to what Jesus says next: “But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.”
Jesus is casting out demons. So, who has entered who’s house to plunder?
In the NT book of John, twice Jesus calls Satan “the ruler of this world.” In John 12, Jesus says, “Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Obviously, Jesus has come into the house. And to perform God’s work, Satan must be bound.
What does “bound” mean? The Greek word Jesus uses meant “to fasten with chains.” The word was used to describe an animal tied to a spot, or a person chained in a jail cell. The work of Christ was being accomplished because Satan was now restricted. Revelation 20 confirms this to be the case.
Scripture teaches that during the entirety of the gospel age, Satan has been bound by God. From the first coming of Christ into the world, until the future second coming of Christ in glory – a period of time referred to symbolically here as “a thousand years” – the devil is limited.
And as a result, all the nations of the earth are blessed. In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says, “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.” But Satan cannot do that to those who are called by God.
Now, certainly, the church still endures great difficulty. Jesus said that we would, and Revelation has repeatedly confirmed this. But things are different since Christ came into the world, and God’s people can take heart. Christ has overcome the world.
So, we can be confident. We can be courageous, knowing two things that stand out in these verses. God's enemy is bound, and God's people are set free. So let’s look at these. And just so know you, I’m going to be referring to previous chapters of Rev. a lot this morning. I hope you will follow along with me!
Last week, in the second half of ch. 19, we saw Christ appear as a warrior riding a white horse. He defeats the antichrist and the anti-Christian governments and religions in power at that time. And all those who are not saved are slain. It was a vivid picture teaching us about the future of everyone apart from Christ.
In that chapter, the defeat of every enemy of Christ is illustrated – except one. One remains – and he’s the most wicked and most powerful one. In fact, he’s the one working in and through all the others. He is Satan – the devil – depicted in Revelation as a serpent and a dragon.
Naturally, after what we saw in ch. 19, you’d expect Christ to deal with him next. And he does – but the vision is not exactly what you might expect. However, based on what we’ve seen previously in Rev., we shouldn’t be surprised, because for the vision of ch. 20, Christ once again backs up in time. Jesus did this before – with chapters 11 and 12. Let me explain.
At the end of ch. 11, the 7th trumpet sounds and there’s a description of the second coming of Christ on Judgment Day. But then, immediately, with the beginning of ch. 12, Christ shows John a pregnant woman giving birth with a dragon standing by to devour the child. It’s an obvious reference to the birth of Jesus Christ and Satan’s attempt to destroy Him.
As I’ve said before, Revelation is not entirely linear. Redemptive history is illustrated in cycles that reveal various details about the events.
Like the end of ch.11, the end of ch.19 gives a description off Judgment Day, and like the beginning of ch.12, ch. 20 begins a different perspective on what happened when Jesus came into the world.
Now look at verse 1. John sees “an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.” This bottomless pit is part of the action in chapter 9 as well. This is hell. In ch. 9, locusts representing demons come from the pit, and their king is an angel known as the Destroyer. Ch.9 speaks to what God allows Satan to do. Ch.20 speaks to what God does not allow him to do.
Now, in chapter 12, Satan was referred to as the dragon, the ancient serpent, and the devil. He is here as well; notice verse 2. With this chain and key, the angel “bound him for a thousand years.” This 1000 years – called “the millennium” – is the subject of some debate. What does it mean?
Well, we’ve seen the number 1000 before in Revelation. In chapter 5, John sees myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands of angels. “Myriad” describes an unlimited number – more than could be counted.
Then chapter 9 shows an army numbering twice 10,000 times 10,000. That equals 200 million, but it’s a symbol for all of the evil armies throughout the last days.
Then in chapter 11, John sees a great earthquake. It’s a figurative description of the literal destruction of the Earth on the last day. And in that vision, seven thousand people die. We saw earlier in Rev. that the number 7 symbolizes completion in the Scripture and 1000 is a multitude. So, on Judgment Day, a complete multitude will die.
But with this thousand years specifically, how can the OT and NT help us understand?
In the OT, Psalm 90 comes to mind, where Moses says to God, “A thousand years in Your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” And in the NT, 2 Peter 3, where the apostle Peter tells the churches, “Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
In both examples, time is in view, but “a thousand” is not the point or the focus. The focus is on the power and sovereignty of God, His eternal nature, and His perfect plan. That seems to be the focus and the point here in Revelation 20 as well. And just as with other numbers in Revelation, we should read this as symbolism.
So it’s a long period of time. Only God knows exactly how long it will be. This verse suggests that the length of time has been divinely set. And so in that sense, it is absolutely perfect and complete. Again, Satan is somehow bound during this time.
Some read this as a special time before the end when Christ will have a “millennial reign” something like the production of a “Christian world” before His return. But neither Jesus, nor Paul, or Peter spoke about such a time before the return of Jesus.
Rather, Jesus was clear that His kingdom is not of this world, and what they describe in the gospel age is much more simple. There will be time that contains both tribulation and gospel preaching to the nations, and at the conclusion of that time, the end will come. Jesus will return in glory. We live during that time.
Regarding the 1000 years, still others picture a period of tribulation followed by a millennial reign of Christ. These folks imagine that Christ will return but He won’t end world history yet. There are many problems with this view. Typically those people see God treating ethnic Israel and the Church differently.
But as we saw in Romans 9-11 before we began Revelation, the Church is Israel. The Israel of God is the Church, which includes both Jews and non-Jews. Israel is not people of one nation, but those who come to Christ from all nations.
And when you add that no one knows the hour or the day when Christ will return, and no one knows how long He will wait until He comes, you get the sense that the time frame here is not the point. These verses of chapter 20 are about what goes on during this time. And clearly, from verse 2, Satan is chained in some way.
Of course, we know also from Rev. 12 and from other NT passages and from our own life experience that in other ways, Satan is freed. Looking at chapters 12 and 20 together, clearly there are things Satan can do and things he cannot do. The message is that Satan is not able to do all that he wants to do.
William Hendriksen gives a good analogy about the binding of Satan. He writes, “A dog securely bound with a long and heavy chain can do great damage within the circle of his imprisonment. Outside that circle, however, the animal can do no damage and hurt no one…Satan’s power is curbed and his influence curtailed with respect to one definite sphere of activity.” What is that sphere?
Look with me at verse 3. John watches as the angel bound Satan for a thousand years, “and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer.” With the first coming of Christ, God’s people are not in one nation, but every nation. Not just one language, but every language.
Believers come from every tribe. Everywhere. People of all races and ethnicities and cultures are being gathered by Jesus. He’s bringing in all His elect. He’s showing grace to sinners worldwide in every generation. And for all the evil Satan can do – for all the wickedness he inspires – he cannot stop this!
He is bound. He’s stopped, he’s prevented. He cannot stop salvation or destroy the true Church. Jesus saves, and those He saves He can never lose. In John 10, Jesus tells His disciples, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Satan can do many things. But He cannot keep God’s people captive in sin and death.
God's people are set free. This is the way in which God has bound the enemy: so that the gospel may spread and the Church may grow. Satan is chained by God so that those who are born again – who trust Christ — may be unchained from sin.
If you are in Christ, Satan will throw whatever he can at you. And you may fall for his tricks. He may attack you physically or mentally. There will be spiritual attacks, emotional battles. But if you have Jesus, you are not a slave of Satan. He is bound, and you are unbound – unbound to love and obey God.
People in this world behave with all sorts of wickedness and selfishness in the name of “freedom.” But that’s not freedom. That is slavery. In Romans 6, Paul tells the churches,
“When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
No matter what you see happening in our country or the world, the true Church will never fail. There will be many who turn away, there will be many who reject Christ, but Christ and His gospel will always prevail.
Would your response to the circumstances of your life be different if you were confident in this? Not that all your problems would be fixed, but would you aim to love and obey God more?
Would you entrust more of your life to Him? Would you read His Word with more fervor?
Would you pray with more boldness?
Would you join God on His mission with more courage and commitment?
Would you adjust your decisions based on what God says in His moral law?
Fathers, would you lead your families differently?
Husbands and wives, would you treat one another differently?
And above all, would you rest more in Christ?
And would you enjoy the little victories over sin each day? If you believed that the power of God was so complete and the triumph of Jesus Christ was so sure and the grace of God was strong? I believe you would. I believe you would. And of course, you can. You can begin again today.
Now before we go to the Lord’s table, notice the last part of verse 3. Satan is bound “until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.” We learned about this in Revelation ch. 11. It describes a time just before the second coming of Christ – a period symbolized by three and half days. It’s a very short window of time when there is no more opportunity to be saved.
At that time, the true Church will have fulfilled her purpose and will appear defeated. God will let the world gloat for a moment. This is the “little while” that Satan is released. But like the false report of Mark Twain’s death, the report of the church’s death will be greatly exaggerated. Again, the true Church cannot be destroyed.
It’s a sobering thought, but let it be a warning. Today is the day to leave sin and cling to Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. If you want Christ, take Him today. Today, renew your commitment to Jesus Christ. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. He stands ready to receive sinners with great joy! God has bound the enemy so that today the Word of God could be presented to your ears and to your heart so that you may believe in Christ today and be set free!
You know, throughout history, as the gospel has gone out just like it has here this morning. Some servants of the Lord have been bound – jailed, locked up for preaching Christ. That’s what happened to the apostle Paul. But in a letter to his pastoral protege Timothy – a letter he wrote to encourage Timothy and the churches both then and today – he makes a fascinating statement. Sitting in a jail, Paul told the believers, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
Bow with me in prayer and then let’s meet Christ at His table together.
Recent
Revelation 20:11–15 - Brought Up Again
September 9th, 2024
Revelation 20:7-10 - Where Help Comes From
September 3rd, 2024
Revelation 20:4-6 - The Difference Between Life and Death
August 26th, 2024
Luke 18:9-14 – Only Justified Through Christ
August 19th, 2024
Revelation 20:1–3 - Unbound to Love and Obey God
August 13th, 2024
Archive
2024
January
February
April
May
June
July
August
Categories
no categories
No Comments