April 8 - Satan's Final Fling

April 8 – Satan’s Final Fling
Revelation 20:7-10

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

In Revelation 20:3, we read that Satan would be released from his bindings after 1000 years. When this happens, Revelation 20:8 tells us that he will go out to deceive the nations.

Who in the world are Gog and Magog? This comes from Ezekiel 38. Gog is the prince of a land called Magog, the epitome of evil. The punishment that God threatens to this man and his ‘hordes’ is all-encompassing. IN fact, in Ezekiel 39:12, it is said that the house of Israel will spend seven months burying all of them because there are so many.

The readers of John’s Apocalypse would recognize the story of God’s punishment of evil – great evil. He reminds them of the story from Ezekiel by using these names. Within a very short span of time, the nations of earth are once again deceived by Satan.

The end is near, though. Satan gathers all the people that are ready to follow him and marches to the city that God loves. This is more than likely Jerusalem, and God’s people are encamped there.

The population has increased throughout these thousand years to fill the earth once again. The battle in Revelation 19 was so great that the angel called the carrion birds to eat the flesh of the dead. But, in 1000 years, the earth would easily be repopulated and these people, though they had lived under the reign of Christ would still be susceptible to Satan’s lies and deceit.

But, once again, it is a battle that doesn’t happen. Satan’s army is devoured by fire. The devil – the deceiver is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, which already holds the beast and the false prophet. Eternity has begun for them.