Why is God going to release Satan after the 1000 years?

[Chad]

Revelation 20:7-10, “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

As we read these verses, we wonder, “Why will God release Satan at the end of the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ?” First, we must admit that there are some biblical questions which we cannot answer this side of glory because God has chosen to reserve some mysteries to Himself (Deuteronomy 29:29, Romans 11:33-36). Yet, as believers, even if we cannot always understand something about God's Word, His will, or His ways, we can be sure that He remains ever faithful, true, and trustworthy, and in light of that our job remains to obey what we do understand as quickly, fully, and well as we are able. Even if we might not be able to answer why God releases Satan, we can suggest some possible reasons and motivations, based on an understanding of the entirety of the Word of God.

At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming. It will be a time of peace unparalleled in history (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3). Jesus will be ruling on the throne of David, imposing a benevolent theocracy on all of His creation. Jesus will ensure that everyone has every need fulfilled, while not tolerating the sin so prevalent in today's society (Psalm 2:7-12; Revelation 2:26-29; 12:5; 19:11-16). We can only imagine such a time of “heaven on earth."

The believers who live through the Tribulation will be mortal. They will live and repopulate the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Without the devastation of sin taking its toll, we can imagine the population increase during the Millennium will be enormous, almost incomprehensible. All those who are born during the Millennium will enjoy the benefits and blessings of Christ's reign on the earth, but they will still be born with a sin nature, and they will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord.

Yet, at the end of the Millennial Reign, Satan is loosed and is able to deceive a vast multitude to follow him in one final rebellion against the Lord of glory and His saints! It seems that the further humanity gets from the end of the Tribulation and the start of the Millennium, the more they will "take for granted" how good they have it, and some may even harbor doubts about the goodness of God. Even though the number who rebel with Satan are said to be "as the sand of the sea" (Revelation 20:7), they may still be a minority compared to the number who do not rebel. It will still be a large number of souls who join Satan. Undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons God gives us this picture of what will happen in time is to demonstrate the deep-seated sin nature inherent in all of humanity (Jeremiah 17:9).

Additionally, God is trying to tell us something about His nature as displayed during the Millennium. His grace and goodness will be on display continually. But at the end of the 1000 years, He will have zero tolerance for rebellion. When it happens, He will show no mercy and offer no "second chances.” At that time He will be quick to judge, and the final rebellion of Satan and sinful man will be over in a flash of fire. After this, the final judgment of the dead takes place (the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20:11-15). Eternity can thus begin with every aspect of sin gone for all time.

Finally, God is trying to reinforce some very important lessons concerning Satan himself, especially for believers. First, that he has been and always will be the enemy of humanity. As God has fixed His love on us, Satan has for us a special hatred. Ever since Satan's fall (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28), he has been the adversary of believers, and he is aptly described as the ultimate deceiver of mankind (John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). All he can give or promise man is death and destruction (John 10:10a). Satan is also shown here to be a truly defeated foe, and his ultimate doom is certain, along with the doom of all who follow him. God is trying to remind us that Satan is a created being who is powerless before Him (2 Corinthians 12:7). All this should encourage believers today to take God at His Word concerning our position in Christ with respect to the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7; James 4:6-8; 1 John 2:15-29; 1 John 4:1-3), especially as we remember this grand truth: "...greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

article source Why is God going to release Satan after the 1000 years?

 

[pajaro]

Revelation 20:7-10, “When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

As we read these verses, we wonder, “Why will God release Satan at the end of the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ?” First, we must admit that there are some biblical questions which we cannot answer this side of glory because God has chosen to reserve some mysteries to Himself (Deuteronomy 29:29, Romans 11:33-36). Yet, as believers, even if we cannot always understand something about God's Word, His will, or His ways, we can be sure that He remains ever faithful, true, and trustworthy, and in light of that our job remains to obey what we do understand as quickly, fully, and well as we are able. Even if we might not be able to answer why God releases Satan, we can suggest some possible reasons and motivations, based on an understanding of the entirety of the Word of God.

At the beginning of the Millennium, only believers will be alive (Revelation 19:17-21), some who live through the Tribulation Period, and some who come back with the Lord at His second coming. It will be a time of peace unparalleled in history (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10; Micah 4:3). Jesus will be ruling on the throne of David, imposing a benevolent theocracy on all of His creation. Jesus will ensure that everyone has every need fulfilled, while not tolerating the sin so prevalent in today's society (Psalm 2:7-12; Revelation 2:26-29; 12:5; 19:11-16). We can only imagine such a time of “heaven on earth."

The believers who live through the Tribulation will be mortal. They will live and repopulate the earth during the Millennial Kingdom. Without the devastation of sin taking its toll, we can imagine the population increase during the Millennium will be enormous, almost incomprehensible. All those who are born during the Millennium will enjoy the benefits and blessings of Christ's reign on the earth, but they will still be born with a sin nature, and they will still have to freely repent and believe the Gospel, personally choosing Christ as Savior and Lord.

Yet, at the end of the Millennial Reign, Satan is loosed and is able to deceive a vast multitude to follow him in one final rebellion against the Lord of glory and His saints! It seems that the further humanity gets from the end of the Tribulation and the start of the Millennium, the more they will "take for granted" how good they have it, and some may even harbor doubts about the goodness of God. Even though the number who rebel with Satan are said to be "as the sand of the sea" (Revelation 20:7), they may still be a minority compared to the number who do not rebel. It will still be a large number of souls who join Satan. Undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons God gives us this picture of what will happen in time is to demonstrate the deep-seated sin nature inherent in all of humanity (Jeremiah 17:9).

Additionally, God is trying to tell us something about His nature as displayed during the Millennium. His grace and goodness will be on display continually. But at the end of the 1000 years, He will have zero tolerance for rebellion. When it happens, He will show no mercy and offer no "second chances.” At that time He will be quick to judge, and the final rebellion of Satan and sinful man will be over in a flash of fire. After this, the final judgment of the dead takes place (the Great White Throne Judgment, Revelation 20:11-15). Eternity can thus begin with every aspect of sin gone for all time.

Finally, God is trying to reinforce some very important lessons concerning Satan himself, especially for believers. First, that he has been and always will be the enemy of humanity. As God has fixed His love on us, Satan has for us a special hatred. Ever since Satan's fall (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28), he has been the adversary of believers, and he is aptly described as the ultimate deceiver of mankind (John 8:44; 1 John 2:22). All he can give or promise man is death and destruction (John 10:10a). Satan is also shown here to be a truly defeated foe, and his ultimate doom is certain, along with the doom of all who follow him. God is trying to remind us that Satan is a created being who is powerless before Him (2 Corinthians 12:7). All this should encourage believers today to take God at His Word concerning our position in Christ with respect to the devil (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7; James 4:6-8; 1 John 2:15-29; 1 John 4:1-3), especially as we remember this grand truth: "...greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

article source Why is God going to release Satan after the 1000 years?

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 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. (Rev 20:1-3)
Hi Chad,
The messenger (angel) that comes down from heaven is Jesus. He is the only one who is able to bind Satan, and this is talking about binding with respect to deception. This binding of Satan was accomplished by Jesus through the cross and this is what is being described - namely, the time of the cross and his resurrection, when Jesus binds Satan. The seal that is set upon Satan to stop him from deceiving the true believers is the Holy Spirit. The thousand years is the church age, but it is not a literal thousand years, but a number emphasizing the fullness of the time period of the church age. It is easy enough to see that the time period immediately after this is the time of great tribulation, when the Holy Spirit is withdrawn from the congregations, such that Satan can deceive the people there away from true belief in Jesus. You are probably very familiar with a scripture used throughout the church age: "Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Mat 18:18). This is showing that it is during the church age, not some fantastic other time period, when Satan is bound. Take very particular note to the fact that Rev. 20 is speaking about Satan being bound with respect to deception. In other words, the Holy Spirit gives the opposite of deception, namely, belief unto salvation.

 

[B-A-C]

Hmmm.. it seems some verses in the Bible are always controversial.

It seems that Jesus will rule the nations "with a rod of iron".
Rev 2:27; Rev 12:5; Rev 19:15; (possibly Psalms 2:8-9 is a prophecy about this).

When the New Jerusalem comes down... Rev 21:27; says nothing unclean, no one who practices an abomination or lying shall ever enter it.

In Rev 22:2; it talks about the leaves of the tree being for the healing of the nations.
Who are these nations being ruled over? Who are these people who need healing?
Rev 21:4; says there will be no more pain, suffering or death (the first things have passed away).
But it seems these "first things" will still be in effect for some people.

Rev 22:14; says some people have the right to enter the city.
Verse 15 says outside are the dogs, sorcerers, immoral people, murderers, idolators and liars.

I believe these are the people being ruled over with a rod of iron.
1 Cor 15:25; says Jesus must reign until he puts all His enemies under His feet. (after this he hands the keys of the kingdom back to the Father, ( 1 Cor 15:24; )
and He himself becomes under the authority of the Father) -- perhaps this is after the thousand year reign. ( 1 Cor 15:27-28; )

So who gets to rule and reign with Jesus?
Those who endure with Him and do not deny Him. - 2 Tim 2:12;
Men from every tongue and tribe and nation - Rev 5:10;
Those who took part in the first resurrection will reign with Him for 1,000 years. ( Rev 20:4; )

The passage in Rev 20:4-6; is controversial because it says those who were beheaded because they didn't take the mark of the beast
are the ones who will come to life and reign will Him. It goes on to say "the rest of the dead" do not come back to life until the end of the 1,000 year reign.
(this means if there is no rapture before this time, the saints who died will still be in the ground).

I also believe that we as people do not need Satan's influence to be evil. He can persuade people and tempt them yes. But our flesh is evil enough without him.
Even though Satan will be bound for 1,000 years (whether the pit is real or not, and whether it simply means he cannot deceive or not) However I believe it means
much more than that. Satan will not have any power of any kind during this time. He cannot make war upon the either the saints or the unbelievers during this
time. Yet there will still be immoral, idolators and liars outside the gates of the city during this time.

 

[B-A-C]

Just a side note note here:

Jesus is never called an angel anywhere in the Bible. In fact He is contrasted with angels in a few places.
( Heb 1:5-13; also see Heb 2:7-9; )
An angel can be a messenger.. but all messengers aren't angels.
Also there are different types of angels... seraphim, cherubim, and at least 2 arch angels (3 if you believe Satan was an arch angel).

 

[pajaro]

Just a side note note here:

Jesus is never called an angel anywhere in the Bible. In fact He is contrasted with angels in a few places.
( Heb 1:5-13; also see Heb 2:7-9; )
An angel can be a messenger.. but all messengers aren't angels.
Also there are different types of angels... seraphim, cherubim, and at least 2 arch angels (3 if you believe Satan was an arch angel).

Genesis 48:16 says: "The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;"
Christ is the one who redeems and God the one who blesses. Don't you think the angel here must be Christ, since the angel is the one who redeems. Nobody else redeems people but Christ. For example: " thou shalt redeem with a lamb" (Exodus 13:13), and "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2:14) Genesis 48:16 is an example of an angel (messenger) in the Bible which is Christ. There are many others places in the Bible where this is true, in my opinion. Sometimes the angels (messengers) appear to describe the believers. The example you quote from Heb 1:5-13 appears to be one of these cases: For example, notice in verse nine there, the angels appear to be described as Jesus' fellows: "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." A similar case seems to be in the Hebrews 2:7-9 situation you mention. This highlights Christ at the cross being made a little lower than his brethren, referred to in verse nine as 'every man': "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." In my opinion, this is not talking about mythical winged entities that people think of when the invoke popular notions of angels, but rather the believers, who are also, incidentally God's messengers, just as Christ is God's messenger. That is why believers are called ministers. The are spoken of using the parable language of being spirits, and flames of fire, which speak of the Holy Spirit given to them and the word of life and of judgment entrusted to them in the gospel.

 

[pajaro]

Hmmm.. it seems some verses in the Bible are always controversial.

So who gets to rule and reign with Jesus?

Those who took part in the first resurrection will reign with Him for 1,000 years. ( Rev 20:4; )

The passage in Rev 20:4-6; is controversial because it says those who were beheaded because they didn't take the mark of the beast
are the ones who will come to life and reign will Him. It goes on to say "the rest of the dead" do not come back to life until the end of the 1,000 year reign.
(this means if there is no rapture before this time, the saints who died will still be in the ground).

I also believe that we as people do not need Satan's influence to be evil. He can persuade people and tempt them yes. But our flesh is evil enough without him.
Even though Satan will be bound for 1,000 years (whether the pit is real or not, and whether it simply means he cannot deceive or not) However I believe it means
much more than that. Satan will not have any power of any kind during this time. He cannot make war upon the either the saints or the unbelievers during this
time. Yet there will still be immoral, idolators and liars outside the gates of the city during this time.

Thanks for your comments. Notice that it is those who take part in the first resurrection that reign with Christ for the 'thousand years'. What is the first resurrection? The first resurrection is the one that Christ had from the grave. During the church age, true believers are said to take part in this resurrection of Christ, because that is what gives them the ability to be born again. The fact that Christ first rose from the dead. He was the first. The church age persons are spoken of as having been beheaded because as the church age progresses, the true head of the church, Christ, is not worshipped correctly in the congregations any longer. Consequently, the Bible uses the terminology of true believers being beheaded. That means that those in the congregations do not recognize the true believers' gospel. Satan, instead, holds sway and the head, Christ, is removed, spiritually speaking. The rest of the dead are those who come out of the time period following the church age. They come to life (meaning they are born again) after the tribulation period has begun and they are not from the congregations of the church age.