The (ca. 70ad) Binding, The Release (a figurative thousand years after ca. 70ad) & Coming Destruction of Satan

by Steven Hawk © 2019 This content may be cited with written credits. All Rights Reserved.

The following document contains:

1. Who is Satan

2. Identity of this Accuser of Our Brethren

3. The Abyss Identified & Explained

4. Why the Thousand Years is Longer than a Thousand — it Began ca. 70AD and How We KNOW When it Ends

5. The Release of Satan, the Christian Adversary, the Accuser

6. The Destruction of the Christian Adversary

In the Book of Revelation 20:2-3, 7-8 and 10, this Christian Adversary called Satan that is personified as an individual serpent/dragon or monster, is described in chapter 20, in the above verses, as being first bound, then released (after the thousand years) and finally destroyed in v.10. If we are first open to the idea these things are highly symbolized to mean something else —but are still very real, no one is saying they are not real— and that they were given to be understood, then they will be understandable.

First, the length of the binding of this Adversary (Grk. Satanas), which the Bible uses as a personification of evil, is not recorded as being ONE thousand, it just says thousand (Grk. xilia), and since all of Revelation has figures of speech, metaphors, analogies (e.g. there’s a great dragon, a chain, an abyss etc.), nothing is literal in that passage, so the thousand years is not either. To try and make a case that the thousand years is, is to make no sense out of anything else either. 

In this document we will also show you (besides the reason just given it is figurative) the thousand years in chapter 20 denotes a long indefinite period and why it cannot mean a short period.

Who is Satan?

Contrary to popular belief and Christian tradition (which we assert to be Christian Myth and Jewish Fables that turn us from the truth) the Bible teaches there are several different Satans in scripture. The English word “satan” is actually a transliteration of an ancient Aramaic word that was transliterated into Hebrew, then into Greek (Satanas) and finally into English and is consistently used a personification of evil, whether the context is an entity or an individual.

While the word Satan means a specific adversary (we will soon get to that), it is nonetheless a word which actually means “adversary” as translated in the YLT (we are not partial to the YLT either), and is better understood that way in the English language scriptures –just as the English word “Devil” is best understood if translated “Slanderer,” then add “of Christianity” after it for better clarity. Thus, the Greek word transliterated as Satan actually means “the adversary” and from this point on we will try to simply use the word adversary. For more on this read Book 2 of the Christian MythBuster Series called “The Master of Deception.”

The past hundred years or so of study has brought an illumination to the problems with the traditional Satan, but most cannot or will not accept the basic truth that many of these passages are actually describing first century events pertaining to the Jewish leadership persecuting the Christians in the last days. Proper Preterism knows the binding of Satan WAS A LAST DAY’S EVENT (i.e. a thing that was “shortly” to take place). However, we will demonstrate in this short document, the release and destruction of Satan most certainly ARE NOT last day’s events! Thus, it is wrong to deny fulfillment and it is just as wrong (Full Preterists) to deny what is NOT YET fulfilled.

The Satan we are focused on here is the Christian Adversary of the NT that the Revelation calls “the accuser of our brethren” among other things.

With that, we cannot accept the Full Preterist application of “the strong” (the word “man” is not even there) as indicating the binding of Satan in:

Mat 12:29 Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

The fact that Baelzebub and Demons are mentioned in the above chapter (Mat 12) does not give credence to their argument either. Unbeknownst to most Christians, According to scripture, Baelzebub and Demons are not related to the Christian adversary (personified as satan) bound in Rev 20. To say it is, is the Christian Myth and Jewish fables we mentioned in the beginning of this article because Baelzebub (derived from Bael worship) was an idol in the OT and the apostate Jews brought this teaching with them. It has no relation to the Satan described as “the accuser of our brethren.”

Demons are idol worship in the OT (ABP+, the CLV says the same thing):

Isa 65:3 This people, the one provoking me, [before me is always].  They sacrifice in the gardens, and they burn incense upon the bricks to the demons which are not. (ABP+, see also the CLV)

Sometimes demons are even idols in the NT:

Rev 9:20 And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk:

Demons represent other things too in the NT that the Jews did not understand were the curses, as in Duet 28, (evil spirits such as madness) from YHWH for their continual harlotry (see our 2nd book “The Master of Deception”, but in scripture Jesus did not usually correct them, he instead showed the error in their own “traditions of the elders” did not add up.

Conclusion

Neither Baelzebub, Demons, nor the Strong one of Mat 12:29 are related to the Satan that is bound in Revelation 20, they are only so in myths and traditions of men. There is no Lord of the Underworld with Demons below him —that is called adding to the word of God that brings judgment upon whomever does it.

Does Full Preterism have another binding?

Identity of this Accuser of Our Brethren

Rev 12:10 informs us concerning what is bound and is of what Revelation calls “the synagogue of Satan.” There are only one group of people who attend a synagogue and after Christ was revealed a second time, as Heb 9:28 states, only Apostate Jews would attend a synagogue because Jesus made it clear those who accepted him, were of his body that most Christians call the church, not synagogue.

Rev 12:10 And I hear a loud voice in heaven saying, “Just now came the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren was cast out, who was accusing them before our God day and night.”

In Rev 18:23 the Harlot, Jerusalem, is identified as the one that “by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” In Rev 12:10 c, “the accuser (national Judaism, Jews are identified as accusers over 30 times in the NT) of our brothers (Christians) is cast down…”

ACCUSE (some of these may be repeats because of different translations in the search) ….

Mat_12:10 (ASV) and behold, a man having a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? that they might accuse him. Jewish leadership

Mar_3:2 (ASV) And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. Jewish leadership

Mar_15:4 (ASV) And Pilate again asked him, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they accuse thee of. Jewish leadership

Luk_6:7 (ASV) And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath; that they might find how to accuse him. Jewish leadership

Luk_23:2 (ASV) And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ a king. Jewish leadership

Luk_23:14 (ASV) and said unto them, Ye brought unto me this man, as one that perverteth the people: and behold, I having examined him before you, found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: Jewish leadership 

Joh_5:45 (ASV) Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. Moses accusing the Jewish leadership

Joh_8:6 (ASV) And this they said, trying him, that they might have whereof to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. Jewish leadership

Act_19:38 (ASV) If therefore Demetrius, and the craftsmen that are with him, have a matter against any man, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls: let them accuse one another. 

Act_24:2 (ASV) And when he was called, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy much peace, and that by the providence evils are corrected for this nation, Jewish leadership’s orator

You may finish the list here.

Conclusion

The “accuser of the brethren” is another way God describes this same adversary, perhaps in hidden code so the persecuted Christians in the first century (and Christians today) would know who it was talking about by deciphering (i.e. letting scripture define its own words) this phrase.

The Abyss Identified & Explained

The Abyss (the prison the adversary is locked in) = God’s judgment (Psa 36:6) upon Jerusalem. 

Thus, the Abyss also = the ancient land of Judea where this judgment took place (as we see in Rev 9:1 and will demonstrate in the next few paragraphs because of the terminology John uses to show where this messenger is dispatched to perform the war authority)

There is a great chain (symbolic for the war power) given to this messenger (angel) of war to bind this adversary.

Lloyd Dale writes: “The angel (messenger) that comes down from heaven, having the key of the Bottomless pit” is Caesar Titus (the title by which Josephus identified the Roman general Titus).  In chapter 9 Vespasian was given the key to the bottomless pit by Yahweh through Nero. Also in Rev 9:11 Vespasian is identified as “the messenger of the bottomless pit.” Thus this key was simply transferred to Titus when the new Caesar, Vespasian established Titus as the general of the Roman legions in Judaea, and ordered his son Titus to prosecute the war with the Jews to the bitter end.”

In Psa 36:6 it says God’s judgment is a great deep (Heb. tehome Grk. abbusos) or Abyss. Paul uses the Abyss as “a metaphor for the grave” in Rom 10:7 reinforcing our understanding of God’s judgment = the Abyss.  We know this for certain because Paul knew that the body of Jesus was not to see decay (corruption, Psa 16:10 cf. Act 2:22-32).  Death and the grave are the products of God’s judgment upon man as a result of Adam’s sin in the garden.

In the following passages and many others Jesus clearly states that the wrath of Yahweh would be poured out upon the apostate house of Judah in the first century generation. This was God’s judgment (the Abyss) barring the Jews from Judea (the Abyss) for a [figurative] thousand years so they could not deceive the nations (Rev 20:3) during this long period.

Luke 19:41-44 (comments and emphasis added) And when He was come near, he beheld the city (Jerusalem), and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days (of  justice) shall come upon thee, that thine enemies (the Roman soldiers) shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation (the day of wrath).

That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel  unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house (of Judah) is left unto you desolate. Mat 23:35-37

The just wrath of Yahweh through Yahshua was surely vindicated when the Roman army “stoned” and “burned” the capital city Jerusalem in the 3 1/2 year period between 66 and 70AD during the Jewish-Roman war in the land of Judaea.

Lloyd Dale again writes: In Rev 9:1 with the presentation of “the key” (authority to make war against the Jews) to the star (messenger) John marks the occasion by switching his terminology from “land” to “abyss” right in this verse:  “And the fifth messenger did sound, and I saw a star out of the heaven having fallen to the earth (land), and there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss,” but he also adds a new element “the pit of the.” This “star falling from heaven to the land” of Judaea and the presentation of “the key” to this “star” are of very special importance for the people of the land as well as for John’s primary audience of readers in the seven churches of Asia. 

The beast of Rev 11:7 and 17:8 that ascends out of the abyss (Judea, where God’s judgment by Christ was pronounced) are implemented by “an eighth king” of the Roman empire.

Vespasian the Roman general that was dispatched from Rome (“heaven”) by the ruler of Rome, Nero ascended from the Abyss: Rev 17:8 (added emphasis) the beast (Vespasian) that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the Judaean pit, and go unto (the) destruction (of the Harlot, Judaea, Jerusalem, and the temple): and they (the apostate Jews) that   dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation (beginning) of the world (Mosaic marriage covenant, Exo 17) when they behold the beast (Vespasian) that was (in Judaea), and is not (in Judaea but in Rome to be made emperor), and yet is (emperor, with his army in Judaea). 

He continues “And they (the “locusts” of verse 3ff) have a commander (king) over them, the messenger of the abyss, whose name is Abaddon (Hebrew) -Apollyon (Greek) – Destroyer (English). In this verse, as in other apocalyptic Scriptures (cf. Joel 2:25 the “locusts” are the soldiers of invading armies and their commander is the messenger of destruction (judgment) to the abyss (land of Judaea, v1). Therefore, John is using “abyss” as a “metaphor for the land of Judaea in chapter 9. John also uses the lexeme “abyss” as a symbol of the land of Judaea here as well.  It is the apocalyptic symbol for the judgment and destruction of Judaea by the armies of the beast and the ten kings (Rev 17:12, 18:24; and 19:15-21). LloydDale.com

Conclusion

God’s judgment pronounced from Christ upon Jerusalem with their removal from the land ca. 70AD, is the Abyss this satan was locked in for a thousand years. Other previous claims by the Jews to the land (after their being ousted ca. 70AD) were not recognized by the nations, thus do not qualify as the release of adversary.

Thus, in order for the release of this Satan after the thousand years the release 1) must be tied to the land with a claim by the Apostate Jews to their ownership to the land, and 2) their claim to the land must be noticed or recognized by the nations, otherwise the nations could not be deceived!

Why the Thousand Years is Longer than a Thousand & How we know When it Ends

We have shown the thousand years is figurative. Since it is being used in a metaphoric manner, it must mean more than a thousand if language is to be honored. Any objections to that, we turn to the identification of this adversary that signifies and specifies the length it is bound. The thousand years denotes an indefinite long period that satan is bound in comparison to the short period satan is loosed. It’s a contrast of “long period vs. short period”. The identification of this Christian adversary tells you exactly when the binding and the release of it occurs!

Strong’s Concordance states chiloi (as opposed to the textus receptus that states xilia). We think Dr. Strongs said the Greek word for thousand is a plural of uncertain affinity because the older manuscripts, like Tischendorf’s 8th edition, uses the plural that in today’s modern Greek means the male gender. If we were to follow Strong’s definition, it could be used metaphorically in the following manner:

In the Greek, according to Tischendorf’s (an older manuscript) the word in Revelation 20 is PLURAL. It is literally “thousands.” Tischendorf said it should be translated “thousands of years.” 

Deu 7:9 LXX, “I show mercy to THOUSANDS of generations”

Exo 20:6 “doing kindness to THOUSANDS, to those loving Me and observing My ordinances.”

“how much money did the bank robber get away with? I don’t know, but it was thousands.”

…. meaning a lot. We still today use the word thousands in the same manner.

Even without Strong’s claim, the text does not state ONE thousand, it just says thousand, and since all of Revelation has figures of speech, metaphors, analogies, there’s a great dragon, a chain, an abyss etc. Nothing is literal in that passage, so thousand(s) years is not literal either.

Revelation 20 is a series of prophetic visions that convey truth through the use of imagery (symbolism). Therefore, to begin this chapter with the interpretation that John is describing a literal thousand (xilia) years does not fit the genre. NO key elements in this passage are literal, thus to try and make the case the thousand years is literal runs counter to the rampant symbolism and makes the rest of the narrative meaningless.

Likewise, the 144,000 Israelites in Rev 7 and 14 are not to be understood as exact numbers for 12,000 in each tribe either, but portray completeness of GREAT NUMBERS in the same fashion just explained.

The Release of Satan, the Christian Adversary, the Accuser

In Rev 20:3 satan (the adversary of Christianity, “the synagogue of satan” Rev 2:9, 3:9) is bound specifically that “he  should deceive the nations no more.”  And then notice in verse 8 he (the Zionist Jew, the great harlot, the deceiver of the nations) is released to “go out and deceive the nations” again!

Since we have shown that “the strong one” of Mat 12:29 cannot be the Christian adversary personified as Satan in the symbolized book of Revelation as Full Preterists posit and since the binding aspect of the above did not take place until 70AD it is totally impossible that the “thousand years” could be referring to the 40 year period which began in c. 30AD and ended in 70AD, as some insist.  

In Romans 16:20, in the KJV, MKJV, YLT, ASV, RV, LITV (cf. Gen 3:15), Paul writes to the Christians at Rome that “Yahweh of peace shall bruise Satan under (their) feet shortly.”  If the correct word is not bruise, why did all these translators use it?

Also, it appears to us, according to audience relevance in this verse either some of those Roman Christians had been drafted into the Roman army or Paul was using the audience relevance (your feet) in a unanimous manner. What other adversary (satan) was “bruised” and “bound” shortly after Paul wrote those words?

DECEPTION TO THE NATIONS DURING THE FULL PRETERIST’S BINDING OF SATAN

Those who adhere to the Full Preterist paradigm have a serious problem they do not know about.

We have a big advantage because we know the identity of the various Satans in scripture, but the fact that we see this entity ACTIVELY DECEIVING DURING THE PERIOD BETWEEN 30-70AD demonstrates it is not the thousand year binding period:

(written ca. 52AD)
Such as in 1Th 2:18 “because we would fain have come unto you, I Paul once and again; and Satan hindered us.”

(written ca. 63-65AD)
and 1Ti 5:15 “for already some are turned aside after Satan.”
People are seed along the path where the word is sown. Yet SATAN COMES AND TAKES AWAY THE WORD THAT WAS SOWN IN THEM. (Mk. 4:15)
Another example of Satan deceiving is:

“[T]HE GOD OF THIS WORLD has BLINDED THE MINDS OF THE UNBELIEVING so that they won’t see the light of the gospel.” (2Co 4:4).
These are just more examples that makes this view untenable and must be rejected.
Proper Preterism knows God’s judgment pronounced from Christ upon Jerusalem is the Abyss (Psa 36:6b Thy judgments are a great deep. [abyss]) where this great adversary was imprisoned ….

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house (of Judah) is left unto you desolate.” (Mat 23:37)

….. and resulted in their eviction from the land ca. 70AD, and Jerusalem is where the Abyss (God’s judgment) took place when this Adversary (satan) was imprisoned for a thousand years.

Lloyd Dale (w/some emphasis) writes:

Ostensibly the “thousand years” ended in 1948 or soon after, when Zionistic Judaism was again established (released) in the land of Judaea.  Current world events certainly confirm that the nations are being deceived by something; as it certainly appears that they are being “gather(ed)…together for battle against Christianity (the beloved city) in general, and the Christian west (the camp of the saints) in particular. It is extremely interesting that the scenario which John describes in Revelation 20:7-9a appears to be taking place in the very “world” in which we are currently living, and Jerusalem, for whatever reason, is right in the middle.  It appears that we may be in for some very “interesting” times as these events continue to play out.  It is certainly true that Zionistic Judaism and Dispensational eschatology have worked “hand in glove” to deceive the nations during the past 100 years with their false claims that are amazingly similar given the ostensible diversity of their origins and identities.

In Revelation 20:8-9, John describes a great Gog and Magog army “as numerous as the sand of the sea” gathered together for war against the “camp of the saints and the beloved city.”  (occurs after this release of adversary that we think we are in and is no insignificant coincident) The “beloved city” is an obvious reference to the “new Jerusalem” of Revelation 3:12 & 21-22:5.  The new Jerusalem is worldwide Christianity.  It is our considered opinion that “the camp of the saints” is the Christian west or the United States of America as between the years of 1620 and 1900 most Christians from the British Isles, Europe, and around the world came to “camp” and establish new homes in American, the “new” land of Christian freedom. From his article The Abyss

The Destruction of the Christian Adversary

The destruction of this adversary that is now released (Rev 20:3 “…after that he must be loosed a little season.”) for a little season, some translations merely state it is a little while. Again, this little while this adversary is loosed is being contrasted to the long period it is bound called the thousand years, so while there is no definite time period stamped on it, we can know the length because of the identity of this Christian adversary we have now identified! It is further verified by the presence of Gog and Magog that is presumably destroyed around the same time the Gog and Magog armies are dealt with by God (Rev 20:9), only one verse earlier.

There is only one place in the Revelation that speaks of this Zionist entity’s destruction. There is no parallel verse to the following verse in Revelation we know of. We have already shown that Rom 16:20 is not a parallel to the following verse in Revelation and that rather Rom 16:20 was a soon anticipation of the “bruising” (cf. Gen 3:15) that coincided with the 70AD binding of satan who had been actively deceiving the nations during the 40 year period leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, ca. 70AD. The following verse of its destruction, however, is a figurative thousand years after that binding + after the “little season” released we’ve been elaborating on:

Rev 20:10 (w/added emphasis) And the devil (slanderer of Christianity, the present day totally delusional counterfeit Zionist entity masquerading as a Democracy and God’s chosen, causing wars and deceiving millions) that deceived them (the nations) was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (destroyed), where the beast and the false prophet (were also thrown in a thousand years earlier in ca. 70AD, see Rev 19:20-21), and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

“and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

(hyperbolic language being used as an emotional over statement that means “to the eons of the eons.”)

May the Truth Prevail!