Satan Let Loose

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.” Rev. 20:7-8.

How strange that such a thing should happen. You might ask, “Why should Satan be loosed again?” It is to test all those who are born during the millennium. They, too, must learn to discern between good and evil and have an opportunity to choose. But when everything has been so wonderful in the millennium, how can they be deceived? Yet even in the Garden of Eden they allowed themselves to be deceived! There Adam and Eve received just one commandment, and Satan came to free them from that one as well. He seemed to have such care for them. He offered to make their lives so much better than God had, and they believed him. They thought they would be happy by breaking God’s law. Oh, how many people live in this same deception. Young people think that being free from the commandments will make them happy. What a deception! No, not at all! Only God’s law and God’s will can lead us into happiness. Therefore, resist Satan, firm in the faith that God truly cares for you. Then Satan will flee. 1 Pet. 5:7-9.

Satan will not begin this deception in or around Jerusalem. He knows that will not work. He will begin at the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—as far from the center as possible. It is just the same today. Many live on the periphery of the church where they are easy prey for the cunning devices of Satan. (Gog and Magog have become familiar names to us from the accounts we read about the Antichrist and the battle of Armageddon.)

“They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Rev. 20:9.

Satan succeeds in deceiving people again, but he is not satisfied with that. His goal is to crush the camp of the saints. Since he did not succeed in leading them astray before, he will not even attempt that this time. He cannot forget the time he had to depart from Jesus, the time he lost his hold on Peter, or when Paul exposed his devices. 2 Cor. 2:10-11. Neither can he forget those who would rather pluck out an eye or cut off a hand than sin. But this time he thinks that with a great host of deceived people, he will be able to conquer the holy city. This has always been his plan. If he cannot deceive people, he persecutes them, spreads false rumors about them, brands them as deceivers, and even tries to slay them. He is bent on destroying those who stand before God’s face, on ruining their reputation, and on sowing seeds of suspicion about them. But by this time, that will no longer be possible. The camp of the saints has already passed through death. These are victorious, resurrected people with glorified bodies. The kingdom they establish will be an eternal kingdom, and it will never be taken from them.

Now we can understand why the rest of the dead cannot come to life yet. They have not overcome. If they were raised up when Satan was released, they would have been deceived again. It is actually a blessing that they are not resurrected at that time.

Usually when Satan is unable to achieve his ends by deception, he kills and torments people, but this time he makes a fatal blunder. He advances so far that he besieges the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but now his day of reckoning has come. “And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Rev. 20:9-10.

In the first battle at Armageddon, before the millennium, it will be Satan’s son, the Antichrist, who will take the lead; but in this battle, following the millennium, Satan himself will lead. This will be his last chance, and it will lead him into the lake of fire forever and ever.