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Chain. Satan is not bound today in any sense, except
that he must submit to God’s control (Job 1:9-12). He has
always been our enemy. He was the enemy of Adam and Eve (Gen
3), as well as Job (Job 1-2), and he is our enemy today. We must
not forget that he was active while the gospel was spreading
in the Old Testament among the Egyptians by Israel, the Assyrians
by Jonah, the Babylonians by Daniel, and even down into Africa
during the time of Solomon. The gospel was spreading at the time
of the early church while they were under great persecution by
both the Jews and Romans. The gospel was distorted and suppressed
by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the “dark ages” and
the wave of suppression still continues today. Satan has been
and is still opposing the advance of the kingdom. He has never
stopped. He is not suppressed. The Word of God reminds us that he still urges us to lie (Acts 5:3). He tries to take advantage of us through his deceitful schemes (2 Cor. 2:11). He appears as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), attacks Christians (Eph. 4:27; 2 Cor. 12:7), hinders the growth of ministries (1 Thess. 2:18), and he tries to lead us astray (1 Tim. 5:15). He is the sower of tares among the wheat (Matt 13:24-30), and the one who sifts people as wheat (Luke 22:31). He is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), and he prowls about after us like a lion (1 Pet. 5:8). He is the ruler of this world (John 12:31; 14:30) and the prince of the air (Eph. 2:2). Satan is still very active today.
We must watch out for Satan’s schemes. He wants us to think that he is not a threat because he wants to prevent men and women from believing in Jesus Christ, and he seeks to cause Christians to be a poor example of holiness. He wants humanity to be like himself. We should not be surprised that he is aggressively active in the world today. The world is blind to this fact, but some day he will be imprisoned. The 1,000 Years. The 1,000 years is a literal period of time. When we look back over the book of Revelation, we are reminded that the book is full of numbers. It has referred to 7 churches, 7 angels, 7 lampstands, 7 stars, 4 creatures before the throne, 24 elders, 12,000 people from different tribes, 144,000 witnesses, 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls, a 200,000 man army, 1/3 of the sea, 1/3 of the ships, 1/3 of the waters, 1/3 of the sun and moon and stars being struck, 2 witnesses, 3.5 days, and 42 months, and 1,260 days. Revelation has been very specific so far. The term 1,000 years was also used in Rev. 7 in reference to the 144,000 witnesses. These numbers have meaning; otherwise, why use them? Why use unique numbers if they are unknown periods of time? |
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used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. Click here to visit her “Revelation Illustrated” site. |
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In Revelation |