The Real Binding of Satan
Tom Pennington • Revelation 20:1-3
- 2024-01-21 am
- Sermons
- Revelation
It’s common, in charismatic circles, to speak of binding Satan under the guise of spiritual warfare – in fact, many in that world even address the devil in their prayers, saying something like, “I bind you, Satan, in the name of Jesus.” At the risk of unintentionally making fun – I don’t intend to do that – but a pastor friend of mine actually heard another pastor pray these words, “Lord, we pray against the forces of evil in this place today, and Satan, we bind you in the name of Jesus, we denounce your efforts to distract us by messing with the PowerPoint projector again, and we rebuke your presence here today; you are not welcome here.” There are so many things wrong with that, I don’t even know where to begin – but first of all, folks, address your prayers to God, never to the devil. Secondly, do we really believe that the most destructive thing that Satan has to do is mess up our PowerPoint? Well, maybe – no, no. And thirdly, when did Satan become like God and is omnipresent, can be in every congregation at all times? He’s a created being – He can only be in one place at a time; he does his work through humans and through his demons. There’s so much misunderstanding – scripture nowhere commands believers to speak to Satan, to rebuke him, or certainly not to pray to him, even under the pretext of binding him.
But today, in our study of Revelation, we come to a passage that addresses the real binding of Satan, and when it happens, it will be done by Jesus Christ. We read it together a moment ago in our scripture reading, Revelation 20:1-3, and in that passage, John teaches us that, at His second coming, Jesus Christ will give orders for Satan to be imprisoned for a thousand years. Now, how will that happen, and why? John, here in these verses, reveals three insights I want us to see this morning – three insights into Christ’s eventual defeat and imprisonment of Satan. So, let’s look at these insights together.
The first insight – in it, we see Christ’s angelic instrument designated and empowered. Christ’s angelic instrument designated and empowered – this is the message of verse 1. But first, notice how verse 1 begins – “Then I saw.” Revelation 20:1, “Then I saw” – that phrase occurs repeatedly throughout the Book of Revelation, but especially here in the closing chapters. I won’t have you look at them, but you can make note of it – chapter 19, verse 11, verse 17, verse 19; chapter 20, verse 1, verse 4, verse 12, and then again in chapter 21, verse 1. Again and again, we see this expression “And I saw” or “Then I saw” – that recurring expression strongly implies a chronological sequence of events that begins with the second coming in chapter 19, verse 11, and runs through event after event to the creation of the new heaven and the new earth in the eternal state in chapter 21, verse 1. And the binding of Satan in this paragraph fits into that chronology – it comes after the second coming and after the defeat of Antichrist at Armageddon. It also clearly fits the context, because at the end of the previous chapter, chapter 19, Christ returns, He defeats Antichrist, and Antichrist and the False Prophet were seized and thrown into the lake of fire. In chapter 20, as it begins, Christ now turns from the Beast to his master, and here the third member of this unholy trinity, Satan himself, is captured and imprisoned.
So, with that background, look at how verse 1[SR1] begins – “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven.” A single angel, unnamed, undesignated, comes down from heaven – the clear image there, what’s implied, is that this angel has been sent on this errand by God. Verse 1 continues, “he came holding the key of the abyss” – the key means that he has been given delegated authority to unlock and to lock the abyss. In addition, he has “a great chain in his hand” – in Mark 5, this word chain is coupled with another word which means to bind the feet; so probably we should think of this chain as kind of handcuffs. And it’s a “great chain” because of Satan’s greatness and because of his power. By the way, this is not a physical restraint, this is a spiritual restraint – it pictures the fact that this angel has been given power to arrest Satan. Don’t miss the big point here in verse 1 – the point here is that our Lord doesn’t need to personally come and defeat Satan; instead, He sends an angel. Why is that important? Because, sadly, I think a lot of Christians are unwitting dualists – they believe in dualism, where there are like these two almost equal forces that are fighting and battling over the universe. I think, unwittingly, a lot of Christians think Christ and Satan are like Marvel movie characters – they’re closely matched, and in the end, one just barely wins. Listen – Satan’s power is not merely less than Jesus’ power; Satan’s power, compared to that of Christ, is like that of a pop gun and a nuclear missile. Jesus is so powerful He doesn’t need to fight Satan personally; He merely speaks and delegates the arrest and imprisonment of His greatest adversary to an unnamed angel – go arrest him, put him in prison.
There’s a second insight here, and it reveals Christ’s demonic enemies defeated and imprisoned. Christ’s demonic enemies defeated and imprisoned – we see this in verse 2 and the first part of verse 3. Now, I use the plural demonic enemies because, while we’re talking about Satan, it’s also implied that we’re talking about those angels who follow him, the demons that are in lockstep with him. Now, in this passage, we see, first of all, Christ’s enemy identified and described. Identified and described – notice verse 2, “And the angel laid hold of the dragon.” Now, we immediately know who that is from our previous study of Revelation, because we met this dragon back in chapter 12, and there he is identified as the devil, as Satan, as he is again here. So, this angel laid hold of Satan – the Greek verb is used in Matthew 26 of Jesus’ arrest, and there it’s translated as take into custody, and that’s the meaning here. This angel has, as it were, a divine arrest warrant, and he goes with the authority of Jesus Himself to arrest Satan.
John again uses all four titles given to Satan back in Revelation 12 – first of all, these titles tell us he is the destroyer. Verse 2 calls him “the dragon” – he’s not a literal dragon, you know, those caricatures from the Middle Ages aren’t helpful; that’s how a lot of people think of him – but this doesn’t mean that he is a dragon; this describes his character. Satan is a ferocious, violent monster who loves to destroy everything he can possibly destroy. Jesus, in John 8:44, says the devil was “a murderer from the beginning.” That’s his nature – he loves to destroy, he’s a ferocious beast, a monster.
He’s also the deceiver, verse 2 goes on to say, “the serpent of old” – he's described that way back in chapter 12; Satan was the serpent that tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 11:3, “the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness” – Satan used a serpent in the garden as the tool through which he deceived Eve; this title stresses his clever deception. Again, Jesus talks about this in John 8; He says, speaking of Satan, he “does not stand in the truth” – listen to this – “because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of all lies.” He’s a deceiver.
He's also the accuser – verse 2 says, “who is the devil.” The Greek word is diabolos, which means slanderer or false accuser. Back in chapter 12, verse 10, John writes “the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God, day and night.” Think about that – Satan constantly slanders you before God, and Satan constantly seeks to slander God with you, and he slanders us to one another. He is an accuser, a slanderer.
He is also the adversary – verse 2 says, “and Satan.” This is his oldest name; it actually comes from a Hebrew word that’s almost identical, and the word in both Hebrew and Greek means adversary. He is the adversary of God, of Christ, and of His people. This is so tragic – think about it; the greatest being God ever created, probably at one point the prime minister of heaven, once perfectly holy, the “anointed cherub,”[SR2] Ezekiel 28 calls him – he is now simply the enemy.
Listen, folks – don’t forget that Satan is a real being. You know, we live in a culture that has largely dismissed that; even those who believe there is a God reject the idea of a personal being that is the devil. But, regardless of what most people believe, the Bible is crystal clear – there exists a spirit being of great power, incredible intelligence, and unthinkable evil who has set himself against God, and through his deceit and cunning, he led a revolt of one third of the angels who now follow him. He is the embodiment and ultimate source of all evil, and he is the destroyer, the deceiver, the accuser, and the adversary of Jesus Christ. He is, ultimately, the Antichrist – not the person in the Book of Revelation – but in his character, he is the Antichrist.
But, next, we see Christ’s enemy imprisoned. Christ’s enemy imprisoned, in the rest of verse 2 and the first part of verse 3 – John begins here by identifying the length of Satan’s imprisonment. Verse 2 says, “and this angel bound him for a thousand years.” This angel bound Satan for a thousand years – now, if you’ve studied at all, you know that many, even believers, many Bible teachers refuse to take these thousand years as literal. For example, here’s what one author writes, “The number does not represent a period of time at all, but merely means the devil will be completely restrained.” The next time we come to our study of Revelation, we’re going to come to verses 4-10 in this chapter and to that period of time called the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ, and I’ll explain then the different ways that this thousand years is interpreted, and I hope to present some compelling arguments for the pre-millennial interpretation of this passage. What do I mean by that? Pre, before – Jesus’ second coming will occur before the Millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, that’s pre-millennial. What that means is that Revelation 20, along with many other passages in both the Old and the New Testament, teaches that, at the second coming, Christ will establish a literal kingdom on this earth, renewed and restored, which will last for a thousand years.
For today, let’s just take what verse 2 says at face value – Satan will be bound for a thousand years. The question is, in what sense is Satan bound during this time? Well, those who take other positions of this, the a-millennialists and the post-millennialists, believe, for the most part, that this thousand years is actually describing the time we live in right now. They argue that Christ bound Satan during His earthly ministry, and especially at the cross, and the thousand years here in Revelation 20 is between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ – in other words, the thousand years described here is right now; you’re living in the thousand years during the church age. For them, the binding of Satan merely means that during this time of the church age, his influence is limited so he can’t prevent the missionary outreach of the church and its growth. They point to passages in which Satan is bound or cast out or falls during Jesus’ first coming as evidence of this – and they argue that Satan is currently chained, and then many of them will say tongue-in-cheek, but he’s on a long chain. I would add, a very long chain.
But what do they say about the clear chronology here? I mean, in our Bibles, the binding of Satan follows the second coming and Armageddon – what do you do with that? Well, those who take a different position argue that these verses, Revelation 20:1-6, is not describing a new event that fits between the second coming and the Great White Throne judgment, as it appears here in our text, but rather, this passage, they would say, repeats or recapitulates an earlier event, one recorded back in chapter 12, verses 7-11, when Michael wars with Satan and casts him out of heaven – they say this is just a sort of retelling of that story. It can’t be, it’s impossible for those passages to be describing the same event – think about it; we studied in chapter 12. In chapter 12, Satan is cast from heaven to the earth, where he proceeds to deceive – that’s chapter 12. In chapter 20, he is removed from the earth, sent to the abyss, where he can no longer deceive – those are two entirely different events.
In addition, scripture is clear that Satan is certainly not bound today, but rather, that he remains extremely active during the entire church age – there are so many passages that point this out, but just consider one with me. 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns the believers – he says, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” That doesn’t sound like Satan has been bound and locked in the abyss. In 2 Corinthians 11:14[SR3] , Paul says Satan today “disguises himself as an angel of light” in order to deceive believers. As we saw in 1 John 4:1-6, he perverts the true faith by promoting a different Jesus and a false gospel. He works to prevent the spread of the gospel – listen to what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:18; he writes, “We wanted to come to you – I, Paul, more than once – and yet Satan hindered us.” He prevents the comprehension of the gospel by those who hear it – in Matthew 13:19, it’s Satan who comes when a person has heard the truth of the gospel and snatches it from their hearts before it can really take root. He “blinds the minds of unbelievers” to the gospel, according to 2 Corinthians 4:4, and he even works to undermine the faith of true Christians – do you know Satan wants to destroy your faith, just as he did Peter’s faith in Luke 22? Clearly, Satan is not bound now – he will only be bound in the future. This thousand years is not now, overlapping with the church age; it rather comes in the future – can you imagine what that will be like? Imagine this world that is not only without the curse, but for a thousand years without Satan and without his deception – that’ll be the reality during the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ.
That’s the length of his imprisonment – but notice the place of Satan’s imprisonment, verse 3. This angel “threw him into the abyss” – the Greek word translated abyss, we’ve seen already, so I won’t take a lot of time to develop it; let me just remind you of what we learned. It refers to the temporary prison for the worst demons who are not allowed to roam the earth. It’s not permanent – demons and Satan will eventually be thrown into the lake of fire – instead, this is a holding cell, kind of the county jail before the prisoner is sent to the federal penitentiary. The abyss – it’s also translated the bottomless pit; it’s where some of the worst demons are incarcerated and not allowed to roam the earth by God. You can read about this, for example, in Jude, verse 6 – it speaks of “angels who did not keep their own domain but abandoned their proper abode, God has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” So, they’re in a temporary holding cell – and at the end, these worst of demons will be transferred directly into the lake of fire. But here in our text, in verse 3, this angel throws Satan into the abyss, into this bottomless pit that is a holding tank for demons. By the way, without exception, those who are imprisoned in the abyss have no access to the earth – that’s why, in Luke 8:31, the demons plead with Christ not to send them to the abyss, where they no longer have any power or influence here.
That’s where Satan is imprisoned for a thousand years – but verse 3 also goes on to describe the maximum security of Satan’s imprisonment. Notice the angel, once he had thrown him into the abyss, he “shut it and sealed it over him” – those words are intended to communicate a certain truth; you remember back in Daniel 6, the lions’ den is sealed to ensure that Daniel doesn’t escape. In Matthew 27, Jesus’ tomb is sealed to prevent anyone from breaking in and getting Jesus. You see, the elaborate measures that are described in this passage – a chain, imprisonment, and a seal – those all clearly imply that Satan will be completely prevented from having any influence here on the earth; he’s in the maximum-security prison for fallen angels, the abyss, or the bottomless pit. That’s where Satan will be incarcerated for a thousand years, away from all influence on this planet.
That brings us to a third insight in our text – it’s at the end of verse 3, and it’s Christ’s future plans, disclosed and implied. They’re not all clearly set forth here, but we get some hints of things we’re going to learn shortly. He begins by explaining the purpose of Jesus’ binding of Satan – why is He doing this, what is this about? Verse 3 says the angel was sent to bind Satan, throw him into the abyss, so that – here’s the purpose – Satan “would not deceive the nations any longer.” Satan is bound, in this case, not primarily to punish him, but to prevent him from continuing to deceive the nations, exactly what he’s been doing through all of human history and throughout the Book of Revelation, and specifically through the seven years of the Great Tribulation. We read about that, for example, his deceiving the nations in chapter 12, verse 9; chapter 16, verses 13-14; chapter 19, verse 20. By the way, the nations in this verse are the nations who emerge after Armageddon – and when we talk about the millennium, we’ll talk about how those nations come to be. But here’s the point I want you to see – with the binding of Satan in our text, Christ ends human history as it has been since Adam’s fall in the garden. In other words, clearly this event marks a huge transition – it ends the current age, the age that has been marked from beginning to end by Satan’s deception. And yet, this transition is not yet to the eternal state, but the text is clear that the binding of Satan marks the beginning of a separate thousand-year period. The age comes to an end, and now the binding of Satan initiates a separate thousand years.
That brings us, then, to the timetable of His earthly kingdom. The timetable of His earthly kingdom – verse 3 adds “until the thousand years were completed.” Satan will be bound for a period of a thousand years that overlaps, that is exactly the same time of Jesus’ reign. Jesus discloses here to John that there will be a thousand-year period separate from this current age – it begins with the second coming of Christ, and Antichrist defeated at Armageddon at the end of chapter 19, it will last for a thousand years as laid out here in our text; it will end with Satan being released. This thousand years is Jesus’ earthly kingdom – He will reign for a thousand years on this planet after He renews and restores it from its curse. That thousand-year reign of Christ is often called after the Latin expression, the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ, and we’ll study that in detail next time.
But notice last here, it says the future plans of Christ unfold – we see the transition to His eternal kingdom, the transition from that thousand-year earthly kingdom to His eternal kingdom. Verse 3 ends with these words, “after these things, he,” that is, Satan, “must be released for a short time.” After these things – after the thousand years of Satan’s imprisonment, the thousand years of Christ’s reign – he must be released; literally, the Greek text says it is necessary for him to be released. It’s God’s sovereign plan – why? Well, we aren’t explicitly told, and when we aren’t explicitly told, we can’t be dogmatic because Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “the secret things belong to the Lord, the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children.” But it is interesting – when you note that Satan’s release, after the thousand years, shows us and all of humanity two things – think about this. Satan’s release will show that after a thousand years of imprisonment, he will still be incurably wicked – and it also shows that after a thousand years of Christ’s perfect reign on a restored planet with no curse and no Satan and no deception, unredeemed people are also still incurably wicked, because they will rebel in the end against Jesus Christ – it justifies God’s eternal punishment of both. Notice “for a short time” – you’ll recognize the Greek words, literally in Greek a microchronos. A microchronos – a short time. After the thousand years without Satan’s influence are finished, Christ will release Satan for a short time – what happens then is described in verses 7-10 that we will examine together, but essentially, it is Satan and humanity’s final rebellion at the end of the thousand years. Then will come the Great White Throne of Judgment, the judgment of all unbelievers recorded in verses 11-15, and after that comes, in chapters 21-22, the eternal state, the new heavens and the new earth.
Now, folks, why does all of this matter? I want you to turn to one text with me that makes it all clear – go back to 1 John 3 and look at verse 8; here’s why it matters. “The one who is practicing sin,” that is, whose life is marked by an ongoing, unrepentant, increasing pattern of sin, “is of the devil” – in other words, such a person is not a true believer, but rather has Satan for his or her father. If you’re here this morning and your life is marked by ongoing, unrepentant sin, that’s who you are, that’s your character defined, then you don’t belong to God, your father is truly the devil – and the deeds of your father, Jesus says, you will do. “For the devil sinned from the beginning” – this is what marks Satan. You want to know what distinguishes Satan above everything else? Sin – it’s who he is, it’s what he does, it’s what he tries to get others to do. But notice he goes on – “The Son of God appeared for this purpose,” appeared in the incarnation, appeared in His first coming, “to destroy the works of the devil.” Listen, if you’re here this morning and you’ve never believed in Jesus Christ, you are enslaved to your sin, and the one who has helped to encourage that enslavement is your father, Satan himself. Your only hope of knowing your Creator is for your slavery to Satan to be destroyed, for your sin to be forgiven, and that only happens through the One who came to destroy the works of the devil – through His life, death and resurrection, He has destroyed sin and death, those are the works of the devil, and only those who follow Him experience that freedom. I plead with you this morning to repent and believe in Him. John Murray writes, “It is most significant that the work of Christ, which is so central in our Christian faith, is essentially a work of destruction that terminates upon the power and work of Satan – Christ came to destroy sin and death.”
Christian, I want you to think about this for a moment, I want you to put this in personal context – Satan was your former father – that’s what Jesus says, “you are of your father the devil.”[SR4] Satan was your former father, and your former father, your former spiritual father, he hated you – in fact, he wanted to destroy you; that is his nature. He kept you enslaved to sin, he lied to you, he played bait-and-switch by offering you something wonderful and then giving you something that was destructive. That’s what he wanted, and he wanted you to be in hell forever with him – that’s his heart, he is a liar and a murderer and a destroyer; that’s your former father, Christian. But our new Master, Jesus Christ, defeated our former master at the cross, and in salvation He has freed us from his power – that’s already a reality, and one day, Jesus will send His angel to take Satan into custody, He will bind him, throw him into the maximum-security prison for fallen angels, He will shut it and seal him there for a thousand years – and at the end of that thousand years, He will temporarily release him only to let everyone show their true colors, and then He will throw him forever into the lake of fire. Do you understand that at the heart of your salvation is the reality that Jesus Christ came to destroy the works of the devil in your life, that is sin and death? In the Lord’s Table, we celebrate our Lord’s defeat of Satan and his enslaving power at the cross – that’s when He accomplished it, and He will fully carry it out in the future. As the men come to serve us, take a moment, thank the Lord for His grace in your life, confess your sin so that you can take of the Lord’s Table in a way that honors Him.
O God, we thank You that through the life and death and resurrection of Your Son, You have destroyed the power of Satan in our lives, the power of sin and death. Thank You that You have transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Your beloved Son. Thank You that we have a new Master, a gracious, loving King, rather than a cruel, vicious, destructive master. And Lord, thank You that You accomplished all of that ultimately at the cross – and one day, the results of what happened at the cross will be made final and complete. Father, as we come now to remember what our Lord did at the cross, we come first and foremost confessing our sins – Lord, You have forgiven us in the courtroom of Your justice; the gavel has come down, You have declared us forever righteous because of Your Son. But, Father, as we sin as your children, we come to You not as our judge but as our Father, asking Your forgiveness – You’ve been so good, so gracious, You’ve done so much, and yet we still sin against You, we still sully the family name. Father, forgive us, cleanse us – we ask for Your forgiveness for the attitudes and thoughts that cross through our minds. Forgive us for complaining, for worrying, for lusting – Lord, forgive us for our pride, forgive us for our selfishness. Father, we pray that You would forgive us for words spoken that don’t honor You – Lord, forgive us for striking out at others with words intended to hurt them, forgive us for gossip and for lying, Lord, forgive us for using our tongues in any way but to build up and to cause others to be built up. Father, forgive us for our sinful actions, those things that we have done that we know are against Your law. Lord, help us to take these sins seriously – not only may You forgive us, but Lord, give us a renewed resolve to turn from these sins so that we truly manifest repentance. Father, thank You for the forgiveness You give us – and now, receive our worship; thank You that we can remember our Lord in this ordinance He gave us. Receive our worship as we bring it with clean hands and pure hearts, having confessed our sins from our souls.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.