January 31: MILLENNIAL INCARCERATION
…and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. Revelation 20:3
Satan’s thousand years of confinement will certainly provide time for him to contemplate what he has done. Many convicted criminals who have spent time behind bars will admit that the time of incarceration actually helped them to get a handle on their own rebelliousness. Testimonies of gratitude that they lived long enough to repent and begin a new walk with the Lord Jesus Christ have been “music” to the ears of many hearers.
The tendency for someone convicted of a crime to commit another crime following their release from prison is called recidivism. A recent study by the Pew Research Center showed that the rate of recidivism is around 43% in the United States. Many Bible readers will surely wonder, “Why, oh why, “must” Satan be released for a little while?” It is a logical question that any clear headed thinker would ask. The beginning of the answer is found in these verses: “I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done.” (Isaiah 46:9b-10a) Our God can see ahead of time that the recidivism rate for Satan is exactly 100%. In order for the watching universe to see and understand—beyond any and all shred of doubt—that Satan will never be willing to repent, a small space of time will be allowed at the end of the thousand years (more on this soon).
The entire earth will literally be a “hot mess” just after the saints are gathered to Jesus in the sky and earth’s inhabitants lay dead all over the world. It isn’t difficult to imagine what sort of angry conversations might occur between Satan and the former angels who followed him. They might say, “This is what you talked us out of heaven for?” Instead of being sorry for all that he has done and influenced others to do, he will just continue to pridefully provide deceptive reasoning, along with his usual intimidation tactics. It is likely he will turn the blame around to his demons for the entire situation. An apology would be out of the question. And repentance? Never!
Satan’s confinement to the earth will be supernaturally enforced by the goodness of God. The angel will set a seal on him that will be unbreakable. An interesting contrast: When Jesus’s body was laid in the tomb, they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard (Matthew 27:66). The difference between a man-made mark or seal and a mark or seal of divine power cannot really be compared, for they are not remotely the same. Notice in this verse that the man-made seal required the backing of Roman guards. Yet, even then, it was worthless against the goodness and purity of the Life Giver, Jesus, whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it (Acts 2:24). Ezekiel was shown Satan’s ignominious end:
“I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you … I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you … You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.” Ezekiel 28:17b,18b,19b