Killed by the brightness of Christ's return

REVELATION CHAPTER -- 20 --

VERSE 1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  2.   And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,  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.

(Excerpt taken from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911 Editions)

2.   The Key and Chain. - It cannot be supposed that the key and chain are literal; they are rather used merely as symbols of the power and authority with which this angel is clothed upon this occasion.

3. The Bottomless Pit. - The original word signifies an abyss, bottomless, deep, profound. Its use seems to be such as to show that the word denotes any place of darkness, desolation, and death.

Thus in Rev. 9:1, 2, it is applied to the barren wastes of the Arabian desert, and in Rom. 10:7, to the grave; but the passage which specially throws light upon the meaning of the word here is Gen. 1:2, where we read that "darkness was upon the face of the deep."

The word there rendered deep is the same word that is here rendered bottomless pit; so that passage might have been translated, "Darkness was upon the face of the abyss, or bottomless pit."

But we all know what is meant by the word deep as there used; it is applied to this earth in its chaotic state. Precisely this it must mean in this third verse of Revelation 20. At this time, let it be borne in mind, the earth is a vast charnel-house of desolation and death.

The voice of God has shaken it to its foundations; the islands and mountains have been moved out of their places; the great earthquake has leveled to the earth the mightiest 

p 736 -- works of man; the seven last plagues have left their all-desolating footprints over the earth; the burning glory attending the coming of the Son of man has borne its part in accomplishing the general desolation; the wicked have been given to the slaughter, and their putrefying flesh and bleaching bones lie unburied, ungathered, and unlamented from one end of the earth to the other end thereof.

Thus is the earth made empty and waste, and turned upside down. Isa. 24:1. Thus is it brought back again, partially at least, to its original state of confusion and chaos. (See Jer. 4:19-26, especially verse 23.)

Jer 4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Jer 4:20  Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

Jer 4:21  How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

Jer 4:22  For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

Jer 4:23  I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

Jer 4:24  I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.

Jer 4:25  I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

Jer 4:26  I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.

And what better term could be used to describe the earth thus rolling on in its course of darkness and desolation for a thousand years than that of the abyss, or bottomless pit? Here Satan will be confined during this time, amid the ruins which indirectly his own hands have wrought, unable to flee from his habitation of woe, or to repair in the least degree its hideous ruin. 

4. The Binding of Satan. -

We well know that Satan, in order to work, must have subjects upon whom to work. Without these, he can do nothing. But during the thousand years of his confinement to this earth, all the saints are in heaven, beyond the power of his temptations; and all the wicked are in their graves, beyond his power to deceive.

His sphere of action is circumscribed, he being at this time confined to this earth; and thus is he bound, being condemned throughout this period to a state of hopeless inactivity. This, to a mind that has been so busy as his has been for the past six thousand years in deceiving the world, must be a punishment of the most intense severity.

According to this exposition, the "binding" of Satan means simply the placing beyond his reach of the subjects upon whom he works, and his being "loosed" means their being brought again, by a resurrection, to a position where he can again exercise his power upon them. Over this exposition some assume to grow merry, telling us that we have mistaken the parties, and have the wicked bound, not the devil. Yet how often do we hear, in the daily transactions of life, such expressions as these:   My way was completely hedged up; my hands were

p 737 -- completely tied, etc. But do we understand, when persons use such expressions, that some insurmountable obstacle was literally thrown across the path they were traveling, or that their hands were literally confined with ropes or cords? - No; but simply that a combination of circumstances rendered it impossible for them to act.

Just so here; and why will not people grant to the Bible the same liberty of speech that they give, without question and without ridicule, to their fellow men in the common intercourse of life?

But more than this, there is here a great limitation of Satan's power, which may well be called a "binding." He no longer has the power of traversing space, and visiting other worlds; but like man he is confined to this earth, which he nevermore leaves. The place of the ruin he has wrought now becomes his gloomy prison-house, till he is led out to execution, at the end of the thousand years.

*******

Truth.

Satan will be bound to a desolate earth for a thousand years.  There will be NO one to deceive, no one at all. Truly we will be in heaven for a thousand years with our Savior, by HIS grace! And all the wicked will be dead. Remember this--

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:

2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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.

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

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.

This is truth!

We are given a choice.

We are ALL given an opportunity.

If we do NOT receive the love of the TRUTH so we can be saved, we will believe LIES and we will be damned!

People laugh, people scoff and you know what…

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts

Mat 24:37  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Mat 24:38  For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

Mat 24:39  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

People are going to ignore the truth because they only want lies soothing to their ears.  And everyone who wants the lies will be caught by surprise when the plagues start falling, when the world as they know it starts to disappear, and when our Savor returns- they like those in the days of Noah, will be perish.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

We must live for our SAVIOR who lives for US! He died for us! He wants us to belong to Him, to know Him and He know us!

Please, Savior, please know us!

Father in heaven, holy You are! We want Your kingdom to come! We want YOUR will to be done right now on earth just as it is in heaven! Please! Give us today all the sustenance we need- spiritually, physically, in all ways. Forgive us our many, many sins! Help us to forgive those sinning against us! Please Father, please don't lead us to despair because that is where temptation leads us, but DELIEVER US, SAVE US from ALL EVIL! Father, Yours IS the KINGDOM, Father, Yours IS the GLORY, Yours IS the POWER, Yours IS the HONOR forever and ever and ever!!!!!!!

Amen!