27. Satan's Last Battle
Chapter 27 Satan’s Last Battle Elephant Versus Spider
Every good story has a happy ending. God was the inventor of happy endings, so the story of the battle with Satan also has a happy ending. But this is not fiction or a fairy tale. God is truly going to end the story of Satan by making all things new again. But first, we need to remind ourselves that this battle is mostly OUR battle with Satan, and not so much a battle for God. It’s hard to call it a battle for God, when God is able to get rid of Satan with a single word—and he is simply choosing to delay the time when he is destroyed. It would be like saying it is a battle between a spider and an elephant! It’s kind of a silly word picture, but it helps us understand that Satan really does not have a chance of winning.
We know that Satan truly is God’s enemy and fights against him in every way he can. But for God, the battle is more about helping mankind to win the fight against Satan. If we expand the use of our word picture here a little more, mankind is like an ant in the spider’s web. Mankind has been deceived and trapped in Satan’s web. The elephant could easily knock down the spider and trample him, but instead he chooses to help the ant beat the spider. So, the elephant becomes an ant in order to help the ants do battle with the spider. God became a man to save other “ants” from the “spider.”
Why Did God Not Destroy Satan Long Ago?
Why will God not completely destroy Satan at the beginning of the Millennial kingdom? He could do it at any time if he wanted to. But instead he will only imprison him. It looks as if God has one more job for Satan to do. So after the 1000-year reign, God will release Satan from the Abyss and allow him to gather an army to fight against Christ and his kingdom. In this way, God will use Satan to gather up all the rebellious people of the earth who are willing to follow Satan as their leader, and then God will judge them. Again we see how God uses Satan as his servant to judge the unbelievers.
Satan Is Released And He Gathers An Army
Revelation 20:7-9 says: “Now when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out todeceivethe nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to bring them together for the battle. They are as numerous as the grains of sand in the sea. They went up …and encircled the camp of the saints and the beloved city…”(NET) Who Are These Unbelievers That Satan Gathers Together?
Let’s consider who these rebels are. We know that only believers will be allowed to enter the kingdom. So they will not be part of this huge army that turns against Christ. So who else could it be? We already noted earlier that those who have not yet received new resurrection bodies will have children during the kingdom and repopulate the earth during the kingdom. So it looks like some of those children who are born during the 1000-year kingdom will grow up and will need to make a choice who they will follow. Just like Adam and Eve had to choose to trust God or Satan, these people will need to choose whom they will believe in also. The verse above says that Satan will go out and “deceive” these people. They have not been tempted by Satan for 1000 years. God wants them to make a choice also—to choose to do the right thing and follow Christ rather than listen to Satan’s deceit. Those who choose not to trust Christ will believe Satan and rebel against God during this last battle. Satan will gather them to fight against the true King and his people.
God Will Defeat The Last Of The Rebels Who Follow Satan The names Gog and Magog possibly refer to the leader and the country that Satan will use to lead this army. But when Satan gathers these rebels, it will be a huge army that will come from every part of the earth. There will be so many, it will be like the grains of sand on the seashore when they come and surround Jerusalem, the city God loves. Jerusalem is the city from which Jesus will rule the earth. It will be the center of his kingdom. The people in Jerusalem might very well be terrified of such a massive army, but Jesus won’t be frightened. Satan’s power and his huge army will be like nothing in God’s sight. The Bible says that God will send fire from heaven and burn the whole army (Revelation 20:9), and then the last of Satan’s followers will be done away with.
Satan’s Death
Revelation 20:10 says: “...And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are too, and they will be tormented there day and night forever and ever.” (NET) This is a great verse! Satan the deceiver will finally be thrown down into the lake of burning sulfur (hell) and will never be able to leave! There is no release from the lake of fire, ever. The antichrist and the false prophet will still be there, where they will have been for 1000 years. So now the three of them will suffer and be tormented day and night forever.
We know that Jesus defeated Satan at the cross, but God has allowed Satan to remain all these years and has used him as his servant both to punish rebellious sinners and also to strengthen believers. But finally, after the Kingdom, God will be done with Satan, so he will be thrown into hell (Revelation 20:10). Then Satan will no longer be able to deceive anyone ever again. The mighty Satan will be totally powerless. He will never again rule a kingdom as before. All his power will be gone and his eternal punishment will begin. Then we will see the final fulfillment of the prophecy made long ago: the serpent’s head will be finally crushed! AMEN!
Judging Demons 1 Corinthians 6:3 says: “Do you not know that we will judge angels?”
It seems likely that this verse is referring to fallen angels, meaning that we will judge the demons. That is because good angels don’t sin, so there’s probably nothing to judge. But angels that have followed Satan and rebelled against God will be judged in the end times, probably when Satan is finally judged. Those are the same demons that we are doing spiritual battle with now, and it looks like God in his amazing wisdom and justice has chosen us to someday judge them. We don’t know for sure how that will work—only God knows—and he will reveal that later. Some believers may be concerned that we won’t know how to judge demons. But we need to remember that after Christ comes, we will have new bodies and brand-new minds that will know how Christ thinks, so he will enable us to do this work together with him. The Bible doesn’t really give us many details of the judgment of Satan and his demons, but it looks like the time of Satan’s judgment will also be the time when all the demons will be thrown into lake of fire (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). Their judgment was planned and prepared long ago.
Matthew 25:41 talks about the “...eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
It’s an amazing thing to see how God’s justice works—to think that humans who have been trampled under the feet of Satan’s kingdom for so long will actually be allowed to reverse that. It seems that through Jesus we believers are somehow involved with ‘crushing the head of the serpent.’
Romans 16:20 says: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
Jesus Destroys The Last Enemy: Death The Heavens And The Earth Will Be Burned In Revelation 20:11-15 we read about the final judgment on the earth. But first it says that “The earth and the heavens fled from God’s presence, and there was no place for them.” This probably means that God will totally burn or melt down the old earth and heavens in preparation for the new (2 Peter 3:10-13; Matthew 24:35). From the time of Adam, this earth has been full of sin and pain and death. Death has reigned as a king over this earth, and so God is going to burn everything and make a brand-new fresh start by removing the old.
Final Judgment: The Great White Throne Judgment—For Unbelievers
Christ will sit on a Great White Throne and judge one last group of people. In verse 12 they are called “the dead,” because it describes those who are spiritually dead people. These are all the unbelievers from the beginning of time to the end—they are followers of Satan. Also, they are called the dead because they have not been resurrected until this time. They are not part of the “first resurrection” group who are believers and are raised before them (Revelation 20:5). These are all unbelievers so they will experience the “second death.” But first they must be resurrected.
Revelation 20:13 says: “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them...”
What are ‘death and Hades’ in this verse? ‘Death’ here is referring to the physicalbody of those who have died and been buried in the ground. And ‘Hades’ here is referring to the spirits of these unbelievers and where they go when they die. Hades is a place of torment where the spirits of unbelievers go and wait until their resurrection and final judgment (Luke 16:23). So in the end, these two, ‘death and Hades,’ will be united to be cast into hell—God will resurrect all the bodies of unbelievers and reunite them with their spirits for their final judgment. Again, these are onlyunbelievers. Believers will not be judged here because they will have been resurrected already—before the Millennial Kingdom. We read about that earlier in Revelation 20:6 where it says:
“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”
Most of the unbelievers probably will have died on land so their bodies decayed in the ground, while others may have died in the sea. But no matter where their bodies decayed, God is able to raise up those bodies again and unite them again with their spirits so they can be judged. Then they will experience the “second death.”
God Will Use Written Records To Show People Their Own Sin The Bible says that Angels will open books that have recorded all of the deeds of “the dead.” We don’t know much about these books, but God is showing us here that there is a record of everything that has been done, whether good or bad. These records will be used as a witness against unbelievers and might even determine the degree of their punishment. We can see from this that God is always just. He already knows that these people will be sent to the lake of fire, but he will not judge them randomly or without a fair trial. He will show everyone plainly why they are condemned. Nothing will be hidden—everything will be exposed, and even if they had been dead for hundreds of years, the record books will show everything, so people will see exactly how their own sin condemns them. Again, these people are called the dead because they are spiritually dead—they are unrepentant and have not trusted God to save them. They have not believed in Christ and so all their sin is still unforgiven and still against them. Christ will judge each person individually, and each one will be without excuse (Romans 1:18-23) because we know that even just one sin would be enough to condemn them (James 2:10). In the end, they are all guilty. Will Good Deeds Help Unbelievers Avoid Judgment?
What about their good deeds? Will these people’s good deeds be able to help them? No. The Bible calls their works “dead works” (Hebrews 9:14) because these people are not spiritually alive. They have not been born again. And besides, none of these people will be called righteous by following the law.
Romans 3:19-20 says: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so thatevery mouth may be silencedand the whole world held accountable to God. Thereforeno one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” This verse and others clearly show that trying to keep God’s law and doing good deeds will not make someone righteous enough in God’s eyes. We know that good deeds have value with God, but they cannot save anyone (Galatians 2:16). No matter how much good someone has done, even one sin by itself would be enough to condemn them—just like Adam and Eve, because God is perfectly holy. People are not righteous unless they have trusted in Christ and his grace for them. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7). The Book Of Life Will Testify Against Those Who Haven’t Believed
Yes, when the books are opened it will be obvious to everyone, and especially to God, that all these people at the Great White Throne judgment are sinners. But the big question is whether or not they have become righteous by believing in Christ. So another book will be opened to determine that. This book is called the Book of Life (Revelation 20:12; Revelation 20:15). In that book is recorded all the names of everyone who has believed in Christ as their Savior. And since none of these people have believed in Christ, their names will not be in that book. They are called spiritually “dead,” because they do not have eternal life, so they will all be cast into the lake of fire (hell).
Satan’s Followers Will Follow Him Into The Lake Of Fire
Everyone in Satan’s kingdom will perish along with Satan. Those who follow Satan in life will follow him in death too. God will say to them,
“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
Hell or the lake of fire is an eternal fire. It’s called the second death because those people have previously died physically. But then their body is resurrected again and united with their spirit in order to stand before God at the judgment. Then after their judgment they will experience a second death. This second death means eternal separation from God. This is the final death (Revelation 20:6; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8). Some people think that hell will be a fun place to be with all their friends, and they think they can leave hell at a later time, but that’s not true. Death means total separation—separation from God and other people. There are no parties in hell, and it is permanent—and there’s no coming back (Luke 16:26-31).
God Destroys Satan’s Final Power—Death Itself
1 Corinthians 15:24-26 says: “Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” When God finishes the last judgment, no one else will go to the lake of fire. Everything on earth will be made new and full of life. Jesus will have totally defeated Satan’s last power over mankind—the power of death and the fear of death.
Hebrews 2:14-15 says: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he mightbreak the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
After the Great White Throne judgment and the removal of the curse of death on the earth, there will be no more power of death over mankind. All Satan’s powers will be gone and God will make all things new.
New Earth And Heavens
Revelation 21:1-4 says: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. And I saw the holy city — the new Jerusalem — descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: "Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more — or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (NET)
Long ago, Satan deceived Adam and Eve, and they became sinners and were forbidden to eat from the Tree of Life. But in the end, the Tree of Life will again be on the earth and everyone will be able to eat from it freely, forever.
Revelation 22:1-2 says: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood thetree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”
It’s true! Jesus will finally and completely remove Satan and death and all other enemies. So we believers will be able to live joyfully with Jesus our King forever and ever. Finally, heaven and earth will be rid of Satan forever. What a wonderful ending to a true story!! May God be praised and glorified forever! Amen!