Putting An End To Satan, Once And For All

When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison... Revelation 20:7

For the past 1,000 years, the earth will have been enjoying near perfect paradise. Jesus will have been living and ruling here on earth from Jerusalem, with the church at his side. We will have been experiencing an earth that is like the garden of Eden from top to bottom, with not a single trace of unpleasant weather or uninhabitable terrain as far as the eye can see. There will have been no hunger, no fear, and almost no death at all, much less premature death. However, I say "near" perfect, because the propensity for sin will still exist, not in those who have already come to know the Lord either before or during the tribulation, but in the generations who will be born during the Millennial Kingdom to the Jews and Gentiles who accepted Christ during the tribulation. And it is this propensity for sin that will sadly give Satan one last foothold before he is done away with for good...

He will go out to deceive the nations--called Gog and Magog--in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for a battle--a mighty army, as numberless as the sand along the seashore. Rev. 20:8

There are two separate battles which are referred to as the war of Gog and Magog. One is the attack that will come against Israel, as described in Ezekiel 38-39, which we discussed in a previous post. The other is this battle at the end of the 1,000 years. Though we see that, much like the quickly thwarted attack of Ezekiel 38-39, there isn't much of a "battle" to speak of here either...

And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God's people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them. Rev. 20:9

And what of Satan?

Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Rev. 20:10

Forever and ever! Those words are SO important! It is of course a great comfort and joy to know that Satan will no longer be a threat to anyone ever again and that his fate is sealed; he will spend eternity in hell. BUT, it is so important to understand that this place of very real, excruciating, unending torment, which was created NOT for people, but solely for Satan and his demons, will also be the final destination for anyone who chooses, either by outright opposition or passive indifference, to reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!

And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books... And all were judged according to their deeds... And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11-15

To be judged according to your deeds is not a balancing game of weighing the "good" against the "bad" and hoping you measure up enough to get into heaven. Without Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, you can do no good. Heaven cannot be bought or earned. It can only be accepted as a free gift from Jesus Christ. To not take this seriously, or to reject it entirely, is foolish beyond explanation. Don't wait a moment longer to make this decision for yourself OR to share your faith with the world around you, starting with your closest family and friends. We just never know how much time any of us have left on this earth.

As we near the end of this series, I encourage you to take a look back through any of the posts that you may have missed under the label prophecy. I also encourage you to share this series, or maybe just one post, with anyone in your life who is feeling the weight of the times in which we are living and is wondering what it all means. 


If you have doubts or questions about whether or not hell is real and what the Bible has to say about it, I encourage you to check out the book Erasing Hell by Francis Chan.

The weight of hell and the reality that many of our loved ones may face can be overwhelming. "But take heart!" Jesus tells us. "I have overcome the world!" John 16:33. Next week, we see the new Jerusalem and the beginning of eternity in heaven with Jesus!