Satan to be Bound When Christ returns, Satan, as the deposed ruler over earth, will be removed. No leader could ever succeed a disqualified leader, and permit him to remain and co-rule with him. The disqualified leader would second-guess and undermine all that the new leader plans to change and implement. Since all human governments understand this, of course, God does also. He knows that Satan has to be removed from his position of influence. Notice: “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). This verse contains crucial understanding about God’s future plan for all mankind. Soon now, Satan will be bound (imprisoned) and rendered unable to deceive all the inhabitants of earth. The temptations of this world and human nature, caused by Satan, will disappear—though there will still be certain pulls of the flesh that all will have to overcome (Rom. 7:18, 21-23). When Satan is bound, peace will literally begin to break out all over the world. The saints will be ruling with Christ from Jerusalem—having restored the government of God in His kingdom, administered by the Family of God. God’s “holy, just, perfect and spiritual” Law (Rom. 7:12-14) will be enforced among all nations. (Read our booklet What Is the Kingdom of God?) In his booklet HUMAN NATURE Did God Create It?, Herbert W. Armstrong described the KINGDOM and GOVERNMENT of God in the following way: “They [the saints], with Christ, will compose the Kingdom of God…It is necessary, here, to explain the difference between the GOVERNMENT OF GOD and the KINGDOM OF GOD. The GOVERNMENT of God was established on earth IN PREHISTORY OVER THE ANGELS. “But the KINGDOM of God is BOTH the GOVERNMENT of God and the FAMILY of God. Those now being saved spiritually will, in the resurrection, INHERIT the Kingdom of God. They shall have been BORN of God—born into the divine FAMILY of God. They shall be married to Christ. Of this divine spiritual marriage will be begotten and born spiritually children of God all during the thousand years commencing with Christ’s return to earth as KING.” But Satan’s imprisonment will last 1,000 years, and then he will briefly reappear. Now read: “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog [a type of the masses of humanity], to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (Rev. 20:7-8). Understand! The world will have known complete peace for 1,000 years, having not been exposed to Satan’s broadcast. But his release brings the immediate return of human nature. Satan is an invisible spirit, meaning he can keep his presence unknown. Therefore, even with 1,000 years of continual prior warnings, many will ignore the danger from Satan’s broadcast and be overcome by it. Notice how his re-entrance “deceives the nations”—AGAIN! Revelation 20:9 describes these newly deceived millions attempting to come against Jerusalem (“the beloved city”) and all of the saints who are there. The violence, hostility, anger and hate of human nature shall have re-entered: “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Those who choose Satan’s way, whether knowingly or through a careless lack of vigilance, ultimately come to a terrible end.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 15:23:23 +0000
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