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The soteriological work of Christ by which He destroyed the work of the devil and bound him should be the object of rejoicing for any serious, Bible-believing Christian.
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1. I do not claim by this title that only Amillennialists view the Devil as bound. The soteriological work of Christ by which He destroyed the work of the devil and bound him should be the object of rejoicing for any serious, Bible-believing Christian. Instead, the word amillennial here is meant to highlight the symbolic interpretation I give to Revelation 20 as a whole and the binding of Satan in particular. As an amillennialist, I view Revelation 20's reference to a thousand-year millennium as a symbolic number rather than a literal thousand-year period (Hence, 'a'-millennialist, meaning "no millennium"), and the binding of Satan for those thousand years as a symbolic reference as well.
2. However, such a symbolic interpretation of the thousand years in Rev. 20 does NOT mean that I view Revelation 20 as empty of significance or deny the reality that the thousand years is intended to signify. The thousand years symbolize something of utmost importance for all Christians, namely, the present reign of King Yahushua over all His enemies. Perhaps then a better word than 'amillennialism' (which by the privative 'a' may imply to some that we don't believe anything about the millennium) would be what Jay Adams has called "realized millennialism," i.e., the view that we are in the millennium of Revelation 20 now and there is not a literal millennium to come before the Last Judgment - precisely because no such literal millennium is needed: Christ is already reigning with His saints and Satan is already bound!
This, then, is the good news. The present and future success of Christ's kingdom is now ensured. Why? Because Satan is a defeated foe, plundered by Christ and bound already, as Revelation 20:2 makes clear. But some would disagree with my conviction that Satan is already bound and the millennium has begun. I have in mind the premillennial dispensationalist who believes that only Christ's second coming will usher in the millennium of Revelation 20:1-9. In their view, Christ must return to earth again to bind Satan. Then the reign of Christ's kingdom on earth for a thousand years will begin, and then will the nations be 'undeceived' (Rev. 20:3). Until Christ's return, Satan is actively deceiving the nations, hindering the gospel and ravaging the church sufficiently to prevent the reign of King Yahushua from taking place on earth. But after Christ returns, He will reign with His saints from Jerusalem for a thousand years (Rev.20:4-9). Proponents of this view are, therefore, called premillennialists because they believe that Christ's Second Coming must take place before Satan is bound, the kingdom of Yahuwah is established, and the millennium is inaugurated.
The present and future success of Christ's kingdom is now ensured. Why? Because Satan is a defeated foe, plundered by Christ and bound already, as Revelation 20:2 makes clear.
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Now, many comments come to mind about this idea that only Christ's second coming will effectively bind Satan and bring the kingdom to earth. But I want us to think about how this premillennialist dispensationalist view renders the kingdom of Yahuwah on earth non-existent today. Adherents of this view say that the nations in Rev. 20:3 are so deceived and Satanically incapacitated as to make it impossible for the kingdom of Yahuwah to be established on earth at this time. For them, the kingdom is a future hope of which the church of today is not a part! In fact, according to these dispensationalists, the separation between the church of today and the future kingdom of the millennium is so complete that they divide the Bible into two books: the Book of the Kingdom and the Book of the church, with a different gospel for each of these ages: the gospel of free grace which the church is to preach today and the gospel of the kingdom which will be preached after Christ returns and the kingdom millennium begins.
But for now, the kingdom of Yahuwah and the good news of its arrival on earth is non-existent. Only after the Church is raptured up to heaven and Satan is bound in the bottomless pit will the Gentile world have an unfettered opportunity to know the full earthly reign of Christ in their lives. This will be the incredible conversion of the Gentile world, the "7th dispensation", the "kingdom dispensation," when Christ will take the kingdom covenanted to David and bring it to earth successfully for the first time. Only then will Old Testament prophecies of the kingdom's coming be fulfilled.
Pause and take that in. Here are people, in fact, many American Christians, who truly believe that Satan must be bound at some future return of Christ before the promises of the kingdom on earth can be fulfilled and before the gospel can indeed be effective in the conversion of the nations. Until then, the nations are so deceived that evidence of Christ's reign on earth will be meager as society goes from bad to worse. Such folk, like my dear grandmother, grimly concluding that the "end must be near," seek to escape from this world's problems by hoping that the rapture is about to happen. You see, there is no hope in this view for the nations to be undeceived now, for the gospel to have worldwide success, progress, and growth now.
But it gets worse: at least some dispensationalists think that Christ indeed did attempt to bring the kingdom of Yahuwah to earth at His first coming but could not establish it in the face of human disobedience and sin. According to premillennial dispensationalist Dave Hunt, quoted by Bruce Barron in his book Heaven on Earth, Yahuwah had a "thorough-going change of plans" after Yahushua could not overcome the antagonism of the Jews. According to Barron, Hunt claims, "Yahushua came to earth initially at the Incarnation to inaugurate the kingdom of Yahuwah but, when rejected by the Jews, narrowed his agenda and called forth the church instead." Barron shockingly then concludes, taking his cue from Dave Hunt: "Dispensationalists assume that human disobedience can cause Yahuwah to make considerable midcourse adjustments."
Now, apart from the weighty Theological problems that such an 'Open' view of Yahuwah invites, there is the narrow question as to whether Christ really did view His inauguration of the kingdom of Yahuwah as such a failure and whether He viewed the calling forth of the church as a parenthetical afterthought or 'plan b'? What was Yahushua’s view of His present kingly rule over the nations?
"All authority is given unto Me." Here, Christ claims the legal right, ability, and power to do as He pleases with the heavens and the earth.
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In answer to such questions, take Yahushua’s view of the present state of the kingdom when He speaks to His church in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20: "All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and makes disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Notice especially the breadth of authority upon which Christ bases His Great Commission in Matthew 28:18's claim, "All authority is given unto Me." Here, Christ claims the legal right, ability, and power to do as He pleases with the heavens and the earth. The authority is His to do what He wants. What, then, does He want to do in Matthew 28:19-20? He wants the nations to be discipled and "taught to observe all the things which He has commanded." Is He going to allow the Devil, then, to continue to deceive the nations and thereby hinder His desire for the discipling and incorporation of the nations into His church?
Moreover, Yahuwah the Father appears to be just as determined as His Son to see the reign of His kingdom and the binding of Satan realized on earth here and now. Consider, for example, Psalms 2:7 & 8, interpreted as describing Christ's resurrection victory in Acts 13:30-33. Christ was publicly declared to be the Son of Yahuwah by resurrection. What does Yahuwah the Father intend to do for the Son since He has risen from the dead, victorious over His enemies? The answer is found in Psalm 2:8: "Ask of Me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance."
When did the Son take His opportunity to make this request to rule over the nations? Indeed, at His ascension, forty days after resurrection. Remember what Christ says to the church as He prepares to ascend, echoing the language of authority and power in the Great Commission? "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8) After Pentecost, this promise of power for the church was fulfilled, when the Holy Spirit was poured out by Christ from His ascended glory in heaven (Acts 2:33).
How, then, did the Church interpret the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost? Did they view themselves as merely a parenthesis, in survival mode, waiting for the rapture, waiting for the real inbreaking of the kingdom of Yahuwah after Christ's second coming? Evidently not, for in Acts 4:24-29 the church quotes the same Psalm about Christ inheriting the nations, interprets their struggle in terms of that Psalm, and prays for boldness to witness to the men whom Christ has been given as His inheritance, whether they be found in "Jerusalem, Judea or the ends of the earth"! The early church did not agree with Dave Hunt's contention that Yahuwah had to change his plans and postpone His Davidic, Messianic promises of earthly rule until the millennium. They speak as if Yahuwah's words from David's lips in Psalm 2 are already being fulfilled in their midst!
How did the Church interpret the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost? Did they view themselves as merely a parenthesis, in survival mode, waiting for the rapture, waiting for the real inbreaking of the kingdom of Yahuwah after Christ's second coming?
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But I still hear the skeptical voice of concern. "What about the binding of Satan? Is he not a roaring lion looking for whom he may devour? Is not Satan's sway over the world, demonstrated by the rise of all sorts of evil in our midst, proof that Yahushua couldn't overcome the disobedience of the nation of Israel and the Satanic blindness of the nations and therefore inserted the church age as a stop-gap while kingdom plans were 'put on hold'? It still appears that Yahuwah had to change His plan from the initial, prophetic inauguration of the kingdom of David to merely gathering a few converts into a temporary institution called the church." (Moreover, to make this potential objection even more potent, we could add that many consider the binding of Satan in Rev. 20:2-3 as far different in its finality than any earlier defeat of Satan mentioned in Scripture because it says that Satan is "thrown into a bottomless pit.) "That," many premillennialists would say, "has not happened yet."
But do you realize that Yahushua Himself viewed Satan as definitively bound by the inbreaking of the kingdom of Yahuwah among men during his ministry? See how Yahushua reasons with his foes in Matthew 12:28-29: "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of Yahuwah, surely the kingdom of Yahuwah has come upon you. Or, how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man?"
Here, Christ is arguing that his power over the demonic world, far from being proof of his alliance with Satan, is proof of Satan's defeat. He is declaring that He has bound the strong man. Yes, to be sure, Christ acknowledges that Satan still has an organized kingdom, which "stands" according to Matthew 12:26. Nothing Yahushua says implies that Satan will henceforth be inactive in this world. But he is bound and defeated to the extent that he cannot stop the arrival or advance of the kingdom of Yahuwah. "The kingdom has come." The proof of this, Yahushua points out, is that Satan cannot stop the deliverance of those who had been previously under his domination.
So, yes, Yahushua acknowledges that the kingdom of Satan is still "standing." And we would agree with those who say there are components of the glorious victory of Christ over all his enemies that await the second coming. But I don't believe such a consummation includes the binding of Satan in Revelation 20:2-3.
So, yes, Yahushua, Paul, and Jude all acknowledged that there is a time when Christ's victory will be consummated, and Satan’s activity will finally cease. Satan himself will be thrown into the "lake of fire" (Rev. 20:10). But even now, he is bound and unable to stop the arrival and advance of the kingdom. That is the great Christian hope for every believer, whether postmillennial, amillennial, or classic premillennial.
Now, before summing up this lecture, let me give you two final words of application:
Precisely because Satan is bound and the kingdom has come, do not be afraid of laboring for the Gospel wherever Yahuwah places you.
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1. Precisely because Satan is bound and the kingdom has come, do not be afraid of laboring for the Gospel wherever Yahuwah places you. There is no place too desolate, wicked, hard, or difficult for the church to claim as its place in Yahushua’s name. Every square inch already belongs to King Yahushua.
2. Because Satan is bound, he is a more dangerous foe than before for those unaware of his stratagems. . . . He now resists as a wounded animal whose viciousness is more dangerous precisely because he knows he is dying! Such thoughts should temper any triumphalism in our hearts, make us diligent to be "aware of Satan's devices" (2 Cor. 2:11) and realistic about the effort needed to claim this world for Christ. The mopping up activity with which we are now charged as the victorious church is to be carried out in just the same costly way as the victory by Christ was won: through suffering, through the blood of the martyrs, through the church demonstrating her likeness to Christ by carrying her cross - these are the ways victory is accomplished. As Yahushua Himself said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. Remember the word that I have spoken to you. No servant is greater than His master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also" (John 16:18, 20).
To sum up, listen to these words from two Scots who have enjoyed fruitful but costly years of service in the kingdom: first, words regarding the costliness of this victory from my beloved Pastor in seminary, the late William Still: "As Christians who triumph in this world through Yahushua Christ, we are given intelligence from [Yahuwah] in respect of the world we live in through which, on the ground of Christ's victory given to us, we look to see that victory wrought out in our circumstances. This does not always mean we can take the enemy by the 'scruff of the neck' and cast him out. That was not how it was with [Yahushua]: He did so in the Temptation in the wilderness, but not on the Cross. He went through death and conquered by overcoming death. We also may have to die many deaths, but we will overcome them in the resurrections of survival and fruitfulness, which will ensue through faith that refuses to be defeated, even in death! "
Listen finally to Sinclair Ferguson, who sums up the victorious fruit of Christ's present inauguration of His kingdom and His present binding of Satan as follows:
1. The kingdom of [Yahuwah] is here now. Live in it (even if things never get any better).
2. The time to reach the nations is now because the deception of the nations is removed. Go to it.
3. Christ is worth dying for in this world. Therefore, live for Him.
Any eschatological view that doesn't adhere to these three main points is less than it should be. May Yahuwah give us the grace to live in Yahuwah's kingdom now, go to the nations with the Gospel now, and be willing to "die many deaths" to serve Christ with all our lives now.
This is a non-WLC article by Rev. Carl A. P. Durham.
We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team
