Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

How will it all end?

That’s usually what you’re asking when you start studying eschatology, and we are finally getting there today.

The Bible promises that Christ must reign until all His enemies are put under His feet (1 Cor 15:25).

And we all know the last enemy to be destroyed is death when Christ returns and raises us with new, imperishable bodies like His own spiritual body.

But what about the enemy before that enemy?

The last enemy before the last enemy will be Satan himself.

And like every other enemy, Christ will crush him under His feet.

Here’s the BIG IDEA I want you walking away with from Revelation 20:7-10.

One day, Christ will cast the Devil into Hell and deliver the Church from Satan’s rage once and for all.

Revelation 20:7-10 describes what will take place right before the end.

Right before Christ returns and judges the nations.

This passage tells us about the last days of human history.

Now saying that, it is not as detailed as we might like.

This passage does not tell us everything or how everything will happen.

But it does tell us what we need to do.

Christ wins.

He crushed the head of the serpent on the cross, and one day He will crush His head once and for all.

Satan, our great adversary who tempted Adam and Eve and broke this world.

Who rages against the people of God is doomed for destruction.

So as we look at Satan being unbound to deceive the nations once again, I don’t want you to see this passage as a defeat.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

These verses are Satan’s death throes.

The victory of Christ and the salvation of His people is never, not for even one moment, in doubt.

Christ will take that Great Dragon and throw Him into the Lake of Fire forever and ever and ever.

So let’s start with the beginning of the end.

Point number 1...

I. Satan Will Be Released to Deceive the Nations

Revelation 20:7-8 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.

This will be a dark day.

John is picking up what he started back in Revelation 20:1-3.

Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

After that he must be released for a little while.

Who is Satan?

John uses four different names for Satan that describe just who he is.

He calls him the Dragon.

In Revelation the Dragon is the beast over all other beasts.

Biblically a beast is a Political ruler or government that rages against Christ and persecutes the people of God.

So by calling him the Dragon, John says that Satan is the one behind all earthly persecution who makes war on Christ by making war on His body the church.

He’s been thrown down from heaven.

He can’t touch Christ, so He goes for the next best thing: Christ’s Bride.

Then John calls him that Ancient Serpent.

This takes us back to the Garden of Eden where Satan tempted Adam and Eve to sin saying, “You will not surely die!

You will be like gods knowing good and evil.

You don’t have to listen to God and live for His glory.

You can live for yourselves.

Live for whatever you think is right for you.

You don’t have to worship the Creator.”

He twists God’s Word, sows false teaching, and lies to lead people away from Christ to follow the lusts and sinful desires of their heart.

But even here, there is a ring of hope because God promised that the Ancient Serpent was also the one who would have his head crushed by Jesus Christ.

Third, he is the Devil.

διάβολος.

Literally the blasphemer, accuser or slanderer.

The Devil blasphemes God and accuses the children of God night and day of sin paid for by the blood of Christ.

Finally, He is Satan.

Satan is a Hebrew word that means Adversary; both of God and and His people.

Now by saying Adversary, that doesn’t mean he is equal with God.

As if good and evil are fighting back and forth on a level playing field.

Satan is a creature.

An angel.

Someone created by God to worship Him, but he rebelled.

And in his rebellion he led a third of God’s holy angels to fall from heaven.

Revelation 12:3-4 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

This is why the Bible says Satan is the prince of demons and the god of this world.

Not that he rules the earth today.

Christ said He is the One with all power and authority in heaven and on earth.

Heaven is His throne and earth is His footstool.

No, Satan is the ruler of everything that is contrary to God.

He is the god of sin and prince of tempters doing all that he can to wage war against God.

That’s why he’s called the great red dragon.

Red in Revelation is a symbol for war and bloodshed, and that’s who Satan is; he’s the Adversary.

So make no mistake, his war is a futile war.

God has given him over to delusion to accomplish His sovereign will and glorify Christ’s name.

Satan cannot, and will not win.

He is a creature infinitely below the Creator, and the armies of heaven outnumber his 2 to 1.

Now that doesn’t mean, he’s not stronger than us.

Psalm 8 says angels are higher than us (Ps.

8:5).

But Christ who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4) because Jesus has bound the strong man.

Bound the Strong Man

Revelation 20:1-2 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

The thousand years is nothing more than the Kingdom of Christ.

And I’ve argued from Scripture, that the thousand years is not a literal thousand years but stands for the full and complete duration of Christ’s Kingdom on the earth, and that the first half of Revelation 20, this thousand years, is talking about the present church age.

John calls it the First Resurrection where the saints come to life and reign with Christ for a thousand years.

This is a spiritual resurrection because Ephesians 2 says that we were dead in our trespasses and sins but God being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him (that’s our resurrection) and seated us with him in the heavenly places (that’s reigning with Christ because Christ is seated on the throne).

And this thousand years began with the binding of Satan.

That’s what kicked it all off.

That’s the start point.

And Jesus says that happened in His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection.

Matthew 12:28-29 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?

Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Jesus’ entire ministry was binding the Strong Man.

And on the cross, He crushed the head of the serpent, and threw him into the bottomless pit, the abyss.

The place of darkness and judgment and sealed it over him.

This is apocalyptic language describing how Satan was judged and sealed for judgment by the death and resurrection of Christ.

And if you look what Jesus says in Matthew 12, he gives us a definition for what the binding of Satan means.

And this is helpful for getting us over the speed bump that keeps people from believing that Satan is bound today even though Jesus used the same exact Greek word in Matthew 12 as John does in Revelation 20.

The binding of Satan does not mean that he is powerless or that he is not at work in the world today.