Topical Studies
Satan, Binding of
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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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
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Matthew 4:8-9 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This and the other verses we have read clearly show that Satan is the ruler of this present evil world, but he retains that power only by God's express permission. God has assigned Satan 6,000 years in which to rule over mankind. When that time expires, Christ will forcibly intervene in world affairs and reestablish the government of God on earth. He will then rule the world for the next 1,000 years. Thus God's plan spans a period of one prophetic "week," since a day is as a thousand years with God, and a thousand years as a day (II Peter 3:8). God has said to Satan, in effect: "Six 'days' shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh 'day' is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work" (Exodus 20:9-10). The first six days of this prophetic week God has turned over to Satan, and given him free rein to influence and deceive. Satan's work is a labor of deception—of deceiving mankind—of turning God's truth upside down—causing honest, sincere people to accept a counterfeit for the genuine—deceiving people to sin. And how successfully he has worked at his occupation for nearly 6,000 years! We are now nearing the end of Satan's six millennial days of work. And the coming seventh millennial day shall be the Sabbath of the Lord God. That "day" will not belong to Satan. It belongs to God. In it, Satan shall not do any work. He will be chained, restrained, and thrown into the symbolic "bottomless pit" (Revelation 20:1-3). He will not be allowed to deceive anyone during the Millennium. When Christ returns to earth, He will seize rulership from the archdeceiver who has deceived and swayed humanity. Christ will then restrain the builder and ruler of this world's civilization and bind him for 1,000 years!
Staff
Is This the Only Day of Salvation?
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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
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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!
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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
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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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