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20:1-3 Christ established His mediatorial Kingdom by His death, resurrection, and ascension to the heavenly Throne, and as the Second Adam rules over all creation until the end of the world, when He shall come again to judge the living and the dead; that He is conquering all nations by the Gospel, extending the fruits of His victory throughout the world, thereby fulfilling the dominion mandate originally given by God to Adam; that eventually, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:9); and that the Biblical promises of abundant blessing, in every area of life, will be poured out by God upon the whole world, in covenantal response to the faithfulness of His people. 10 The Binding of Satan (20:1-3) 1 And I saw an Angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the Abyss and a great chain in His hand. 2 And He laid hold of the Dragon, the Serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. 1 The importance of the imagery in this passage is heightened by its centrality as the fourth of seven visions introduced by the expression And I saw (kai eidon; cf. 19:11, 17, 19; 20:4, 11; 21:1). St. John sees an Angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the Abyss and a great chain in His hand. Again, as in 10:1 and 18:1 (cf. 12:7), this is the Lord Jesus Christ, who as Mediator is the Angel (Messenger) of the Covenant (Mal. 2:7; 3:1). His absolute control and authority over the Abyss are symbolized by the key and the great chain. The author sets up a striking contrast: Satan, the evil star that fell from heaven, was briefly given the key to the Abyss (9:1); but Christ descended from heaven, having as His lawful possession “the keys of death and of Hades” (1:18). 2-3 St. John brings together the various descriptions of the evil one that he has used throughout the prophecy: the Dragon (12:3-4, 7, 9,13, 16-17; 13:2, 4, 11; 16:13), the Serpent of old (9:19; 12:9, 14-15), the devil (2:10; 12:9, 12), Satan (2:9, 13, 24; 3:9; 12:9), the deceiver of the whole world (2:20; 12:9; 13:14; 18:23; 19:20). But the terrifying power of this enemy only serves to display the surpassing greatness of his Conqueror, who has so easily rendered him impotent: Jesus Christ, in His mission as the “Angel from heaven,” laid hold of the Dragon . . . and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the Abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him. As St. John declared in his first epistle, Christ “appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). In terms of this purpose, the Lord began “binding the strong man” during His earthly ministry; having successfully completed His mission, He is now plundering Satan’s house and carrying off his property: If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. (Matt. 12:28-29; cf. Luke 11:20-22) Herman Ridderbos comments on the significance of this statement, and goes on to provide an excellent summary of the Gospel accounts of Christ’s victory over the devil: “This passage [Matt. 12:28; Luke 11:20] is not an isolated one. The whole struggle of Jesus against the devils is determined by the antithesis between the kingdom of heaven and the rule of Satan, and time and again Jesus’ superior power over Satan and Satan’s dominion proves the break-through on the part of the kingdom of God. This is already proved at the start by the temptation in the wilderness. There can be no doubt that in it the issue is Jesus’ messianic kingship. Three times in succession it is Satan’s point of departure, referring back to the divine words about Jesus at his baptism (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; Matt. 4:3, 6; Luke 4:3, 9). Especially the temptation with respect to ‘all the kingdoms of the world’ (Matt. 4:8ff.; Luke 4:5ff.) shows what is at issue in the struggle between Jesus and Satan. Here Satan appears as ‘the prince of the world’ (cf. John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), who opposes God’s kingdom, and who knows that Jesus will dispute that power with him in the name of God. Here, then, together with the Messiahship, the kingdom of God is at issue. At the same time it appears that the victory over Satan to be gained by the kingdom of God is not only a matter of power, but first and foremost one of obedience on the part of the Messiah. The Messiah must not make an arbitrary use of the authority entrusted to him. He will have to acquire the power that Satan offers him only in the way ordained by God. That is why Jesus’ rejection of the temptation is already the beginning of his victory and of the coming of the kingdom, although this victory will have to be renewed again and again during his life on earth (cf. Luke 4:13; Matt. 16:23, and parallels; 26:38, and parallels; 27:40- 43, and parallels). From the beginning of his public 10. This is perhaps as good a place as any to comment on what is currently the most intellectually disrespectable “objection” to postmillennialism: the notion that the earth cannot experience a future period of great physical blessing because the world is “running out” of natural resources, becoming overpopulated, and/or dying of pollution (etc.) – popularized by heavily slanted and even deliberately deceptive “studies” such as Global 2000 and Limits to Growth. In the first place, this objection completely disregards the fact that, according to the Bible, both abundance and famine, productivity and pollution, come from the hand of Almighty God; that He can and does reward obedience with blessing, and disobedience with the curse (Deut. 8:1- 20; 28:1-68; Isa. 24:1-6). Secondly, the “running-out-of-resources” and “overpopulation” (etc., etc.) arguments are completely baseless in both hard data and sound economic theory. See Warren T. Brookes, The Economy in Mind (New York: Universe Books, 1982); Edith Efron, The Apocalyptics: Cancer and the Big Lie (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984); Herbert L. London, Why Are They Lying to Our Children? (New York: Stein and Day, 1984); Charles Maurice and Charles W. Smithson, The Doomsday Myth: 10,000 Years of Economic Crises (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1984); Julian L. Simon, The Ultimate Resource (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1981); Julian L. Simon and Herman Kahn, eds., The Resourceful Earth: A Response to “Global 2000” (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1984); William Tucker, Progress and Privilege: America in the Age of Environmentalism (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1982). The fact is that Christianity, by producing the science and technology of the West, has vastly increased the earth’s resources. 198
20:1-3 activity Jesus’ power over Satan had already asserted itself. This is not only proved by the casting out of devils in itself, but also by the manner in which those possessed by the devil behave in his presence (cf. Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; Mark 5:7; Matt. 8:29; Luke 8:28, 31). When Jesus approaches they raise a cry, obviously in fear. They show that they have a supernatural knowledge of his person and of the significance of his coming (cf. Mark 1:34; 3:11). They call him ‘the Holy One of God,’ ‘the Son of God,’ ‘Son of the most high God.’ By this they recognize his messianic dignity (cf. Luke 4:41). They consider his coming as their own destruction (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34); their torment (Matt. 8:29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28). They feel powerless and try only to lengthen their existence on earth (Matt. 8:29; Mark 5:10), and implore him not to send them into ‘the deep,’ that is to say, the place of their eternal woe (Luke 8:31, cf. Rev. 20:3ff.). All this shows that in Jesus’ person and coming the kingdom has become a present reality. For the exercise of God’s power over the devil and his rule has the coming of the kingdom for its foundation. “And finally we must refer in this context to Luke 10:18-19. Jesus has sent out the seventy (or seventytwo) who come back to him and joyfully tell him of the success of their mission. And then Jesus says: ‘I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.’ Thus he accepts the joy of those he had sent out and shows them the background of their power over the devils. The general meaning of this is clear: Satan himself has fallen with great force from his position of power. This is what Jesus had seen with his own eyes. Satan’s supporters cannot maintain themselves. . . . The thing that counts in this connection is that what is said here is essentially the same thing as in Matthew 12:28 and Luke 11:20, i.e., the great moment of the breaking down of Satan’s rule has come and at the same time that of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. The redemption is no longer future but has become present. In this struggle it is Jesus himself who has broken Satan’s power and who continues to do so. Such appears from what follows when he discusses the power of the disciples which they have received from him to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, so that, in the future also, nothing will be impossible to them. By this enemy Satan is again meant. Serpents and scorpions are mentioned here as his instruments (Ps. 91:13) by which he treacherously tries to ruin man. But any power Satan has at his disposal to bring death and destruction (cf., e.g., Heb. 2:14) has been subjected to the disciples. All this implies and confirms that the great moment of salvation, the fulfillment of the promise, the kingdom of heaven, has come.” 11 The whole message of the New Testament (cf. Eph. 4:8; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14) stresses that Satan was definitively defeated in the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. It is absolutely crucial to remember that in speaking of Christ’s “Ascension” – His Coming to the Throne of the Ancient of Days (Dan. 7:13-14) – we are speaking not only of His single act of ascending into the Cloud, but also of the direct and immediate consequences of that act: the outpouring of the Spirit on the Church in A.D. 30 (Luke 24:49-51; John 16:7; Acts 2:17-18, 33), and the outpouring of wrath upon Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 (Dan. 9:24-27; Acts 2:19-20). Pentecost and Holocaust were the Ascension applied. The final act in the drama of the definitive (as distinguished from the progressive and consummative) 12 binding of Satan was played out in the destruction of the Old Covenant system. This is why St. Paul, writing a few years before the event, could assure the Church that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Rom. 16:20). For all these reasons, it is generally suggested by both postmillennial and amillennial authors that the binding of Satan, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, refers to his inability to prevent the message of the Gospel from achieving success. And, as far as it goes, this interpretation certainly has Biblical warrant: Before the coming of Christ, Satan controlled the nations; 13 but now his death-grip has been shattered by the Gospel, as the good news of the Kingdom has spread throughout the world. The Lord Jesus sent the Apostle Paul to the Gentile nations “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18). Christ came “to rule over the Gentiles” (Rom. 15:12). That Satan has been bound does not mean that all his activity has ceased. The New Testament tells us specifically that the demons have been disarmed and bound (Col. 2:15; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6) – yet they are still active. It is just that their activity is restricted. And, as the Gospel progresses throughout the world, their activity will become even more limited. Satan is unable to prevent the victory of Christ’s Kingdom. We will overcome (1 John 4:4). “Let it be known to you therefore, that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen” (Acts 28:28). 11. Herman Ridderbos, The Coming of the Kingdom (St. Catherine, Ontario: Paideia Press, [1962] 1978), pp. 62ff. 12. Satan is bound progressively as Christ’s Kingdom grows throughout history, extending its influence to transform every aspect of life (Matt. 5:13-16; 13:31-33), and in the daily experience of Christians as we successfully resist the devil (James 4:7) and proclaim the Word of God (Rev. 12:11). Satan will be bound consummatively at the Last Day, when death itself is destroyed in the Resurrection (John 6:3940; 1 Cor. 15:22-26, 51-54). On the definitiveprogressive-final pattern in general, see David Chilton, Paradise Restored: A Biblical Theology of Dominion (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1985), pp. 24f., 42, 73, 136, 146ff., 206, 209, 223. 13. A good account of the pervasiveness of demonic activity and control throughout the ancient heathen world is contained in the first ten books of St. Augustine’s City of God, but the fact is obvious even in the writings of the pagans themselves. Virtually every page of Herodotus’ History or Virgil’s Aeneid bears eloquent and explicit testimony of the tyranny the “gods” exercised over every aspect of pagan life and thought. Yet it all came to a halt with the Resurrection of Christ: The gods suddenly stopped talking, as the pagan writer Plutarch observed in his work On Why Oracles Came to Fail, and as St. Athanasius constantly remarks in his classic treatise On the Incarnation of the Word of God. Cf. the wide-ranging discussion of the demise of the archaic worldview in Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlet’s Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time (Ipswich: Gambit, 1969), pp. 56-75, 275-87, 340-43. 199
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But when you see Jerusalem surround
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Copyright @ 1987 by Dominion Press
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FOREWORD Foreword Readers of the Bo
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE Publisher’s
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE case for esch
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE this book bec
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PUBLISHER’S PREFACE In contrast,
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INTRODUCTION St. Irenaeus is somewh
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INTRODUCTION we must be saved” (A
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INTRODUCTION previous relationship
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INTRODUCTION You have lain down as
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INTRODUCTION are only elaborating a
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INTRODUCTION early churches had suc
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INTRODUCTION actions mean more than
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INTRODUCTION Some will complain tha
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INTRODUCTION Outline of Revelation
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1:1-3 that must shortly take place.
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1:4-6 accomplishment. We probably h
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1:7-8 observe that a central aspect
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1:9 14 And His head and His hair we
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1:16 That all the peoples, nations,
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1:20 things that must shortly take
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INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO Part Two H
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INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO The confli
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2:4-6 endure evil men. . . . And yo
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2:9-10 dead, and has come to life:
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2:14-16 expression (none of which m
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2:18-23 and leads my servants astra
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2:26-29 end, to him I will give aut
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3:4-6 church, or even against a nat
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3:8-11 And I will clothe him with y
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3:14-16 sons disinherited and cast
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3:21-22 the elders of a church, and
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INTRODUCTION TO PART THREE The laws
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4:2-3 numerous names and descriptio
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4:5-8 superseded and transcended; t
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4:5-8 19) led Biblical writers to s
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5:1-4 family worship; it is radical
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5:5-7 St. John; and it seems as if
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5:8-10 have gained the victory for
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6:1-2 6 IN THE PATH OF THE WHITE HO
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6:3-4 forth conquering, and to conq
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6:9-10 And authority was given to h
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6:15-17 that Israel’s time has ru
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7:4-8 Though he flourishes among th
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7:4-8 they were listening to the Ap
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7:9 is presumably deliberate, for i
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7:10-14 inheriting the Kingdom (Mat
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7:15-17 They will not hunger or thi
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8:3-5 for that would be about the l
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8:6-7 rout the Midianites, in Judge
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8:12 13 And I looked, and I heard a
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9:13 The vegetation of the earth is
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9:20-21 lations advanced by some co
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9:20-21 men much more atheistical t
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10:2-4 beyond reasonable doubt that
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10:8-10 the Spirit at Pentecost was
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11:1-2 angelic priest measures the
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11:7 have the power to shut up the
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11:11-14 climax with the murder of
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11:16-18 month in the liturgical ye
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12:1-2 12 THE HOLY WAR The Book of
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12:1-2 birth to the Christ, to brin
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12:4 Daniel repeats the same idea i
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12:5-9 Chronologically, this explan
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12:12 And when we see the Lord warr
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12:17 for the action of Pharaoh, wh
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13:3-4 of the ten imperial province
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13:8-10 The Beast was given authori
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13:13-14 character and office (1 Co
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13:18 work throughout Revelation ar
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13:18 ✩ ✩✩ ✩★✩ ✩★
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14:1 14 THE KING ON MOUNT ZION St.
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Page 160 and 161: 15:8 We should be reminded in this
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Page 170 and 171: 17:1 17 THE FALSE BRIDE While some
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Page 186 and 187: 19:1-2 19 THE FEASTS OF THE KINGDOM
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Page 202 and 203: 20:4 The relationship between the p
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Page 212 and 213: 21:1 21 THE NEW JERUSALEM The Bible
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Page 218 and 219: 21:9-11 The New Jerusalem (21:9-27)
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Page 224 and 225: 22:3-4 Paradise is not, therefore,
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Page 230 and 231: CONCLUSION the pure Bride-City, is
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Page 234 and 235: APPENDIX A it is reflected in “It
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Page 240 and 241: APPENDIX A Babylon, falsely priestl
Page 242 and 243: APPENDIX A B. CHRISTIAN WORSHIP 1.
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APPENDIX C APPENDIX C Common Grace,
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APPENDIX C for all eternity because
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APPENDIX C better arrangement cultu
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APPENDIX C be destroyed. The two ex
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APPENDIX C universe. It is governed
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APPENDIX C completed, the world was
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APPENDIX C deceive the nations. The
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APPENDIX C creeds and theological u
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APPENDIX C coherence that at least
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APPENDIX C There is continuity in l
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Athanasius. On the Incarnation of t
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________. The Institutes of Biblica
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