Do you believe the devil has been set free now and is testing all mankind all over the world as spoken of in Rev. 20?
Looking at the state of things, it would be hard to argue that he is not.
No.
If the tradition that Satan is the former Lucifer then Satan was stripped of his glory and cast out of heaven long ago. Jude explicitly and unequivocally states the angels who did not keep their proper abode (which would apply to Satan) have been held in eternal bonds of darkness awaiting their day of judgment.
Jude 1:6
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...
Most importantly, in the gospels Jesus states he saw it happen and his preaching about not being able to enter the "strong man" without first binding him applies to Satan just as much as it does to any other temporal example. Satan has been defeated. He never had any substantive power to begin with but one of the reasons Jesus came to earth was to undo the work of the devil. Now ALL power and authority has been given to him (and he, in turn has bestowed that privilege on his apostles and, by extension, his Church).
Satan and the other angels had been bound long before Jude wrote that, long before John wrote Revelation. The book of Revelation also states the revelation to John was revealed because the things that were described were going to happen quickly
because the time was near. Modern futurists don't like when that is pointed out, especially the Dispensationalists. Dispensationalists don't like it because one of the preeminent principles in the Dispensationalist hermeneutic is to
read scripture literally, and this is one of the places where that does not happen. If Revelation 1:3 is read exactly as written then "near" means near, not 2000 years from now. Just as important is verse 1:19.
Revelation 1:19
Therefore, write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.
- Things you've seen,
- Things that are,
- Things that take place after these things.
Some of what is contained in Revelation were events or conditions John had already seen. They were in John's past. Some of the things described in Revelation were events and conditions existing
at that time when John received his vision. A portion of Revelation was in John's future. and what was in John's future was previously stated to be
near. This is what the text of Revelation actually, explicitly, specifically states. I've not added any eschatological interpretation to it.
So if we keep in mind some of Revelation is a description of events or conditions in John's past, and some of it is about things that were going on at the time John wrote what was revealed to him in mind as we read the book we'll recognize what remained/remains to happen prophetically. Isaiah, the gospels, and Jude tell us Revelation 20 had already happened been bound prior to Revelation (it does not matter whether one subscribes to an early-date or late-date for Revelation). Not only had he been bound but he'd been bound many ways, not just one. Revelation 20 specifies the binding. Satan is bound from hindering the gospel.
So, turn to Ephesians 6. In Ephesians 6 we find the "armor of God" passage and in that passage, we find the armor includes the gospel and the ability to extinguish all the enemy's fiery schemes. He cannot hinder the gospel anymore if and when we act like we're supposed to act.
One last point (in case this is not already known). What I have described is a partial-preterist pov. When scripture is read as written, with scripture the first and foremost tool in understanding other scripture, preterism is the necessary position. Words like "
near" or "
at hand" (Gk. =
en gys) mean exactly what they state, and when the New Testament is examined, that word never means anything other than near. It never means two or more millennia later. Preterism gets criticized as a bias but that is always a false accusation. Preterism is NOT an approach taken when reading the Bible. This is very important because the true preterist does not assume anything about the text other than it means what it states when exegeted correctly. It's the Dispensationalist (for example) who approaches the Bible with a pre-existing metric for reading scripture. A division between Israel and the Church, along with two completely different divine plans is
assumed beforehand. A literalistic (not literal) reading of scripture is
assumed beforehand. Preterists do not assume beforehand much of prophecy is already fulfilled (as is often the accusation). We do not assume it, we conclude it. When Peter, for example, states Joel's prophecy is fulfilled at Pentecost we believe what is written exactly as written. We do not re-interpret it to fit our eschatology. Similarly, when Paul writes the
ends of the ages had fallen upon the first century Christians and Peter states Jesus was revealed in the last times, we read that exactly as written and believe it exactly as written.
Technically, every Christian is partial-preterist to some degree simply because Christians believe the messianic prophesies of the Old Testament are all fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is
the Messiah, and there will not be any other. He is it. ALL those prophecies are fulfilled by Jesus. Therefore, do not think the idea some, many, or most prophecies have been fulfilled is odd. If we're honest about it we're all partial prets messianically. Partial-prets tend to be postmillennial. Amillennialists and some Idealists are partially preterist to lesser degrees than postmils. Historic Premils are less preterist. It's the Dispensationalist and other modern futurisms that have a disdain for preterism. Full-prets believe
everything prophetic has all already happened. They are a very small minority (and I'm not one of them).
The point being, the answer to the question I was just asked is, "
No, I do not believe Satan has been set free and the reason I do not hold that belief is because scripture tells us that guy's overall binding is eternal, not for a specified limited period of time." I, therefore, do not read Revelation's mention of "
1000 years" literally. Doing so runs into too many conflicts with other scriptures (some of which I have referenced above). Jesus is King and Lord always and everywhere, not just for 1000 years. I am not a fan of measuring scripture by history but the fact is the rate of conversions to Christ have plateaued over the last century (look it up) but people are still coming to Christ by the millions. The gospel has not been stopped. Personally, I believe the chief obstacle to the gospel is Dispensationalism. There is another forum member who attributes the problem to Roman Catholicism. Together, our point would be that there are those within the Church that pose the greatest problem, not Satan.
He's been defeated.
