January 30: TIME TO THINK
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. Revelation 20:1-2
During the rescue mission of the bride of Christ we are shown the end of the beast and the false prophet (19:20). Other places in Scripture fill in various details. As promised, He will come again to receive [His bride] unto Himself (John 14:3). When this happens, the feet of Jesus do not touch the earth. His bride will meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). John was also shown the death, spoken into reality by the Lord, of the followers of the Babylonian system, which leads to a feast for the birds (Revelation 19:21). In anticipation of this, we must remember the Lord’s promise from long ago: Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked (Psalm 91:8).
It is only natural to wonder what will happen to Satan himself. After all, he is the instigator of all the world’s evils, tragedies, diseases, and woes. The suffering that he has inflicted upon mankind is incalculable. John now sees an angel… from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. This key and this great chain are symbolic, representing the confinement of Lucifer (now Satan) and the angels who followed him (now demons) to the earth. Because of the empty and desolate state of the world after God’s people are gone (they will be in Heaven) and the deaths of the unregenerate wicked, the world is called the bottomless pit. Before the Creator made our earth, it was similarly referred to as without form and void (Genesis 1:2). The Greek word for both of these translated terms is abussos, often translated abyss in English.
You will recall that earlier, Satan was given the key to the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1) during the fifth trumpet judgment. The thinking that arose from the pit gave rise to Islam. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit (v.2b). The partial judgments that come upon the world display the effects of godlessness – for redemptive purposes. But God’s immense patience will very soon be stretched to its prophesied limit.
Yes, the archenemy and his team of fallen angels will have absolutely no one to tempt, harass, or inflict misery upon during the millennium. Bound for a thousand years to the desolate earth by a chain of circumstances, Satan will have nothing to do but observe the disastrous results of his ‘governmental style’. Undermining every precept of God in the minds of people was his goal; his fury toward those who refuse to bow down to his twisted ideas will continue to seethe.
In these last days we must be wisely wary of his array of tactics—some blatant and some subtle—to damage the witness of Christians, because he knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12). Gaining the victory over illusions, misconceptions, and false doctrines that Satan has thrust upon our world calls for patience in all of our human relationships—a patience that transcends cynicism and bitterness toward others. Every relationship that is not founded upon faithfulness to the Lord Jesus will be broken in the end. Our Lord never placed His trust in people, for He knew what was in man (John 2:25). Yet He was absolutely confident in what the grace of God can do in the heart of an individual. May we emulate the confidence of Jesus!