The Devil is Defeated!; Isaiah 27:1, Rev. 20:1-10

 

On Reformation, it is customary to sing Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress” as we have done.  The second half of verses 3 and 4 go with our texts today, “The prince of darkness grim—we tremble not for him.  His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure.  One little word shall fell him.”  That one word Is Jesus, whose kingdom is forever.  Today we hear that the devil is defeated, and is defeated soundly by Jesus Christ. 

            The opening of our Isaiah texts talks about the defeat of leviathan.  Leviathan is described as a fleeing and twisted serpent and a dragon.  In Canaanite mythology, leviathan was a sea serpent.  Leviathan represents the enemies of God, but leviathan also represents Satan.  This we see in our Revelation passage.  In verse 2, we learn that the dragon, the serpent of old IS the devil and Satan.  The abyss was believed in Jewish mythology to be at the bottom of the sea.  In Rev. 20, we see an angel coming out of heaven with the key to the abyss and a great chain who binds Satan and throws him into the abyss for 1000 years.  This angel is either Jesus Himself or it is an angel who has received the key from Jesus, whom we know holds the keys.  During this time, Satan is unable to deceive the nations.  Historic amillennialism, the majority view of the Church around the world and the view held by most of the early church fathers, teaches that this has already occurred and occurred at the cross.  There’s a wonderful scene in the Passion of the Christ movie that shows Satan gloating as Jesus is being crucified, but the moment Jesus says, “It is finished,” and dies, the temple veil is torn and it cuts to Satan in chains screaming angrily at the bottom of the abyss.  Scripture that speaks to the devil being defeated already include Hebrews 2:14-15, which says, “Sine then the children [that is God’s children] share in the blood and flesh, He Himself [that is Jesus] likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of the death, that is the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.  Just before His death, Jesus said in John 12:31, “Now judgement is upon the world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” And in John 16:11, Jesus says, “…the ruler of this world has been judged.”  In Colossians 2:15, Paul talks about the evil spiritual forces being conquered in the past tense and from verse 14, we know this happened at the cross.  “having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us which was hostile to us and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through it.” 

            Satan being in the abyss though does not mean Satan is without influence in the world.  We are told to resist the devil and flee from him.  We are supposed to be on guard against the devil.  But Satan cannot act without permission from God. Still if Satan is bound why do we so much evil in the world?  Our Revelation text says that at the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be released to gather the nations against Christ.  He will accomplish that, but they will be unsuccessful and will be destroyed with Satan being cast into the lake of fire.  Then the “rest of the dead” will be raised and judged.  Is it possible the 1000 years has ended and we are in the last days when Satan has been freed to gather people against Christ?  Possibly.  Could it be the fault of the Church—that we have been lazy with Christ’s mandate to expand the kingdom?  Is it our fault for not living and proclaiming the gospel, for failing to love our neighbors?  For not believing in the power of God at work within us? 

            There is a day when Satan is destroyed.  Isaiah 27:1 says the Lord will kill the dragon.  Rev. 20:10 says, “the devil who deceived the nations was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”  This is the end of Satan.  When will it be?  Our Isaiah text says, “In that day.”  “That day” is the day of Christ’s return.  It is the same as the Day of the Lord.  We know this is so because of the end of chapter 26.  26:21 says “Yahweh is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.”  The Lord is coming to earth to judge the living and the dead, as we confess in the creeds.

The other historic view, called historic premillennialism, is that Satan will be thrown into the abyss when Christ returns.  Rev. 20 is the only passage that talks about a 1000 year reign of Christ with Satan being in the abyss on one side of it and being cast into the lake of fire on the other side of it.  It also has 2 resurrections, the dead in Christ being raised at the beginning the 1000 year and the rest of the dead being raised at the end of it.  Again, the 1000 years is not necessarily meant to be taken literally.  This view says that when Christ returns, the dead in Christ rise first and reign with living believers for a time.  This view takes into account verses like I Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”  And I Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to mee the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.”   After that time Satan will be released to see if he can deceive the nations and rally them against the saints on earth, and the “beloved city”—Jerusalem, which represents the people of God, but they will be consumed with fire from heaven before being able to do anything.  The part of Revelation 20 that we didn’t read talks about the resurrection of everyone who are judged according to their deeds, with anyone whose name not being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life also being cast into the lake of fire. 

While it’s hard to make sense sometimes of the amillennial view, it’s also hard to make sense of this view of 2 separate physical resurrections of the dead.  In the part of Rev. 20 which we didn’t read.  We read of 1 resurrection where believers and unbelievers are separated. These verse sounds a lot like what Jesus Himself talks about in Matthew 25, when He will return with His angels at the end of the age to separate the sheep from the goats.  Amillenialism teaches that the first resurrection of the believers happens when we are baptized, and there are many Scriptures to support this.    Ephesians 2:5-7 READ. Colossians 2:12, “Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised u with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead.”  Colossians 3:1-2, “If then you have been raised up with Christ, see those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Be intent on things above, not on things that are on the earth.”  Romans 6:4, “therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  And there are other verses.  We are those who are blessed for we have participated in the first resurrection.  There is a resurrection to come, when we will receive our glorified, imperishable bodies.  But even now, we have new and eternal life in Christ. 

We know that Christ is reigning now and has been since His ascension into heaven.  I Corinthians 15 talks about the reign of Christ. READ I Corinthians 15:25-28.  And the saints will reign with Christ.  This role is especially given to the disciples and patriarchs and to those who endure persecution, the martyrs.  But also for all who persevere in the faith to the end of their lives.  In Rev. 3:21, Jesus gives this promise to the believers in Laodicea:  “The one who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”  Paul quotes from a piece of church liturgy in II Timothy 2:11-12, “For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.  If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.”  This promise of reigning with Christ is found in the Old Testament as well.  Daniel 7:27 says, “Then the kingdom, (sovereignty), the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One.  His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”  I Corinthians 6:2-3 says, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?  And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to try the trivial cases?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” 

            It’s easy to get discouraged.  We see the Church in decline in the western world.  We see our society becoming more and more corrupt.  We see human life denigrated.  We see evil called good and good called evil.  It looks like Satan is gaining ground, but it’s a lie.  It’s a lie that he wants us to believe.  We are not defeated!  We are raised with Christ.  We are more than conquerors.  Just before Jesus died, in John 14:30, He said the ruler of this world, (the devil) has nothing in Him.  That is, had no power over Him.  The devil was already powerless against Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t going to give the devil the attention he desired.  We have Christ in us and we don’t have to give the devil a foothold in our lives either.  He can be powerless against us.  We can resist the devil, and he will flee from us. 

Every time someone comes to Christ, the Church is advancing.  The Church IS advancing.  Funny enough, it’s advancing most clearly and stridently in some of the places where it’s hardest to even be a Christian.  It’s advancing where it is illegal to own a Bible. Maybe it’s going to take some persecution for us to realize that Jesus was serious about the Great Commission. The Church is advancing where people lose their lives for declaring Jesus is Lord!  And despite what it looks like, the church is growing here in our community.  There are people being delivered from addiction.  The hungry are being fed.  People are coming to Christ.  Baptisms are happening.  Disciples are being raised up.  There is a new small church movement, called dinner church, in the US where the church is advancing.  People are coming to Christ, being delivered from bondage, and being discipled.  If each of us just leads 2 people to Christ and helps them to grow as disciples, the Kingdom of God will grow exponentially.  Many of you have done this through the raising of your children.  It doesn’t mean we have to stop with 2!  Don’t be deceived—Satan is on a tight leash.  He cannot act without seeking permission.  One day, he will be cast into the lake of fire.  We are commanded not to give the devil a stronghold.  Jesus has not abandoned us and has given us all the tools we need to push back the darkness.  God’s promise to bring all of His people into His kingdom is one that cannot and will not fail.