Week 9, Saturday: Satan Doomed
There is such a note of folly – a tragic/comedic note – to this brief passage (Rev. 20.7-10) that I hope we won’t miss it. Satan has been bound for “a thousand years.” Now he is released “for a little while” (v. 3).

Very little while, as it turns out.

Read Revelation 20

Meditate on Revelation 20.7-10
1.      Remember the description of those who experienced the wrath of God in Revelation 9.21. They are chips off the old block. Having watched the Lord Jesus “plunder” his house for “a thousand years” (Matt. 12.22-29), what does Satan do when the Lord’s relaxes His “leash” a little (Rev. 20.3, 7)? What do you suppose that will look like? Is anything like this happening already? How should we expect to see this intensified at the end of the “thousand years”?

2.      Satan is, as Jonathan Edwards once observed, the biggest blockhead of all time. What does his recalcitrance suggest about the power of sin, and what does that suggest to us about dallying in it?

3.      You may have noticed that nowhere in Revelation 19 or 20 is Armageddon mentioned. We have to go back to our overview of this facet, Revelation 16.16, to see that place mentioned (wherever it may be). How does this argue against a “chronological” reading of Revelation and for the cyclical/linear approach we have been pursuing?

4.      Here is yet more lunacy: The nations of the world gather as one to withstand the approach of the Rider on the white horse and His armies (cf. Rev. 19.19). Even when they see Him coming, every eye fixed on that glorious King and His innumerable host, they’re still saying to themselves, “Yeah, I think we can take Him.” Sin is really dangerous. Explain.

5.      The final rebellion is short-lived. As Luther insisted concerning the devil, “One little Word shall fell him.” What is the final disposition of the devil and his “offspring” (v. 10, cf. Rev. 19.20, 21)? Is there any end in sight to this situation?

My Reflection
We are amazed to see how blind and stupid the devil and sinful people can be. But what about you? Do you find any evidence of the blinding power of sin in your own soul? Meditate on Psalm 139.23, 24.

The Glory of God
In the background of events in time and history a spiritual struggle is engaged. God is in control of all aspects of reality, both material and spiritual, and He is working all things together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8.28). How can you see that in Revelation 20?

Glory to Glory
Sin is serious business. We cannot glorify God as priests and rulers if we insist on holding a place at the table of our souls for sin. How can believers help one another be more serious about resisting the devil and all his temptations to sin?

Memorize
Recite Revelation 20.6. As you meditate on this verse today, concentrate on areas of your life where you need to improve in blessing, holiness, worship, and judgment.

Closing Prayer
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139.23, 24

T. M. Moore

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The book of Revelation is the culminating episode in the story of God’s covenant. To learn more about that covenant, and to discover the way it integrates all of Scripture into the Gospel of Jesus Christ, order a copy of T. M.’s book, I Will Be Your God, by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.