The Binding of Satan

Revelation 20:1-3 describes the defeat of Satan by Yahushua.

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended.

A chain is a symbol of restraining power. It stands for the real, sovereign, and restraining power of Yahushua. Up until the time of the cross, Satan was able to dominate the nations of the earth, but the death of Yahushua defeated him. He has no authority in heaven and can only work by deception. He still works, but his activity is limited. Yahuwah controls him and he cannot dominate the nations as he did previously. In the Old Testament, all the nations except Israel lived in darkness. Satan will never be able to exercise that kind of power again.

This is not a description of some future event. The Bible teaches very clearly that we do not have to wait for Satan to be bound in the future. He was defeated by Yahushua's victory on the cross. When Yahushua triumphed on the cross, he disarmed Satan and all his powers by making a public spectacle of them (Col 2:15). He had already done everything that needed to be done to secure Satan's downfall.

The impotence of Satan is demonstrated in Job 1,2. Before Satan could touch anything belonging to Job, he had to get permission from the Lord. He has no power over a righteous man, but the unrighteous are in his power. Because Job was one of the few righteous men in the Old Testament world, Satan could exercise considerable power. In this age, all Christians have been made righteous by the blood of Yahushua. Satan cannot touch them unless he gets permission from the Lord. He is an instrument that Yahuwah used to fulfill his purposes. Satan only has power over those who reject the salvation of Yahushua. Once the majority of people are converted, Satan's power will be gone. Yahushua has bound him.

The reason Satan still seems to be so active is that the church has failed to realize the full extent of what Christ has achieved. In binding Satan, Yahushua works through the church. He has placed the chain that binds Satan in the hands of his people. They must restrain Satan's power over the nations. Yahushua won a judicial victory on the cross. When a decision is made in a court of law, it does not become a fact until the police enforce it. The church has the police power to enforce Yahushua’s judicial victory. Satan will not be fully bound until the church forces him to recognize the sentence that was passed against him at the cross.

The church has the power to bind Satan but is not using the authority that has been given to it. Satan will not be bound in some future event. He will be bound when the church becomes aware of its already binding power and begins to exercise that authority in Yahushua's name. He said,

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matt 18:18).

Yahushua repeated this statement to show its importance (Matt 16:9). Satan is already bound. Yahushua is waiting for the church to tie him tight. The authority we inherit through sharing in the ascension will become a reality. Yahushua no longer works directly on the earth. He works through the Holy Spirit, moving in the lives of his people. It is the church that must bind Satan tight.

Satan is bound through the proclamation of the gospel. When the seventy disciples returned from their successful preaching mission, Yahushua said,

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, and to overcome all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:18,19).

As the church successfully proclaims the gospel of the cross, Satan and his angels lose their power over people's lives. The extension of the gospel's influence limits their sphere of activity. When all the world is won for Yahushua, there will be no place for Satan on the earth.

The church also binds Satan through spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-12). When Yahushua ascended on high, all authority was given to him. What many Christians do not realize is that they share that authority. The Bible teaches that,

Yahuwah raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Yahushua (Eph. 2:6).

Not only was Christ raised to a position of authority, but those who are in Christ have also been raised with him in the Spirit. They share in his authority. The church can use this spiritual power to bind Satan. He can only act when sinners give him authority to do so. If the church really understood its privileged place, Satan would be already bound. This is why the saints are pictured as sitting on thrones.

I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Yahushua and because of the word of Yahuwah. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years (Rev 20:4).

Those faithful to Yahushua have been given authority to reign on his behalf. They are the ones who bind Satan.

The crucial question is this: when was Satan bound? The Bible teaches that he was bound at the cross. One last example is Matthew 12:29. Yahushua taught that Satan is bound. He could cast out evil spirits because the strongman had already been bound.

How can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? … (Matthew 12:29)

The fact that the early church was able to continue this deliverance ministry is proof that Satan was bound at the cross. We must accept the verdict of the Bible. Yahushua does not have to return to bind Satan. He has already done everything necessary to restrain him. We have to do our part.

This is a non-WLC article. Source: https://www.kingwatch.co.nz/Times_Seasons/False_Teaching/binding_of

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