Revelation 20:1–3

We have seen Satan's two chief ministers — the leaders of the armies on earth that opposed the Lamb and His saints — thrown alive into the lake of fire in disgrace, with their armies destroyed after them. So we ask: what about the unseen spiritual being who goaded his agents and their followers and lured them on to destruction? Does he escape? No! Summary judgment overtakes him as it did them. Christ deals with them on earth; God judges the devil from on high.

This angel, in the prophetic vision, has the key of the abyss and a great chain hanging on his hand (verse 1). He takes hold of "the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan," the well-known enemy of God and man. Then comes the use of the key and the chain: the key to shut him up, the chain to bind him fast. These are figures, of course, but they are familiar to the simplest mind. However little a person may know about other things, no one need misunderstand what they mean.

No doubt the key of the bottomless pit, and the great chain in the angel's hand, and the binding of Satan, and the setting of a seal upon him, are all figures. But what are they figures of? Does being figurative make them meaningless, or their sense vague? They teach one plain thing: God will hold Satan down by force, in his own abyss, for a thousand years.

The "great chain" needed to bind him is in the angel's hand. This is symbolic language again, for no literal chain could bind a spirit being. The "bottomless pit" is not the lake of fire. It is the dungeon that holds him while the millennial age runs its course.

The figures of the key and chain show that God is supreme even over the satanic region of the abyss. So, working through an angel, He locks Satan up (the key) and binds him fast (the chain) in the abyss for a thousand years. His liberty is cut short and his sphere of operation narrowed.

Note that the One who sat on the horse does not bind Satan; an angel comes down from heaven instead. This is not Christ's own direct judgment on Satan. It is the divine power, providence and intervention of God that sets Satan aside and stops him from deceiving the Gentiles any further, until he is let loose.

Compare Revelation 20:1, and I think you will see the complete difference in this angel. He comes down from heaven — he has not "fallen." He comes to bind the devil in the prison of the bottomless pit. A thousand years later, after a brief interval of terrible activity, the devil meets his judgment in the lake of fire.

Now we have the binding of Satan. Victory is complete! The hidden source of all the evil is bound in the abyss for a thousand years. The blessed Lord takes the kingdom. "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." (Rev. 11:15.) This is the millennium — Christ openly, visibly governing, and Satan bound. These are the two grand features of that blessed period.

While the Lord is there, evil will be held down; no leader will rise to head up man's evil. But the moment Satan is allowed out of his place and uses his power again, we have plain proof that man's heart has not changed.

He is called the Dragon, because of his terrible power. He is called Satan, because he is man's enemy. He is called Devil, because he is the great accuser. He is called old Serpent, because he had been the seducer from the beginning. His power is very great. So he is called the prince of this world, and Scripture says he goes about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

He is called here the dragon, but also the old serpent. He was the source of all the evil and sorrow at the beginning of man's life on earth (Genesis 3). Every name that Scripture gives him elsewhere is brought together here, so that no one could mistake that he is a real person.

People say that this is figurative language, and we grant at once that it is. No doubt the key of the bottomless pit, the great chain in the angel's hand, the binding of Satan and the seal set on him are all figures. But what are they figures of? Are they words without meaning, just because they are figures? Or must their meaning stay uncertain and vague? They teach us this much: Satan will be restrained by force, in his own abyss, for a thousand years.

The "great chain" necessary to bind him is in the angel's hand — symbolic language again, for no literal chain could bind a spirit being. The "bottomless pit" is not the lake of fire. It is the dungeon that holds him while the thousand-year age runs its course.

It is certain from God's word that Satan is not yet shut up. On the contrary, he goes about now seeking to deceive and to destroy souls... I am not going to discuss whether the thousand years are to be taken literally or symbolically. But beyond a doubt the period has a beginning and an end, and it cannot have begun yet, because Satan is not bound. The New Testament letters assume that Satan still carries on his schemes. He hinders the work of God. He has to be resisted. He goes about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. So there must be a vast change when the time comes for his restraint.

Until now God has left him at large; and such is the power he has gained by his lies over the hearts of men that he is called the prince and the god of this world. But now that the true Prince is come, and God claims His rights as the Creator and Governor of mankind, Satan must be bound. If the true wife is to be acknowledged, the harlot must be judged; if the true Prince is to be acknowledged, the usurper must be put aside.

The figures of the key and chain surely show that God is supreme even over the satanic region of the abyss... Until the fall (Genesis 3) Satan's place was on high. When sin entered the world, the heavens and earth became the wider field of his work. After his expulsion from the heavenly places, the earth and the abyss are in a way given over to him. Now he is shut up in the abyss, held there during the thousand-year reign. Then for a short time he is once more allowed to work his will on the earth... at last he is cast into the lake of fire for ever and ever.