Prophecy - 110

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

The bottomless pit.

(Strong's)
abussos
ab'-us-sos
From G1 (as a negative particle) and a variation of G1037; depthless, that is, (specifically), (infernal) “abyss”: - deep, (bottomless) pit.
(Thayer's)
G12
abussos
1) bottomless
2) unbounded
3) the abyss
3a) the pit
3b) the immeasurable depth

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.


Once again we HAVE to realize that this is a book of PROPHECY. Books of prophecy are FILLED with symbolic accounts. We've seen beasts as symbols of empires, kingdoms. We've seen that horns are kings, and those of power. We've noted that waters is a symbol of many people, nations. I could go on and on but we've spent months now studying the books of Daniel and Revelation and I know you know exactly what I'm talking about. Symbolic prophetic language is used throughout these books of prophecy so that understanding when it is meant to be understood would take place. As a parable is told by our Savior and He was asked why He spoke in parables, we understand that He did so because … well let's read it.

Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
Mat 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Prophecy and parables have a lot in common because those whose hearts wax gross, and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes are kept close, these people do NOT want to really see, hear, or understand because they do NOT want to know God, they do not want to be healed by our Savior. People are to watch, people are to study, people are to keep the words of the prophecy and yet so many could care less about prophecies, most deeming them too hard to understand, others believing they are more literal than symbolic and they grow greatly confused. We NEED to understand, we NEED to hear, we NEED to see all of this and continue to study so we may understand and keep the word given to us.

Reading about the bottomless pit we have to ask ourselves is this suddenly a very literal pit? We know what pits look like. We can imagine pits- deep, dark, smoky, fire-filled pits. We've been given the image over and over again in portrayals of what a fictional hell is supposed to look like. Just as we have images of heaven- a very cloud filled fluffy white place with a throne and such.

Yet this bottomless pit we've read about is the place were Satan will live for a 1000 years while the saints are in heaven.

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

So while the saints are in heaven reigning with Christ for a thousand years, Satan is in this pit. Now, where are the people of earth during this time?

2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming

1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

We which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds-- only those who are Christ's will be left alive and there will be many more dead than alive. Remember- narrow is the way and few their be that find it. Remember- as it was in the days of Noah, the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Very few lived in comparison to the number of people that died. All the wicked will be destroyed. All the wicked will taste that first death without any exception. Not a single wicked person will be left alive when our Savior returns and takes His saints- dead saints newly risen and alive saints home with Him.

So the situation here is- Christ returns and his saints rise up into the air to meet Him, and they go to live with Him for a 1000 years. Meanwhile, all those who are not Christ's are killed. The prince of the world, Satan- a fallen angel- is bound for a 1000 years. Now, why would he need to be put into a bottomless pit if there is nothing left on earth to deceive? Seriously, think about it for a moment. Logic dictates that Satan and His angels were cast from heaven to earth and on earth there were humans to tempt and deceive, to steal from God. Now if there are NO longer any humans to deceive do you think Satan would want to remain on the earth He was cast out to? No. And so, Satan is bound isn't he, bound by circumstances. Before you think it crazy that the earth itself could be considered a wasteland, a bottomless pit, an abyss, remember this…

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.

The deep.

This word for deep in Greek is…

abussos
ab'-us-sos
From G1 (as a negative particle) and a variation of G1037; depthless, that is, (specifically), (infernal) “abyss”: - deep, (bottomless) pit.

The earth in the beginning was like a bottomless pit, a nothingness- a void, no form. God created it to be what we know the earth to be, it was NOT always like this.

The earth left destroyed will be in a state that is void of all human life, and with the plagues having destroyed so much, it truly will be a pit. I'm not saying that the greenery and such won't renew itself, it very well could and that also could be in God's plan, but the main point is that there is absolutely NO HUMAN LIFE left, NONE. We can't ever be naïve enough to imagine Satan as even remotely human. Satan is a fallen angelic being without any humanity in him whatsoever. He will live for a 1000 years chained to the nothingness the earth has begun, the nothingness of not a single human being left to toy with. Satan will be completely powerless and unable to leave earth. His angelic wings are effectively clipped and clipped permanently by the power that is from God. With all of God's people with Him in heaven it makes perfect sense for Satan to be left on the human-less earth in punishment made to abide their until the 1000 years if over.


More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior. All through HIS will now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen.