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Satan, Restraint of
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Leviticus 23:27-32  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) This world's churches misunderstand most aspects of God's holy days. Almost universally they have not kept these annual reminders of God's plan, and they thus do not know what God's plan is. The world has especially misunderstood the symbolism of the Day of Atonement. And no wonder! For this day more than any other holy day is hated by the great deceiver because it pictures his defeat. The 16th chapter of Leviticus details what God commanded the Levitical high priests to do on the Day of Atonement. These rituals, which are no longer performed, pictured the binding of Satan—the fifth step in God's plan to restore His government on earth and bring the knowledge of salvation to everyone. The purpose of the rituals God gave His Levitical priests was to remind the Israelites of their sins, that the penalty for sin was death, and that they would need a Savior to pay their penalty for them. The symbolism of the sacrificial laws was fulfilled by Christ's death in AD 31. Therefore sacrifices need not be offered today, nor can they be, because there is no functioning Levitical priesthood nor is anyone else authorized to perform those physical duties. Even though the rituals are no longer performed, we can still see their symbolic meanings. But we must first understand a few important details about God's Tabernacle and the Levitical priesthood. Once the Israelites had agreed to worship the LORD, Yahweh, the One who became Jesus Christ (Exodus 24:3), He then began to detail to them how He should be worshipped. The first instructions He gave were for His Tabernacle (Exodus 25-27 and 30). Aaron and his sons were divinely chosen as priests (chapter 28). God's priests were appointed, not elected. God was in charge. The Tabernacle included a courtyard enclosed by curtains. In the courtyard were an altar, a laver, and a central tent. The tent was divided into two sections by a veil. The section behind the veil was called the Most Holy Place or the Holiest of All (Hebrews 9:3). The front section of the tent was the "holy place" (Exodus 26:33). The Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle represented God's throne in heaven. The Ark of the Covenant, with the wings of the cherubim spread overhead, was in the Most Holy Place (Exodus 25:10-22; 26:33-34). Inside the Ark were the tables of stone on which God had written the Ten Commandments. The lid of the Ark, which was called the mercy seat, was where Yahweh—the One who later became Jesus Christ—manifested Himself. Only one person—the Levitical high priest—was ever allowed to enter the Most Holy Place. He was allowed to enter it only once each year—only on the Day of Atonement to perform a special ceremony depicting the binding of Satan. God thus emphasized how important this day is. This day is symbolically linked to man's access to God. The Day of Atonement: The World at One with God

Daniel 10:8-13  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) This awesome being of power, who was so great that men—ordinarily strong, valiant men—were so frightened that they ran, yet something withstood this great being to his face and kept him from getting to Daniel for three full weeks. We cannot even begin to imagine the titanic struggle that went on between, say, Gabriel and this other being. There must have been such an awesome wrestling match as men have never been witness to. Whatever it was that withheld Gabriel from getting to Daniel must have been awfully powerful. Notice too that this great struggle was going on without Daniel even being aware of it. Somehow a malignant demon tried to thwart Daniel's prayer from being answered. But it was answered because, in verse 13, "Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia." It was not until two of them ganged up on this other being—two great, mighty archangels to subdue the other. The logical conclusion would almost have to be that the king of Persia mentioned here was none other than Satan. This section in Daniel 10 really contains a great deal of encouragement. We can understand why the apostle Paul and the psalmist wrote that the angels are ministering spirits. They are ministering to the heirs of salvation. They are protecting us! They are standing between us and possible annihilation! We do not know how many times an angel has intervened to save our lives, to deflect the power of these malignant beings from us. It has happened repeatedly in some cases, not just in dramatic interventions, but where an intervention took place of which we were not even aware. John W. Ritenbaugh Satan (Part 1)

Acts 3:19-21  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Peter called the time when God's government will be restored—the time when Satan's part in sins will be put on his own head—the "times of restitution." What needs to be restored to earth? God's government and His way of life. It was once offered to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but they rejected it, deceived by the serpent. The world needs obedience to God—faith instead of skepticism—reliance on the superior wisdom and experience of the Creator instead of human wisdom. We must do away with reasonings, feelings, desires, and emotions based on the pulls of the flesh when it comes to obeying God (Romans 8:7). The first step for the establishment of a utopia on earth is the reinstitution of God's authority, with enforcement of God's law through a worldwide system of perfectly righteous kings, mayors, judges, etc. (Luke 19:17, 19; Revelation 5:10). At-one-ment will not be complete with merely putting Satan away. The greatest task will be yet remaining. People will still be hating one another. Man's mind, man's nature, must be refashioned—his character reshaped and remolded until it becomes "at one" with God. The Day of Atonement: The World at One with God

2 Peter 2:4  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) "Hell" comes from the Greek tataroo, and it means "a place of restraint." God did not spare the angels, but He cast them down to a place of restraint, a kind of prison. In Greek mythology, Tartarus was the lowest hell, the place where the Titans (who rebelled against Zeus) were restrained. It is described as being as far below Hades as heaven is high above the earth. As far as we can apply Greek mythology, we can understand that these angels were cast so far down as to be out of sight. Their place of restraint was so far down that one would think they would never be able to crawl out. God is trying to get across that the angels have been defeated—cast down from heaven to the earth, as Revelation 12 shows. The earth, then, is a place of restraint, a prison, for them. To add to the imagery, they are bound in "chains of darkness." This amplifies the thought that Peter is making: The demons are restrained. There is some disagreement among scholars whether Peter uses the word that is translated here as "chains" or whether he means "silo." Almost everyone understands what a silo is. To an American, it is a tall, cylindrical object in which grain is stored. To the Greek, a silo was an underground pit in which grain was stored. Nevertheless, whether it is a chain or a silo, it does not matter. God is trying to get across to us that the demons have been restrained. They are being restrained because they are facing judgment. Unfortunately for us, they are restrained in the place where we live! The earth is the silo, the storage bin. We are sharing this place with them. Worse, as they would see it, we are intruders in their space. They consider us invaders. John W. Ritenbaugh Satan (Part 1)

Revelation 12:7-9  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) The Devil will again go on the offensive against God with the same results: He is cast back down to earth. In his anger over his defeat, he will savagely persecute God's people and gather the armies of man to fight against Christ when He comes. He and his human agents will be soundly defeated, and Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Richard T. Ritenbaugh Basic Doctrines: Satan's Origin and Destiny

Revelation 20:1-2  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) The "bottomless pit" or abyss was pictured by the desert wilderness where the azazel goat was banished. Satan and his demons will be chained by an angel of God (who was symbolized by the man mentioned in Leviticus 16:21). He will be completely prevented from further leading mankind into sin. No longer will Satan be able to broadcast his evil attitudes. The Day of Atonement: The World at One with God

Revelation 20:1-10  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) All during the Millennium, Satan will be restrained, prevented from deceiving the nations ( verses 1-3). After the 1,000 years are over, Satan will be loosed out of his prison (verse 7). He will go out to deceive all the humans who are not then born into God's Kingdom (verses 8-9). This will prove, for anyone who might doubt, that Satan will not repent, even after he sees the wonderful results of 1,000 years of righteous rule. The humans who are so easily deceived into fighting Christ will also be proving that they were not paying attention to what they were being taught at the close of the 1,000 years. Satan and the demons will then be cast into the Lake of Fire. Some Bibles use italics to show that the word are in verse 10 was added by the translators. It is not found in the Greek manuscripts. The phrase should read, "where the beast and the false prophet were cast." The unwritten verb in the Greek should be understood to be in the same tense as the verb in the first half of the sentence. The Amplified Bible has it correct. The beast and false prophet will be cast into a Lake of Fire at the beginning of the Millennium (Revelation 19:20). These two mortal men will be killed and consumed by that fire, and by the time Satan is cast into that fire, the beast and false prophet will have been dead more than 1,000 years. In the Lake of Fire, Satan will be able to do nothing. God will have rendered him completely powerless—unable to deceive the rest of the dead, who will then be resurrected to have their opportunity to understand God's Master Plan. The Last Great Day: God's Master Plan Completed!

Revelation 20:1-3  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Like everybody else, Satan has only the power God created in him and the latitude to use it only as He permits and no more. The power given to him is meted out for what God wants him to accomplish for His purposes. Seeing all of the horrible things happening on earth, we may suppose that his power is unlimited, but it most assuredly is not. John W. Ritenbaugh Power Belongs to God (Part Two)

Revelation 20:7-10  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) After the thousand years of imprisonment, Satan will be released for a short while. During his parole, he will again unite some of the nations and take them to war against God's people. But this rebellion will be summarily ended when God sends fire out of heaven to destroy them. Because he is spirit and cannot die, the Devil will then be sentenced to eternal torment in the Lake of Fire. Finally, God and man will be rid of their chief enemy, and peace will flourish for all eternity! Richard T. Ritenbaugh Basic Doctrines: Satan's Origin and Destiny

Revelation 20:7-10  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) God will release Satan for a short time when the thousand years end. The people, familiar with Christ and His kings and priests, will have lived in unprecedented peace, happiness, and prosperity. They will have learned and lived God's way from birth. Surely, Satan could have no influence on them! Almost instantly, however, he will raise an army of people "as the sand of the sea" out of "the four corners of the earth"! His arguments will persuade them that they should and can destroy Christ and his throne in Jerusalem. God, however, will annihilate them all in a blinding flash of fire from heaven and cast the Devil into the Lake of Fire, never to be freed again! Staff Holy Days: Feast of Tabernacles

 

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