A couple posts ago, I talked about the fact that the thousand year reign of Christ mentioned in Revelation 20 is happening right now and that Satan is bound. I also briefly mentioned what Satan's being bound looks like - namely, "that Satan has been chained up 'that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended' (Revelation 20:3). It means that the gospel message propagates throughout all tribes, tongues, peoples, and nations without demonic hindrance, that 'the mystery hidden for ages and generations...[is] now revealed to his saints' (Colossians 1:26)." But we can do a little better than that - I'd like to unpack this idea a little more in this post...namely, how has the extent of Satan's influence changed from before Christ to the time of his coming?
Going back to Matthew 12, Jesus says he is able to cast out demons because of two things - (1) he has bound the strong man (Satan) by overcoming the desert temptation, and (2) he works with the power of the Holy Spirit. This second point is very important. It is important because Jesus realizes his own ministry on earth was limited. While he had most certainly bound the strong man, Jesus in fleshly form working in the power of the Spirit could only be in one place at one time. This is the reason why he tells the disciples in John 16, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7). The outpouring of the Spirit prophesied about in the OT prophets could not take place until Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father (e.g. Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Joel 2, etc.). After Jesus ascends to the Father's side, he pours out his Spirit at Pentecost (exactly 7 weeks after his resurrection from the dead, denoting a Sabbath rest coming with the age of the Spirit and the inauguration of Christ's kingdom in this world).
Now Christ has overcome the grave and the Spirit is here - so what has changed? Looking back at Revelation 20, John says that Satan has been bound during this millennial reign of Christ, no longer able to deceive the nations as he did before (Revelation 20:3). But does that mean that everyone in the world will now believe the gospel? Paul clarifies what this new age of the Spirit looks like - he says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Only those "who are perishing" are still blinded by Satan's deceptions - and Paul mentions again in Ephesians 2 that those who are perishing under the deceptions of Satan are the "sons of disobedience", those "following the prince of the power of the air [Satan]" (Ephesians 2:2). But the favor and mercy of God has found a select group, the saints of the Lord. In that group, the same God who declared at creation, “'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). This veiled nature of the gospel throughout biblical history is the reason why Paul continually refers to the different aspects of the message of Christ crucified as the "mystery hidden for ages" (Colossians 1:26), "the mystery of Christ" (Ephesians 3:4), and the "mystery of [God's] plan" (Ephesians 1:9).
On the other hand, the restraining of Satan is mentioned by Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians, when he says, "the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The one who restrains the "man of lawlessness" is probably the archangel Michael, mentioned earlier in Daniel 10-12 as the one who, as the protector and prince of Israel, contends with the rulers, authorities, and principalities - the same Michael who is mentioned in Revelation 12 as the one who battled against Satan in heaven and cast him down. Michael is able to battle the lawless serpent, cast him down into the lower parts of the earth, and restrain his current efforts of deceiving the nations on the sole grounds of Christ's resurrection - on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus. In a future post, I will try to show how all of these events correspond with the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19) and the "keys to Death and Hades" (or "the keys to the abyss," Revelation 1:18, 20:1).
So while there is still a partial veiling of the gospel to the world by the ploys of Satan, it is only to those who are perishing. But to God's saints, he dispenses his Spirit, enabling men to respond by faith to the message of Christ's dying for our sins and being raised for our justification. The universal deception of all the nations is over. God is currently restraining the efforts of evil, is renewing his creation order, and is reconciling the lost to himself. And while we still dwell in these "earthly tents" (as Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5), something mysterious has occurred in the realms unseen - "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14).
SDG
Going back to Matthew 12, Jesus says he is able to cast out demons because of two things - (1) he has bound the strong man (Satan) by overcoming the desert temptation, and (2) he works with the power of the Holy Spirit. This second point is very important. It is important because Jesus realizes his own ministry on earth was limited. While he had most certainly bound the strong man, Jesus in fleshly form working in the power of the Spirit could only be in one place at one time. This is the reason why he tells the disciples in John 16, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you" (John 16:7). The outpouring of the Spirit prophesied about in the OT prophets could not take place until Christ ascended to the right hand of the Father (e.g. Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, Joel 2, etc.). After Jesus ascends to the Father's side, he pours out his Spirit at Pentecost (exactly 7 weeks after his resurrection from the dead, denoting a Sabbath rest coming with the age of the Spirit and the inauguration of Christ's kingdom in this world).
Now Christ has overcome the grave and the Spirit is here - so what has changed? Looking back at Revelation 20, John says that Satan has been bound during this millennial reign of Christ, no longer able to deceive the nations as he did before (Revelation 20:3). But does that mean that everyone in the world will now believe the gospel? Paul clarifies what this new age of the Spirit looks like - he says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Only those "who are perishing" are still blinded by Satan's deceptions - and Paul mentions again in Ephesians 2 that those who are perishing under the deceptions of Satan are the "sons of disobedience", those "following the prince of the power of the air [Satan]" (Ephesians 2:2). But the favor and mercy of God has found a select group, the saints of the Lord. In that group, the same God who declared at creation, “'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). This veiled nature of the gospel throughout biblical history is the reason why Paul continually refers to the different aspects of the message of Christ crucified as the "mystery hidden for ages" (Colossians 1:26), "the mystery of Christ" (Ephesians 3:4), and the "mystery of [God's] plan" (Ephesians 1:9).
On the other hand, the restraining of Satan is mentioned by Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians, when he says, "the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way" (2 Thessalonians 2:7). The one who restrains the "man of lawlessness" is probably the archangel Michael, mentioned earlier in Daniel 10-12 as the one who, as the protector and prince of Israel, contends with the rulers, authorities, and principalities - the same Michael who is mentioned in Revelation 12 as the one who battled against Satan in heaven and cast him down. Michael is able to battle the lawless serpent, cast him down into the lower parts of the earth, and restrain his current efforts of deceiving the nations on the sole grounds of Christ's resurrection - on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus. In a future post, I will try to show how all of these events correspond with the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:19) and the "keys to Death and Hades" (or "the keys to the abyss," Revelation 1:18, 20:1).
So while there is still a partial veiling of the gospel to the world by the ploys of Satan, it is only to those who are perishing. But to God's saints, he dispenses his Spirit, enabling men to respond by faith to the message of Christ's dying for our sins and being raised for our justification. The universal deception of all the nations is over. God is currently restraining the efforts of evil, is renewing his creation order, and is reconciling the lost to himself. And while we still dwell in these "earthly tents" (as Paul explains in 2 Corinthians 5), something mysterious has occurred in the realms unseen - "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins" (Colossians 1:13-14).
SDG
