Yep
Yep.
BUT... it also deserves saying that, as a created creature, any and all action of that bound creature can and does occur only at the behest and purpose of his Creator and Binder, God Almighty. Satan is not a free agent, and he never has been.
I think that is an inadequate view at best in potentially misrepresentative in it entirety. If the imagery of the fiery lake is to take within any degree of literal outcome then it should be recognized death is also tossed into the fiery lake and death is said to be destroyed, devoured, abolished and NOT merely lingering around in impotence (1 Cor. 15). If death is not dead then neither is anything else tossed into the fiery lake. If death isn't destroyed then neither is anything else, but if death is destroyed (as the Greek terms indicate) then so too is everything else tossed into the fiery lake - and that would include the adversary. He, therefore, is not merely prevented from "acting amongst men."
More to the point (because the op is about Revelation 20:4 and not Revelation 4:10-14) the binding mentioned at the beginning of the chapter may well be the exact same binding reported in Jude. That would mean a lot of extra-biblical eschatological doctrine is incorrect
. To assume the binding is another binding, a new and different binding isn't said in the Rev. 20 text. Neither is it supported by the Rev. 20 text. In fact, at the beginning of the Revelation text it is reported some of the revelation has already occurred. It is said to be things John has already seen. Jude reportsthe angels that didn't keep their proper abode were bound long ago and elsewhere we know Jesus came to undo the works of the devil and he accomplished that task, another post-Jude binding of satan. So there's nothing in Revelation to support the interpretation this is a third binding and plenty elsewhere in scripture to support the Rev. 20 binding as a past occurrence that preceded the first century.
I completely agree, but the fiery lake isn't a binding. It is the predetermined judgment reported in Jude.
Jude 1:6-7
And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Eternally. Sodom is gone. It no longer exists. The inhabitants of those cities face the last judgment, but that end is already decided, and that end is the fiery lake that is so deadly a second death that even death is destroyed. It is not a binding that leaves anyone lingering around bound and alive.
Oh, wait. There is no trial. Jude says the matter is decided. It's John 3:18 with no option for redemption. Salvation form sin is the sole privielge of humanity and NOT the angels who failed to keep their proper abode.
Sure it is. As I stated above, satan is a creature. He is not a god. He's not actually a "ruler" of anything. There is only one God and the One God is Creator and Ruler of
ALL. There are no exceptions. Jesus, His Son, is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. There is no other King and no place in all of creation where the Son of God who is God has not always been God, King, and Lord.
To say otherwise is very bad theology.
So when Paul writes about the ruler of the air or the god of this world that should always be read in the context of Creator and creature - and all creatures never being free agents who get to do their thing apart from the manifest sovereignty of their Creator. Satan is a minion. A bound minion.
Oh! I forgot to mention another binding. The wages of sin is death. Sin enslaves. The moment satan disobeyed God he became enslaved. He became dead, dead in sin. He is no more a free, autonomous agent than any other sinful sin-filled, sin enslaved, dead in sin creature. He bound himself in sin and then God bound him in eternal bonds of darkness for the day of judgment. And then he - all his works - were defeated at Calvary. Satan is not in charge of anythng. He never has been. He does not have any power or influence except that which his Creator has permitted and all of it serves the Creator's purpose and none other.
That applies to the temptation of Adam and Jesus, too.
I do not want to cause further digress, but if you subscribe to the doctrine of Impeccability, then it is not accurate to make a comparison between Adam's temptation and Jesus' (or anyone else's). It is always a false equivalence.
In summary: satan was bound long before the revelation of Revelation was given, and he was bound in multiple ways before that revelation. The text of Revelation explicitly reports some of Revelation is past and some of it is future so if that is all we had we might well read the Rev. 20 binding as a future event but since scripture elsewhere informs us of prior bindings and the Rev. 20 text does not state that binding is future, it is most consistent with whole scripture to read that binding as a past event, one that occurred with his enslavement to sin, his being bound in darkness, he being defeated at Calvary, and his being a finite creature who has never been autonomous but always served only the purpose of his Creator. That guy will suffer a final, "second" death that is so deadly even death dies and is destroyed. Chapter 20 covers the past through John's present to the future end.
Give it a re-read with that in mind and see if it makes sense to you.
