Satan is released and deceives the nations Rev 20:8

[Indueseason]

Just been pondering over this verse recently

⁷ And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
⁸ and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Satan's tricks are always the same it seems. The only thing he knows how to do is lie and deceive. As he started

⁴ -And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵ for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.-

so shall he finish. The first thing he does when he is released is deceive.......

The Greek word in this verse is planaō


1) to cause to stray, to lead astray, lead aside from the right way
a) to go astray, wander, roam about
2) metaph.
a) to lead away from the truth, to lead into error, to deceive
b) to be led into error
c) to be led aside from the path of virtue, to go astray, sin
d) to sever or fall away from the truth
1) of heretics
e) to be led away into error and sin


The word is used 51 times in 37 verses, makes me think this is a very important point Some other verses include

²⁹ But Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.


⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray.
⁵ For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.

¹¹ And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.

⁹ Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men,
¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.


⁷ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

¹³ But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

¹⁹ My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him;

⁷ My little children, let no man lead you astray: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous:

Now for those who hold to the Amil/ParPret view

⁹ And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.

¹⁴ And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.

²³ and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived.

³ and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.


Now my question to those who hold this latter view, from these scriptures and from what you see going on in the world and in the world of believers, do you think that satan is released for the above little season? Do you believe it's about to happen, has been going on for a while now but still has a while to go, or is he almost at the end of this short season?


blessings to you

[Raybob]

I picked "no way of knowing". I believe it's most probable that Satan's 'little season' has begun already but I also believe it's very probable that things could get much worse. Only interpretations can show why and interpretations can always be not correct, especially if the interpretation differs with what is taught in other parts of scripture. One thing I'm sure of is that when our reign with Christ is over on this earth and Jesus returns, that we will continue to reign for all eternity on the new earth, from that moment on.

[Adstars]

Just been pondering over this verse recently

⁷ And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
⁸ and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

This verse is talking of a time 1000 years after the return of the Messiah Jesus. satan is not in any bottomless pit now and will not be until the Messiah returns.

9[/SUP] And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.

¹⁴ And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.

Now this scripture is talking of the time before the return of the Messiah Jesus.

²³ and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived.

Yep that’s what is happening now.

³ and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.

Yes this is what is going to happen after the return of the Messiah Jesus, just after the battle of Armageddon. satan will be cast into the bottomless pit but he will be released after 1000 years.

Now my question to those who hold this latter view, from these scriptures and from what you see going on in the world and in the world of believers, do you think that satan is released for the above little season? Do you believe it's about to happen, has been going on for a while now but still has a while to go, or is he almost at the end of this short season?


blessings to you

Satan has never been in the above "little prison"

I hope and am strongly convinced that we shall see satan being cast into this prison soon. I give it 20 years.

Of course satan has had people deceived since the time of Jesus up till the present day. There has been no 1000 years when he has not been deceiving people a simple look at history can show one that.

It will be at lest another 1000 years before this "short season" starts


All Praise The Ancient Of Days

[billy-brown 2]

Just been pondering over this verse recently

⁷ And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
⁸ and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Satan's tricks are always the same it seems. The only thing he knows how to do is lie and deceive. As he started

⁴ -And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: ⁵ for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.-

so shall he finish. The first thing he does when he is released is deceive.......

//

Now for those who hold to the Amil/ParPret view

⁹ And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.

¹⁴ And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived.

²³ and the light of a lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the princes of the earth; for with thy sorcery were all the nations deceived.

³ and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.


Now my question to those who hold this latter view, from these scriptures and from what you see going on in the world and in the world of believers, 1) do you think that satan is released for the above little season? 2) Do you believe it's about to happen, 3) has been going on for a while now but still has a while to go, or 4) is he almost at the end of this short season?


blessings to you

Blessings to you . . .

1) No, 2) No, 3) No, and 4) No . . .

It is interesting to see in Rev. 20:7-10 that the very first thing that Satan does when he is released from the "binding" is the VERY thing he cannot now do during our age.

That's right--he can't do it. Watch below in the passage; Satan is released to deceive nations to gather for a war--not to fight a war, but to gather for a war:

Rev. 20
7When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,
8and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.

Then, once Satan is released and so on, the 'set up" is complete (this is a "set up" by God, indeed). Rev. 20:9-10 indicates that God goes into immediate destruction mode; no shots are fired by anyone, and fire from heaven ends everything on the spot, and Satan is tossed into the second death:

Rev. 20
9And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
10And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

And so, Satan's ability at deception is used AGAINST him by our God to end this age . . . the age that we live in currently . . .

[Indueseason]

Thank you for responding. I agree with you Raybob, if the level of deceiving is anything to go by, then I have to at least see the possibility that he is released already. I read some article a while back that said there were over 30,000 different Christian denominations in the world today( many of them would probably be called cults by most mainline Christians, but they all believe they are following the teachings of Jesus) Many of these sects have began in the last 200 years. The gospel message has been twisted and stretched to fit into so many different points of view, and sadly many of these views fall short of the truth that saves. We have new age stuff entering the church at an alarming rate, spiritualism and occult practises masquerading as ways to experience God, and liberal and worldy versions of Christianity deceiving an increasing amount of people. It sure seems like there is a war against the truth, and those who believe that truth.

Thanks Adstars, I was taught your view of things and followed it for many years. I guess the things I see above would be part of the falling away for those who hold the pretrib, premil view. That's how I would have seen it anyway. I don't adhere to that doctrine now, but I still see the increasing attack on the truth.

Billy-brown, I like how you end your post What do you mean by something he can't so now? You mean the gathering together for war part or the deceiving part?

blessings to you

[billy-brown 2]

Thank you for responding. I agree with you Raybob, if the level of deceiving is anything to go by, then I have to at least see the possibility that he is released already. I read some article a while back that said there were over 30,000 different Christian denominations in the world today( many of them would probably be called cults by most mainline Christians, but they all believe they are following the teachings of Jesus) Many of these sects have began in the last 200 years. The gospel message has been twisted and stretched to fit into so many different points of view, and sadly many of these views fall short of the truth that saves. We have new age stuff entering the church at an alarming rate, spiritualism and occult practises masquerading as ways to experience God, and liberal and worldy versions of Christianity deceiving an increasing amount of people. It sure seems like there is a war against the truth, and those who believe that truth.

Thanks Adstars, I was taught your view of things and followed it for many years. I guess the things I see above would be part of the falling away for those who hold the pretrib, premil view. That's how I would have seen it anyway. I don't adhere to that doctrine now, but I still see the increasing attack on the truth.

Billy-brown, I like how you end your post What do you mean by something he can't so now? You mean the gathering together for war part or the deceiving part?

blessings to you

Satan cannot gather for the war of Rev. 20:7-10 until he is released from the binding to do so. All other deception can be done by Satan at this time (during our current age); after all, he is a master deceiver:

Rev. 12
9 And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.

[Godskingdom]

Revelations 20th chapter describes being bound and abyssed for a thousand years at the hands of a great angel-doubtless Jesus Christ who has the key of the abyss and who is the 'seed' to bruise satan's head compare Rev 1:18.
Satan's final effort culminates in permanet defeat. The prophecy says that he is to be let loose for a 'little while' as soon as christs thousand year reign is ended and that will lead rebelious persons in another attack upon Gods sovereignty; but he is hurled (along with all his demons) into the lake of fire and sulpher, everlasting distruction look at Rev 20: 1-3

Gog and magog also found in ezekiel 38 39 (Gog descendant of Reuben)

revelation 20.8 both names are shown to apply to 'those nations in the four corners of the earth' who allow themselves to be mislead by satan after he is released from the symbolic 'abyss.' since other texts show that the millennial rule of Christ brings an end to national rule and divisions
(da 2.44 7.13,14)it would appear that such 'nations' are the product of rebellion against the earth wide dominion they advance 'over the breadth of the earth' to encircle 'the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.' this comes after the millennial rule over by Jesus Christ has reached its completion. rev 20.2,3,7&9

Gog and Magog described to lead into a rebellion an assault on Gods kingdom his servants which Satan is behind.

All this will happen after the end of times the righteous and unrighteous will be resurrected from the dead and those who survive the great tribulation and will have a chance to learn about God people will live in peace for a thousand years then we shall be tested the last and final time.

[Indueseason]

Satan cannot gather for the war of Rev. 20:7-10 until he is released from the binding to do so. All other deception can be done by Satan at this time (during our current age); after all, he is a master deceiver:

Agreed So all the deception I see can either be him preparing for his probation period, or it could be the start of his release for it says he will deceive before he gathers for battle.

blessings to you

[Indueseason]

Revelations 20th chapter describes being bound and abyssed for a thousand years at the hands of a great angel-doubtless Jesus Christ who has the key of the abyss and who is the 'seed' to bruise satan's head compare Rev 1:18.
Satan's final effort culminates in permanet defeat. The prophecy says that he is to be let loose for a 'little while' as soon as christs thousand year reign is ended and that will lead rebelious persons in another attack upon Gods sovereignty; but he is hurled (along with all his demons) into the lake of fire and sulpher, everlasting distruction look at Rev 20: 1-3

Gog and magog also found in ezekiel 38 39 (Gog descendant of Reuben)

revelation 20.8 both names are shown to apply to 'those nations in the four corners of the earth' who allow themselves to be mislead by satan after he is released from the symbolic 'abyss.' since other texts show that the millennial rule of Christ brings an end to national rule and divisions
(da 2.44 7.13,14)it would appear that such 'nations' are the product of rebellion against the earth wide dominion they advance 'over the breadth of the earth' to encircle 'the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.' this comes after the millennial rule over by Jesus Christ has reached its completion. rev 20.2,3,7&9

Gog and Magog described to lead into a rebellion an assault on Gods kingdom his servants which Satan is behind.

All this will happen after the end of times the righteous and unrighteous will be resurrected from the dead and those who survive the great tribulation and will have a chance to learn about God people will live in peace for a thousand years then we shall be tested the last and final time.

Thank you Godskingdom and welcome to the forum!! As I've said before, I know the premil/pretrib view, I used to believe that and debate it for many years Praise God, I don't any more

blessings to you

[divaD]

I picked "no way of knowing". I believe it's most probable that Satan's 'little season' has begun already but I also believe it's very probable that things could get much worse. Only interpretations can show why and interpretations can always be not correct, especially if the interpretation differs with what is taught in other parts of scripture. One thing I'm sure of is that when our reign with Christ is over on this earth and Jesus returns, that we will continue to reign for all eternity on the new earth, from that moment on.

To me that seems like an illogical answer. I'm pretty sure the Bible tells us exactly when satan's season begins.

Revelation 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison

According to this, his little season begins when the 1000 years have expired. So what it all boils down to is what the 1000 years represents.

If in your view it represents the church age, then it would mean when the church age has concluded, then will satan's little season begin. The question then is, how does the church age end without Christ returning, or at least some pre trib rapture occurring? And if the 1000 years doesn't represent the church age, then what does it represent, since what it represents MUST conclude so that satan's little season can begin?

If in my view the 1000 years represents the future earthly reign of Christ, it would simply mean when this literal 1000 years(and no..I don't believe the red dragon is really a literal dragon, etc) has concluded, satan will then be released. And since satan goes to gather nations against the beloved city, this shows that Christ and the saints are still reigning. The 1000 years are only to mark satan's binding and releasing, and not that we or Christ only reigns for 1000 years. We reign forever.

[divaD]

Blessings to you . . .

1) No, 2) No, 3) No, and 4) No . . .

It is interesting to see in Rev. 20:7-10 that the very first thing that Satan does when he is released from the "binding" is the VERY thing he cannot now do during our age.

That's right--he can't do it. Watch below in the passage; Satan is released to deceive nations to gather for a war--not to fight a war, but to gather for a war:



Then, once Satan is released and so on, the 'set up" is complete (this is a "set up" by God, indeed). Rev. 20:9-10 indicates that God goes into immediate destruction mode; no shots are fired by anyone, and fire from heaven ends everything on the spot, and Satan is tossed into the second death:


And so, Satan's ability at deception is used AGAINST him by our God to end this age . . . the age that we live in currently . . .

Here's the question I have to ask of you first. In your view, what exactly does the 1000 years represent, since it HAS to conclude first. so that satan's little season can begin? Once you tell me what it represents, then show me how it concludes and what causes it to conclude so that satan's little season can begin.

[Indueseason]

Hey there David, I know your asking this question to Raybob and Billy but I just couldn't resist answering To me the 1000 years is just a long period of time in which satan will be bound. As you've said, it can't be the church age because that would need to come to an end before he could be given probation. According to what I read, the Lord will return after this long period of time, and after satan's little season. The two time periods together I would then see as being the church age/Christs Kingdom.

thanks for responding

blessings to you

[Raybob]

To me that seems like an illogical answer. I'm pretty sure the Bible tells us exactly when satan's season begins.

Revelation 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison

According to this, his little season begins when the 1000 years have expired. So what it all boils down to is what the 1000 years represents.

If in your view it represents the church age, then it would mean when the church age has concluded, then will satan's little season begin. ...

I would believe that if I could find a "church age" in my bible. I can't find any such reference. While searching for "church" I find things that speak of the Old Testement church so if the there is a "church age" it started before Moses.

This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
(Act 7:37-38)


If you call that a "church age", God knows it will never end.

Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
(Eph 3:21)

[John146]

To me that seems like an illogical answer. I'm pretty sure the Bible tells us exactly when satan's season begins.

Of course it seems that way to you because you're a premil. In case you didn't notice the question was specifically addressed to amils. From an amil perspective RayBob's answer was logical.

If you want to understand how an amil would look at this question then ask yourself how you would recognize that the falling away that Paul mentions in 2 Thess 2:3 has begun. I believe most amils would see a connection between the time that the falling away occurs and Satan's little season.

If in my view the 1000 years represents the future earthly reign of Christ, it would simply mean when this literal 1000 years(and no..I don't believe the red dragon is really a literal dragon, etc) has concluded, satan will then be released. And since satan goes to gather nations against the beloved city, this shows that Christ and the saints are still reigning. The 1000 years are only to mark satan's binding and releasing, and not that we or Christ only reigns for 1000 years. We reign forever.

I see a contradiction here. First, you're saying that "the 1000 years represents the future earthly reign of Christ" but then you say that when the thousand years has concluded "Christ and the saints are still reigning". The thousand years could only represent "the future earthly reign of Christ" if His reign occurred during the thousand years and then ended when the thousand years was over. But then I guess you realized this and said "The 1000 years are only to mark satan's binding and releasing, and not that we or Christ only reigns for 1000 years. We reign forever.". That's what I and many amils believe as well, so what exactly was your point here? You said you're "pretty sure the Bible tells us exactly when satan's season begins". Yeah, when the thousand years ends. Don't we all believe that?

[John146]

I picked "no way of knowing". I believe it's most probable that Satan's 'little season' has begun already but I also believe it's very probable that things could get much worse. Only interpretations can show why and interpretations can always be not correct, especially if the interpretation differs with what is taught in other parts of scripture. One thing I'm sure of is that when our reign with Christ is over on this earth and Jesus returns, that we will continue to reign for all eternity on the new earth, from that moment on.

This is how I see it as well. Based on how things seem to be in the world and how things are going I tend to think it's possible that it has already begun but there's nothing for certain that we can point to that tells us exactly when it begins. There's the falling away that Paul mentions in 2 Thess 2:3 and I see a direct relation between that and Satan's little season but he doesn't say exactly how to recognize when the falling away has begun.