The following was sent to my email from Jim.
The Binding of Satan
The first three verses of Revelation 20 describes an event that surely sends a thrill through every Christian’s heart; the binding of Satan. The text says, 1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
My Strong conviction is that Jesus bound the devil when he came the first time. Many find it extremely difficult to accept this idea, mainly because they hear the words ”binding of Satan” and formulate their own idea of what this must mean before they examine the Biblical data. If Satan is bound, they think, then there should not be any sin or even temptation on the earth. But sin obviously was not eliminated by Christ’s first coming and is still abundant on the earth today. Would one not have to be blind to think that Satan is bound in times like these?
The key to understanding the binding of Satan is to pay close attention to what the Bible actually says about it, not only in Rev 20:1-3 but elsewhere in the NT as well. Regarding the latter we begin with the way Scripture describes the purpose of Christ’s first coming. Among other things, it is specifically taught that Jesus came to deal with the devil. 1 John 3:8 says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” Among Satan’s works are falsehood and death (John 8:44; Heb 2:14), but Jesus came “to testify to the truth” (John 18:37; see John 8:31-47). He has already “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10).
Jesus came not only to destroy Satan’s works but to “destroy” Satan himself. Hebrews 2:14 clearly states that Jesus came the first time “so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil” The word rendered “destroy” by the NIV (katargeo) does not necessarily mean “to annihilate, to abolish completely.” Obviously Jesus did not do this to Satan at his first coming. But the word also can mean “to set aside, to make ineffective, to nullify, to render powerless.” This is the better understanding here, as in the NASB: Christ come to “render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil.”
Either way this is very strong language. John says Jesus came specifically to destroy the devil’s works; Hebrews says he came to render the devil powerless. We must ask, if this is why Jesus came, did he actually accomplish these things or did he fail? Surely it would be blasphemous to say the latter. Therefore we conclude that Jesus destroyed Satan’s works and rendered him powerless from “the binding of Satan” in Rev 20:1-3). If anything, the language of 1 John and Hebrews is even stronger than that of Revelation 20.
What about the expression, “the binding of Satan”? Does this specific language appear elsewhere in Scripture” The answer is yes. In Matt 12:29 (and Mark 3:27) it is used to describe what Jesus was doing during his first advent. Throughout Jesus earthly ministry he was already limiting Satan’s power, especially through his many victorious encounters with demonic spirits who had taken over people’s bodies. By casting out demons Jesus was demonstrating his power over Satan’s kingdom; he was winding the chains around the devil’s neck.
Jesus made this very claim in connection with an exorcism recorded in Matt 12:22-30 (see Mark 3:22-27; Luke 11:14-23). Here Jesus explains that in casting out demons he is not working with Satan but against him. He uses the illustration of a strong man who is holding people captive in his house, and a stronger man who attacks and overpowers the captor and sets the captives free (Luke 11:21-22). As he explains in Matt 12:29, “or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry of his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.” By casting out demons Jesus was already in the process of binding the devil (the “strong man”) during his earthly ministry.
Jesus also gave his disciples the authority to cast our demons (Matt 10:1). In Luke 10:1-20 he sent out 70 evangelists with similar authority. When they returned, they joyfully reported, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (Luke 10:17). Jesus replied, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18). Satan’s “fall from heaven” here is not his prehistoric, initial sin; it refers to the defeat he was experiencing through Christ’s power at the hands of the disciples at that very time.
This is the same event described symbolically in Rev 12:7-9, "And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him."
Again this is not Satan’s initial sin, but his defeat at the hands of the Messiah at the latter’s first coming (Rev 12:1-6).The death blow against Satan was struck in the death and resurrection of Jesus (see Gen 3:15; John 12:31-33; Col 2:15). On the eve of his crucifixion Jesus announced his imminent mortal combat with the devil (John 14:30). Through his own death he rendered Satan powerless (Heb 2:14), and through his resurrection the victory was complete. The risen victor declares, “I am the first and the last, the living One, and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades “ (Rev 1:17-18). The keys here are the same as ”the key of the abyss” in Rev 20:1. A key is symbolic of power and authority. Through his death and resurrection Jesus gained power over the abyss – realm of death, Satan’s proper domain; and with that power he both locks Satan himself in the abyss and rescues those who have been held captive there (Heb 2:15). Revelation 20:1-3 thus symbolically represents Christ’s present control over Satan and his works, and the consequent limitation of his power.
Some will still be skeptical that “the binding of Satan” has been a reality since Christ’s first coming. Again this is because they have created their own idea of what this should entail, i.e., the earth should be a perfect place, free from sin and filled with righteousness, peace, and prosperity. But this is not how things have been. So how can this be the millennium? How can we accept the idea that Satan is bound now? We can do this if we do not jump to unwarranted conclusions about the results of Satan’s binding. Does the Bible actually say that this binding will result in a paradise-like world? No. In fact, Rev 20:3 states very specifically that the single purpose of Satan’s binding is “so that he would not deceive the nations any longer.”
