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Satan, the loosing
of
"And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old,
who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over
him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until
the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be
released for a short time...When the thousand years are completed,
Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive
the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and
Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is
like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain
of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved
city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them" (Revelation
20:2-3,7-9)
The "loosing of Satan" in the book of Revelation is the
apocalyptic description of Satan's last stand against the Church
during the period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem at
AD 70. Having been soundly resisted and defeated during the Messianic
generation of the first century (John 12:31; Heb 2:14; 1 John 3:8;
Col 2:15; 2 Tim 1:10; 1 Pet 3:22; Matt 28:18; 12:28-29; 4:1-11;
Lk 10:18-19; Mk 16:17-18; Eph 1:20-23; Matt 16:18-19), the Devil
was permitted a last chance to annihilate the Church that Jesus
established as the eternal Nation, People, and Temple of God. The
book of Revelation gives two parallel depictions of Satan's last
stand against the Church, one in Revelation 20:2-3,7-9 and the other
in Revelation 12:9-17. The two passages are close parallels (the
key comparisons are emphasized in bold and numbered for the examination
which follows the table):
| Revelation 20:2-3,7-9 |
Revelation 12:9,11-17 |
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And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is
the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and
he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over
him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer,
until the thousand years were completed; (1)
after these things he must be released for a short time.
(2&3)
...When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released
from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations
(1) which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and
Magog, to gather them together for the war; (4) the
number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded
the camp of the saints (5) and the beloved city, and fire
came down from heaven and devoured them
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And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old
who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole
world; (1) They overcame him because of the blood of the
Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they
did not love their life even when faced with death. For this
reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them.
Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come
down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only
a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down
to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the
male child. (2,3&5)
But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman,
so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where
she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from
the presence of the serpent.
And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth
after the woman,(4&5) so that he might cause her to
be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped
the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the
river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the
dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war
with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of
God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (4&5)
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While these two passages use differing poetic imagery, they tell
the same story of Satan's short, last-days attempt to destroy the
Church. By comparing these two passages, we notice some striking
similarities:
Satan...
(1) deceives the nations (cf. 20:3,8,10 to 12:9)
(2) is granted a "short time" to do this work
(cf. 20:3 to 12:12,14)
(3) is not bound, but is loosed in his wrath (cf. 20:3,7
to 12:12)
(4) is making war (cf. 20:8 to 12:17)
(5) goes to destroy the Church (cf. 20:7,9 to 12:12-17)
These passages speak plainly of a single last-days struggle between
Satan's forces and the Church of Jesus Christ. While the poetic
imagery varies, the activities and timing of this struggle show
that the same event is in view.
Having demonstrated that these passages speak of the same last
days event, we note that the Revelation 12 passage has an undeniable
parallel with the exodus of the Jerusalem Church into the wilderness
as prophesied by Christ in Luke 21:20-22 and Matt 24:15-20. Note
the similarity of these two passages concerning some key exodus
of God's people:
| Matthew 24:15-20 |
Revelation 12:12-14 |
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Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which
was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the
holy place [Luke says: "when you shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, know that its desolation is near]
then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever
is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out
that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn
back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and
to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that
your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.
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...the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing
that he has only a short time. And when the dragon saw that
he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who
gave birth to the male child.
But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman,
so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where
she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from
the presence of the serpent.
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It is remarkable that both of these texts speak of a key exodus
to the wilderness by God's people in the last days. Scholars acknowledge
that the exodus of the Jerusalem Church foretold by Christ in Matthew
24:15-20 and Luke 21:20-22 was historically fulfilled around AD
66/67 when the armies of Cestius Gallus (and later Vespasian) surrounded
Jerusalem. This historic verification is usually traced to early
Christian writers Eusebius and Epiphanius who reported that the
Jerusalem Christians fled to the Decapolis city of Pella just prior
to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70. Eusebius
(AD 260-340), the famed Church historian, writes:
But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded
by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war,
to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called
Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from
Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole
land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment
of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages
against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation
of impious men...the general course of the whole war, as well as
its particular occurrences in detail, and how at last the abomination
of desolation, proclaimed by the prophets, stood in the very temple
of God so celebrated of old, the temple which was now awaiting its
total and final destruction by fire...[is] accurately described
in the history written by Josephus. (Eusebius: Ecc.History III:5)
Epiphanius (315-403) makes reference to the same exodus to Pella
by the Jewish remnant of Christ in Jerusalem and says there were
both orthodox and heretical Jewish Christians in the Pella and other
Decapolis areas centuries later. Epiphanius writes:
For when the city was about to be captured and sacked
by the Romans, all the disciples were warned beforehand by an angel
to remove from the city, doomed as it was to utter destruction.
On migrating from it they settled at Pella, the town already indicated,
across the Jordan. It is said to belong to Decapolis
Therefore, since Matthew 24:15-20 took place when the apostles
saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies (cf. Lk 21:20-22), and since
scholars and historians are in agreement that those passages were
fulfilled by the Jerusalem Church in AD 66/67, it is plain that
the endtimes loosing of Satan to try and extinguish the Church was
fulfilled in the first century at this time. Satan's last chance
to extinguish Christ's Church and prevent New Covenant salvation
from permanent, universal success took place during the tribulation
leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem at AD70.
Finally, no discussion on the last-days loosing of Satan to destroy
the Church would be complete without details on what that epic battle
entailed. Specifically, Satan's doomsday strategy against the Church
involved the spread of a massive deception (Rev 12:9; 20:3,8,10),
a deception known to most scholars as the last days "apostasy,"
or falling away (2 Thess 2:3, 9-12). Jesus foretold of this satanic
deception in Matthew 24:24, and specifically prophesied of "wolves
in sheeps clothing" that would arise among the Church of God
itself (Matt 7:15-23). When did this take place? The apostle Paul,
addressing the bishops of Ephesus prior to his captivity in Jerusalem,
confirms Christ's prophetic words, informing the bishops of imminent
fulfillment: "after my departing, grievous wolves shall enter
in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them" (Acts 20:29-30). The time had come. The leaders of the
Church were facing the epic last-days battle, the "loosing
of Satan." In the letter of Ephesians, Paul commands the elders
to prepare for the final war against the dark powers of hell: they
are to suit up in armor for battle in order that they might be able
to "resist in the Day of Evil" (Eph 6:11-17). This "day
of evil" would last a very short season (Rev 20:3/12:12). The
conflict against Satan was not going to be one of physical swords,
shields, and breastplates: it would be one of spiritual warfare,
requiring the whole "armor of God" that they might stand
and not fall into total apostasy (Eph 6:11-17; Matt 24:24; 2 Thess
2:3,9-12; Heb 6:6-11/10:38-39).
Perhaps one of the most remarkable and underappreciated truths
today with regards to the study of bible prophecy, is that the great
end times battle between the Church and Satan is historically documented
for us in our bibles: we find the historic record of its fulfillment
in the pages of New Testament scripture. While we noted above that
the disciples at Ephesus were "putting on holy armor" to withstand
Satan's last attempt to annihilate the Church at the "Day of
Evil" (Eph 6:13), it is evident that the letters of Jude, 2
Timothy, 1&2 Peter, Hebrews, Revelation, and the three epistles
of John were all written during that epic struggle. At the time
those letters were written, the Church was under a critical and
decisive attack, and the flocks of God were falling prey to Satan
in great numbers (Jude 1:1-25; 2 Tim 1:15; 4:10-11,16-17; 1 Jn 2:18-19/4:1-3;
2 Jn 1:7; 1 Peter 4:12-13, 5:8-9; Hebrews 6:6-11/10:38-39; 3 Jn
1:9-10; Rev 13:12). Had it been possible, even the very Elect could
have been deceived, and the cosmic mystery of God's eternal redemption
through Christ would have been extinguished. Even so, the faithful
Elect withstood the loosing of Satan by the blood of the Lamb and
the word of their testimony (Rev 12:11), and the Bride of Christ
did not fall to Satan's last days deception (Rev 20:8,10; Matt 16:18-19).
Having faithfully endured the time of testing and purification,
the Church, the Bride of Christ, was arrayed in white and inherited
dominion with Christ the Lord over all things in heaven and earth,
world without end (Eph 3:21; Rev 19:8; Matt 16:18-19; Rev 5:10;
Rev 11:15; Eph 3:9-11). This Church of the New Covenant, prophetically
described in St. John's vision as "the Bride" and "the
New Jerusalem" (Rev 21-22), rules and reigns with Christ forever
on his throne over the universe, all angels, principalities, and
governments being subject to the divine decree. And Satan himself,
the once-formidable enemy of God's people and former accuser of
the brethren, fell under the heels of the one holy apostolic Church.
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