The Kingdom of God will continue until all God's purposes are complete. Then there will be a gradual decline. The church will start to lose some of its zeal. It will continue doing good, but will be motivated more by habit than love for the Lord. As men begin to trust more and more on their own strength, the Spirit will be grieved, and this will accelerate the decline.

The external security of the church will prove to be a trap, leading to inconsistencies, and carelessness. Discipline will be relaxed and heresy will be tolerated. The church's influence on the world will grow less and less. The unconverted part of the world's population, which has been constrained by the strong Christian influence in the world, will begin to fall in with the spirit of the day. Once freed from the restraints of Christianity, they will begin to flex their muscles. They will begin to act in a way which is more true to their character, as they no longer feel constrained by Christian standards. This decline of faith in the church and lack of obedience in the world will provoke the Lord to set in train the events which bring the Kingdom age to a close.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison (Rev 20:7).

A number of people on the earth will have already placed themselves in Satan's hands, but he is subject to the authority of the Lord and cannot go to work without permission. Satan does not break out by his own strength but is released by the Lord. As the church goes into decline, he will be released for one last time.

Satan Bound

The season ushered in by the Man of Sin is called the "little season" or "short time" The passage that describes this season is not well understood.

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time (Rev 20:1-3).
The binding of the devil is not a future event. The devil was totally defeated by Jesus’ victory on the cross.
Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross (Col 2:15).
Jesus proved that he had destroyed the devil’s power by casting out demons (Matt 12:29). Since he has ascended into heaven, Jesus has worked on earth through his body. The victory won on the cross must now be enforced on earth by the Holy Spirit working through the church.

Jesus gave responsibility for binding the powers of evil to his disciples.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matt 18:18).
He repeated this challenge to stress its importance (Matt 16:19). God’s people have responsibility for enforcing the binding of evil.

During the Times of the Gentiles, the church does not use this authority very effectively, so evil continues to operate as though it had never been bound. The Kingdom of God comes to fulfilment when the Church gets to grips with this authority and binds the powers of evil. When the church is on the top of its game, the devil is bound and powerless.

John said that the devil is bound for a thousand years (Rev 20:3). This is not a literal time. A thousand equals ten to the power of three. Ten represents completeness and three is perfection, so a thousand equals perfect completeness. The thousand years describes the season when the Kingdom of God has perfect fulfilment. This time may last for much longer than a thousand of years, but throughout this season, the devil is totally bound (keyword: Not Millennium).

Lost Place

The book of Revelation describes reality as it appears from heaven. From that perspective, the devil was bound and destroyed by the cross. People with an earthly perspective find it hard to believe that the  devil has been defeated. This allows him to keep working as if the cross has failed. John refers to this as being cast down on the earth, because the devil is allowed to operate according to an earthly perspective, rather than the heavenly one.

The casting down of the devil is described most clearly in John’s vision of the woman and the male child (Rev 12). When Jesus arrived in heaven, Satan's power is gone.

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven (Rev 12:7-8).
The devil gained his authority as an “accuser” (Rev 12:10). Because all have sinned, he had a great deal of authority and a "place in heaven". Once Jesus had paid the penalty for sin, he could no longer accuse God's people.
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (Rev 12:11).
He lost his place in heaven.
The accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down (Rev 12:10).
There was great rejoicing in heaven, because this defeat opened the way for the saints to receive his Kingdom.
salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ..... Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them (Rev 12:10,12).
Those who operate in the heavenly realms know that evil has been defeated. Unfortunately, those who see things from the earthly perspective allow him to continue working.
Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short (Rev 12:12).
He desperately clings to power by preventing people from seeing Jesus victory from the heavenly perspective.

Devil Unbound

The Kingdom of God will continue until the full numbers of people have come to faith. When all God’s promises and purposes have been fulfilled on earth, he will set in train the series of events that bring in the next season. The devil and his forces will be released for one last time.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison (Rev 20:7).
He does not escape, but is released by the Holy Spirit to achieve a divine purpose.

God demonstrates his infinite mercy by giving Satan one last chance to redeem himself. He was created by God for a special purpose, but fell from his exalted position and became the enemy of good. Despite the terrible harm he has done to the world, God will give him one last chance to fulfil his calling before the end of the age. He will never be able to accuse God of not being gracious.

The devil will not take the opportunity given to him, but will go out to do evil by getting control of the nations again.

He will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number, they are like the sand on the seashore (Rev 20:8).
To score a victory over Jesus, he will stir up rebellion among the nations. He is not creative, so he just uses the same lies about God that he used at the beginning. People all over the world will join this rebellion. “Gog and Magog” is a reference to many nations rebelling against God.

Opposition to the Kingdom of God will develop gradually, as people will begin to take the blessings of God for granted. The rebellion will ermerge as people grumbling the Kingdom of God. They will think that have achieved them by human strength and forget about God. This will open them to the deception of Satan. They will spread lies about the Christian influence in society in an attempt to undermine the church.

They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves (Rev 20:9).
This is not a literal war. The camp of God’s people represents all the people in the world who have chosen to follow Jesus. The beloved city is the Kingdom of God. Gog and Magog represent worldwide opposition to God. Those who come under the devil's power will begin to persecute the church.

Persecution will be a new experience for the Christians living through this season. Most will be unprepared. Those who do not understand that God has released the devil will be shocked by the rapid deterioration of the spiritual climate. Fortunately, this season of rebellion will be quite brief.

After that, he must be set free for a short time (Rev 20:3).
As the Kingdom goes on, the memory of earlier seasons when evil prevailed will grow dim.  Some Christians will find it hard to believe that Satan and his angels are truly evil. Some will consider that Satan and his followers have been treated harshly by God.

This brief season at the end of history will reveal the true character of evil. The people of the world will get a brief taste of its horrors. After this experience, it will be obvious that the devil and his followers deserve their fate (Rev 20:10).

Fire from Heaven

The devil will succeed in building support, but he will not achieve his objective.

But fire came down from heaven and devoured them (Rev 20:9).
This fire from heaven is not literal. The event that follows the fire is the last judgment, so this must be a reference to the appearance of Jesus (Rev 20:11-15). This is confirmed in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels, he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thes 1:7-8).
The blazing fire is the Appearance of Jesus.
Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his appearing (2 Thes 2:8).
The Man of Lawlessness and his followers will be destroyed by the splendour of Jesus’ appearance.

Very Short

This season is referred to as the short time, which suggests that the events take place very rapidly. It will be a very short time compared to the Kingdom age.

Return to Times and Seasons.