The Devil Pt 6: His End
Revelation 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. 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.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 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.
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 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.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Introduction
On the 5th of June 1967, all out war broke out between a tiny nation surrounded by enemies. If one could imagine a nation 1/10th of the size of Victoria against a combined allied force with a landmass the size of Western Australia; Israel had a population of less than 3 million people in 1967, Egypt alone had a population of 31 million people, with this in mind you can have an idea of the “David and Goliath” battle between the nation of Israel and that of Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
In the first days of the war reports were coming through that Egypt were making headway toward Jerusalem, both Syria and Jordan were excited to enter into the fray. Word quickly spread around the world that the Arab nations were doing well enough to worry that this tiny teenage nation was facing its end not long after it began from a near two thousand year absence, yet in truth the war was over in the first two hours, a war that would last but six days.
Israel pre-emptively attacked and grounded the entire Egyptian Air Force, the ground offensive in Gaza and the Sinai peninsula overran the Egyptian military. All this was more than enough to spare the Israeli military and airforce to deal with the threats of Jordan and Syria literally in a handful of days.
Even though the war was technically OVER, the enemy continued to trouble Israel as if there was still hope.
SO IT IS WITH SATAN.
Last week we looked at the last enemy that shall be destroyed, being death.
Death was defeated on the cross of Calvary, this is true, but another was ALSO defeated on the cross, that is, he who had the power of death, the Devil.
14 ….. that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; Hebrews 2:14b
Satan has already LOST the war, but just like the Arabs fighting Israel, he continues to plague the people of the world, as well as you and I, until he is finally cast into that lake of fire referenced in our passage in Revelation 20.
While today we are looking at HIS END, we must also acknowledge that he is already a defeated foe and awaits only the time of his doom.
Interestingly, just as we are seeing an increase of attacks against Israel today, so too we see The Devil also increase his efforts around the world to bring about the final SECULAR world system, before Christ establishes that kingdom that shall never be destroyed, but stand forever;
Daniel 2:44
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
The death, burial and RESURRECTION of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, proclaimed JUDGMENT upon Satan, and with that judgment comes an end, AND HE KNOWS IT.
FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS PLEASE!
Knowledge Of His End
The Devil knows he has an end, but we do not get much coming from his lips.
It is his minions; that third of the stars of heaven that fell with the devil at the beginning (Rev 12:4), these seem to readily confess they have a time promised them.
Turn to
Matthew 8:28–29
28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
The Bible confirms their fears.
Some devils, God has already set aside to be reserved until the judgement of that day. In other words, God seems to have imprisoned a horde of this demonic realm for their earlier mischief before the flood, to be temporarily released for a set time and for a set purpose.
Just as he has reserved the hail “against the time of trouble” (Jb 38:22), so has he reserved some of the Devils demons for the judgement of the great day.
Turn to Jude, (second last book of the Bible)
Jude 6
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
The “Great Day” that is spoken of here is the time of the outpouring of the wrath of God upon this world, these are “reserved in everlasting chains”, they are imprisoned since the time of the flood “unto the judgement of the great day”.
They are in the same “prison” Satan himself will be “bound” in for a thousand years in our passage in Revelation 20:2, and then noted “shall be loosed out of his prison” for a time in verse 7.
Then it says in verse 7 for the sake of context, (but lets read from verse 6 to make sure we don’t miss it);
Jude 6-7
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
This is where we obtain our understanding that the reference relates back to the mischief before the flood, where the angles, referred to as “the sons of God” in Genesis 6:2. “saw the daughters of men” and “took them wives all which they chose”.
That is, just “AS” the men of Sodom and Gomorrha, “in like manner” “fornicated” by going after “strange flesh”, so too these angels left their first estate and went after “strange flesh”. The “strange flesh” of Sodom were them whom God had NEVER CREATED MAN to know in such a manner, so too God had never created the angelic realm to ‘take wives” of “the daughters of men”.
Peter refers to the same thing in similar language but also gives the more specific timeline, go back to 2 Peter 2;
2 Peter 2:4–9
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
…. 9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
That time of judgement is the day of the outpouring of God’s wrath upon this world after which he shall cast the wicked and the devils into hell.
This is what the devils KNOW will come at the end.
But let’s play this out as we have entered into a fascinating aspect of what the Lord is teaching in his word.
FIRSTLY we see that devils are even this day being held in a prison, a bottomless pit“reserved” for a time.
This is CONTRASTED by the fact that even now, Satan and the balance of his devils still have access to both heaven and the earth as we see testified to in the book of Job, well after the flood.
BUT, a time is coming that both they who are in the pit shall be released onto the earth and Satan and his angels shall be expelled from heaven.
This is where the so called “wrath of Satan” is seen in the scriptures and NOT before.
And why is it so? Revelation 12 tells us specifically, it is because he knows he has “but a short time” and his focus of persecution is “the woman” that brought forth the child, that is, “Israel”..
Turn with me to Revelation 12.
As far as the timeline is concerned, this is in the midst of the tribulation and the vision is what is being seen as occurring in heaven and not on earth.
What is seen on Earth is described in chapters 9 to 11 and then picked up again in chapter 13.
Chapters 9 to 11 seem to correspond with the events in heaven seen in chapter 12 where John begins by saying, “and there appears a great wonder in heaven…” (Rev 12:1).
We take our text from v 7
Revelation 12:7–13
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
What is seen is a war in heaven between those who still retain access to heaven, but are removed, Satan being the principal of them.
They are as EXPELLED from heaven as Man was EXPELLED from the Garden long ago, and they now find themselves limited to the earth, and knowing their time is short.
Notice that the text states that the devil is fully aware of the time he has left “having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time”. As a result there is going to be a focus of his wrath upon the “inhabiters of the earth and of the sea” with a focus on persecuting “the woman” ie Israel, (Remember the book of Revelation is one of the NINE Epistles to the Jews, beginning with the letter to the Hebrews).
While there is trouble to them who “inhabit the earth”, there is rejoicing among them which “dwell in heaven”
12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
There is no immanency in the text, there is “time” allocated and the devil knows that his time is short.
The worst horror of all is set to come to the world at that time, because not only is Satan and the remainder of his angelic horde are cast out of heaven, but chapter 9 testifies to those whom both Peter and Jude referred to as being “reserved unit the Judgement of the great day” (Jd 6), these are released from the bottomless pit for this time.
Turn back to Rev 9
In Revelation 9 1-10 begins with an angel with the key to the bottomless pit and he opens the pit, and ‘there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace” (v2).
Those who arise out of the bottomless pit are described in appearance as locusts and charged to torment the wicked of the earth for 5 months (Rev 9:5).
This frightening scene sees men “seek death” but “shall not find it”, verse 6 goes on to say that they “… shall desire to die, and death shall feel from them”.
It is in verse 11 that we come to see an angelic King that has been in the bottomless pit since the time spoken of by Peter and Jude, come to the fore;
Revelation 9:11
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.
A timeline is given to us in chapter 11, for the two witnesses in Jerusalem, which had shut up the heaven that it rain not, having lasted 42 months so far (v2), ok, more specifically, “a thousand two hundred and threescore days” (v3) [ie 42 x 30 days].
Revelation 11:7–8
7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
All of this seems to be occurring on the Earth concurrently with the war which is being attended to in heaven as identified in Chapter 12.
Nevertheless, what we DO CERTAINLY SEE, is;
- the devils in the bottomless pit are released from their prison ONTO the earth, and
- Satan and his demonic horde are kicked out of heaven and ONTO the earth.
This is quite literally going to be “hell on earth” to those who inhabit the earth.
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
But the END is not yet.
Though the devil knows his end is coming, and though his demonic horde also know, the end is not yet.
His End
Revelation 20:7-15
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 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.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The “thousand years” refers to the literal millennial reign of Jesus Christ on Earth from the City of Jerusalem.
During that entire time frame, Satan himself is bound in that same bottomless pit so that he deceives no man and affects no man by his devices.
It will be during the time of the millennium, with Satan bound, that NO MAN ON EARTH can ever claim he was deceived by the devil.
The world will begin again by the Godly in Christ who survive the time of Gods wrath and they will have children born unto them.
What will not change is that each and every one of these children will be born as their parents were, with a sin nature. Each of them will still need to believe that Christ died for their sin and be born again.
What changes is that mankind will live in FULL AND COMPLETE PROSPERITY, with true and quick justice applied to evil, and more so, they shall live out a full life as it was before the flood.
Isaiah 65:20–22
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
The millennial reign of Messiah has long been known to the Jews, and this is that which will come at that time.
But; even though Christ sits on his throne and none can deny him, people will yet refuse the gospel for their salvation.
Jesus will rule and reign with a rod of iron, all rebellion will be dealt with quickly.
The governing law of God will be executed speedily…and the liberal, godless people of the world will have within them a long pent up hatred for the Lord, like a bottle ready to burst.
We see it described in Psalm 2, a passage that makes sense only for the time when Christ sits upon his throne in Zion (Jerusalem).
Psalm 2:1–3
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. …
Let’s fast forward.
Taking advantage of this pent up sin in man, Revelation 20:7-10 says
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 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.
Man, with no excuse to blame Satan for his hatred of God, is used by the recently released devil to gather and to battle, whom God shall simply burn up. and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Then verse 10 we see his end.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Here we see his end.
Did you notice that, even though a thousand years are expired, the beast and false prophet are referred to in the present tense as yet residing in the lake of fire?10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are.
So too will it be for all in hell.
Though hundreds and thousands of millenniums expire, all in hell will be referred to in the PRESENT TENSE.
It will be a perpetual residence that shall never release a single soul. This is not “Prison” this is not being held in “remand”, this is the final judgement and abode of all who die in their sin.
ARE YOU SAVED? HAVE YOU YET BELEIVED THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, that he died for your sins according to the scriptures, that he died and was buried according to the scriptures, that he rose again, defeating both the devil, death and hell that you may KNOW you can be saved?
Final Close and Summary
Let’s take another look at the Devil as spoken of in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 14:4–10
4 That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! 5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. 6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. 7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
The entirety of Hell, the place that is referred to as “never full” (Ps 27:20), is “moved” to “meet” him at his coming.
The very one for whom Hell was created is moved to receive him and the people who able their seem incredulous that Satan has become as weak as they;
Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
The famous passage that comes after this continues to describe Lucifer’s destiny this way, and inspire of all his vain ambition;
Isaiah 14:15–20
… 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Close and Summary.
Beloved, we are seeing in the world the manifestation of the devil and his ambition developing before our very eyes.
God has his timing and we are living in the nearness of that time. All that the Bible speaks of respecting these last of days is manifesting itself perfectly.
Man is in rebellion against God. The Church is in apostasy with the pride of many blaspheming the Lord through their behaviour. They will not endure sound doctrine and so gather only them who their itching ears will hear.
Children are dishonouring their parents.
Judgment is almost gone. All rights are almost perfectly ignored. Truth is almost fallen in the streets. Wars and rumours of wars abound. Division is rife the world over. Lies are told and deliberately so from both sides of the political spectrum. Children are rising up against their parents.
The accuser of the brethren is destroying pastors of Churches and vanity reigns among the brethren.
Absolute control of all resources and all information is nearing a state of readiness for the coming mark of the beast.
Food resources are being destroyed around the world, ultimate control readies itself for that New World Order long spoken of and long advanced.
But as the night is seen as darkest before the dawn, so we see the scriptures present the hope of Christ.
1 John 3:8
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
The Devil and his works were “DESTROYED” when the Son of God was raised from the dead. Yes, the mischief he creates remains thorns in our flesh, but he will be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of the Lord…
2 Thessalonians 2:8–10
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: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 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.
Hebrews 2:14 tells us
14 …. that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Satan is as defeated after the death and resurrection of Christ as the enemies of Israel were defeated in the first two hours of the six day war. It remains only that it be realised in due time.
Those of you who have trusted in Christ are as saved today as you were when you first believed, it remains only that your hope is realised in due time. You already have the victory, death has lost its sting, the grave is no longer victorious over your soul.
Those who are yet lost, you still have HOPE, but time is running out. You have no promise of a tomorrow which multitudes who die today have planned for.
The time of salvation is NOW.
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