THE SINFUL NATURE IS DEMONSTRATED BY THE LOOSING OF SATAN

The Sinful Nature is Demonstrated by the Loosing of Satan

 vs. 7-9a

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city......"

The Loosing of Satan is Effected at the End of the 1000 Years vs. 7

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison...."

But this loosing is only for a short season. The scrip­tural foresight is encouragement to all who know the terror of this great, incorrigible being. It is evident that God has him completely in His control and there is nothing to fear. God is not yet through with this crea­ture and therefore the delay and the loosing. The loosing of Satan and his subsequent activity prove that 1000 years of punishment has not changed him.

Those entering the millennial period, of course, will be genuine believers, but their descendants will evidently drift away from the faith of their fathers as the generations accumulate and the population grows. Open rebellion, as well as crime and warfare, will be impossible. Satan and his hosts will all be bound in Hades, but men and women will still be born with sinful natures and will need to receive Christ as personal Savior by faith, just as was always true. If they do not, they will still be vulnerable to Satanic deception when Satan is released to tempt them.

The Deception Practiced by Satan upon the Nations  8a

"And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle......"

It is apparent from the text that he goes out and deceives the nations over the whole earth. Gog and Magog are names indicating nations of men and women whose hearts are against God. This means that even though the kingdom was started with born-again people, many were born of these parents and came into the kingdom without the new nature. In spite of righteousness, holy rulers, and a perfect environment, they have not changed during this 1000 years. Some will be saved during this period, but it will not be the environment that will effect the change. It will be the grace of God. But this does not mean that the majori­ty rebel, even though a vast number rebel.

The Purpose of Satan is to Gather These Nations for Battle vs. 8b

".....to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea."

His deception is quite successful. The number is great as the sand of the sea. They easily follow Satan and his suggestions and go forth to do battle. Here is evidence that the old nature is still present and acts in the same old way in response to Satan.

Despite the duplication of names, this Gog-and-Magog incursion after the thousand years does not seem to be the same as the invasion of Israel by Gog and Magog before the thousand years, as described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. The combatants in the two battles are quite different from each other and the outcomes are drastically different, as is obvious from even a casual reading of the two accounts. It may be that the names are the same because the new leaders of the rebellion (human leaders, that is) come from the same northern regions of Eurasia as the leaders of that earlier invasion of Israel. They may even have deliberately appropriated these Biblical names as a statement of their intent to avenge the defeat and death of their ancestors when they invaded Israel.

The world population, with the benefit of increased longevity, as well as an almost perfect environment and societal conditions, will grow so much as actually to fulfill God’s ancient command to “fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1,7). But it is a sad commentary on the perverse depravity of human nature that, even after a thousand years of peace and prosperity, and even while experiencing the personal reign of Christ on the earth, men will still follow Satan when they have a chance, and do so in great multitudes! Truly, the human heart in its natural state is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9).

The Success of Satan is Indicated by the Siege of the City vs. 9a

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:....."

Ultimately the hatred of Satan and sinful men is against God. The old sinful nature is the same. All the perfection of earth, righteousness, and rulers does not change it. Only one thing will ever do that, and that is the new birth (John 3:3, 5). Inasmuch as these enemies of God cannot touch him, they encompass the camp of the saints, which is the beloved city of Jerusalem.

Satan has been 1000 years in the Abyss under torment. In all that time he has not changed. He is still the same incorrigible creature whose corrupted wisdom causes him to imagine that he may yet defeat God. Thousands upon thousands there are whose carnal hearts rush them after this dragon of destruction to perdition.

“The saints” here are probably not just the Israelites in Jerusalem but also the resurrected and raptured saints of the previous ages, all coming to rally around “the beloved city” as the hosts of darkness and their multitudes of human followers surround them for one last desperate attempt to defeat and dethrone the Lord Jesus Christ. This will be impossible, of course, for God (not Satan!) is the Creator of all things, and this time His patience and longsuffering will finally reach an end. In a foretaste of the lake of fire which the rebels will all soon inhabit, God will send from heaven a vast ring of fire around the holy city which will quickly “devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:27), “for our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

"But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."
"For our God is a consuming fire."