What is meant by Satan being bound for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1–3)?

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while” (Rev. 20:1–3) This angel who came down from heaven, has authority over hell, and is able to lay hold of and bind Satan is a symbol of the angel of the covenant: our Lord Jesus (Mal. 3:1) who came down from heaven and was nailed to the cross for the sake of humanity, having wiped out the handwriting of iniquity that was written against us. Thus, the devil has no place in us, and thus the believer is able to trample on Satan and his power. And as the Holy Bible says:¹²⁰⁰

“… now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31).

“Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2:14–15).

“And He said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you’” (Luke 10:18–19).

“Because the ruler of this world is judged” (John 16:11).

1199 See Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, The Book of Revelation , trans., Victoria Malaty and Ramzy Malaty (Sporting, Alexandria: St. George’s Coptic Orthodox Church, 1996): pp. 219–226.

1200 See Fr. Pishoy Kamel, The Millennium (Our Orthodox Church Faith, no. 3) (Arabic).

There is much evidence in the New Testament that reassures our souls; not that the character of the devil has been restricted, but rather that his authority has. For he is no longer able to rule over a person, so long as he does not have a part in that person’s heart. But if a person chooses to implant something of the devil into his own heart, then he himself has surrendered himself to the enemy. Many are the writings of the early Church that give the believer hope and courage to fight the devil without fear or unrest, reassuring him that with the cross he binds and destroys Satan.

St. Augustine says, “It was then for the binding of this strong one that the apostle saw in the Apocalypse ‘an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a chain in his hand. And he laid hold,’ he says, ‘on the dragon, that old serpent, which is called the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,’—that is, bridled and restrained his power so that he could not seduce and gain possession of those who were to be freed.”¹²⁰¹

The duration, “a thousand years,” can be understood in two ways:

• a. The struggling Church lives in the day of “the Lord”; that is, the Sabbath of rest. This is the day which began with the resurrection of the Lord and never sets, such that the saints enjoy endless rest as they pass from their strife to eternity, the extension of their lives here. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years [2 Pet. 3:8]; thus the duration of this “day” is called “a thousand years.”

• b. The thousand years refer to the fulfilment of time since the resurrection of the Lord; that is, since the Lord entered the strong man’s house and plundered his goods (Mark 3:27), enabling his children to strive against Satan, who no longer has power until the coming of the antichrist when the devil will be released “to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24).

However, a few denominations scorn this interpretation, asking: How can you say that Satan is bound when we see him working? Surely, he will be bound in the future? Others of our Protestant brothers, especially Lutherans, have refuted this view, as we shall now see.

For example, Charles Erdman says that our Lord and His disciples used words stronger than ‘bondage’ and ‘imprisonment’ to describe the effect of Christ’s saving work on Satan, for He said, “The ruler of this world is judged” [John 16:11]. Joseph S. Exell , in The Biblical Illustrator , presents the views of many Protestant interpreters who vehemently insist that, for the true believer, Satan is presently bound.

St. John Chrysostom says, “since if we would but only change, we have Him to assist us. And if you are desirous to become good, there is none to hinder us; or rather there is one to hinder us, the devil, yet has he no power, so long as you choose what is best, and so attract

1201 St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God 20.7 (NPNF I/2:426–427).

God to your aid. But if you are not yourself willing, but start aside, how shall He protect you? Since not of necessity or compulsion, but of your own will, He wills you to be saved.”¹²⁰²

St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “The soul is self-governed: and though the devil can suggest, he has not the power to compel against the will. He pictures to you the thought of fornication: if you will, you accept it; if you will not, you reject. For if you were a fornicator by necessity, then for what cause did God prepare hell? If you were a doer of righteousness by nature and not by will, wherefore did God prepare crowns of ineffable glory? The sheep is gentle, but never was it crowned for its gentleness: since its gentle quality belongs to it not from choice but by nature.”¹²⁰³

St. Mark the Ascetic says, “The thoughts of the devil are merely impressions on the mind of an evil thing (or action). What enables them to take control of us, or at least, to approach our minds, is the weakness of our faith. For, having received the commandment, let us cast away from us every entanglement and guard our hearts with utter vigilance (Prov. 4:23). Let us seek the kingdom of God that is within us, for the mind has abandoned the heart and abandoned the goal for which we strive, and thus cleared the way now for the fantasies of the devil, and the mind has become lax and admits any evil counsel. But until now, the devil has no authority to manipulate our thoughts, or else he would never have had mercy on us but would have inserted into our minds every kind of evil thought, depriving us of any good. No, he is limited to merely being able to offer false counsel at the beginning of every thought, and it is our heart that chooses in which direction it will tend: whether to tend towards his counsel, or to the counsel of God, for these two are contradictory.”¹²⁰⁴

St. Dorotheos of Gaza says, “This is the power of the mystery, and this is the reason for which Christ died: to bring us, the dead, back to life; and to bring us back from Hades to His love and compassion. And now we have the ability to return again to Paradise, and our enemy no longer has any power as he had before, Satan no longer takes us as his slaves.”

And St. Irenaeus says, “For the Lord, through means of suffering, ‘ascending into the lofty place, led captivity captive, gave gifts to men’ (Ps. 68:18; Eph. 4:8), and conferred on those that believe in Him the power ‘to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy’ (Luke 10:19; Mark 16:17–18), that is, of the leader of apostasy.”¹²⁰⁵