Satan Loosed for a Little While

Post by **_Father_of_five** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 12:35 pm

I have often pondered about the "Little While" that Satan is to be loosed that is written about in Rev 20. Recently I thought of an alternative explanation of this that I had not heard before. This alternative fits more into the "Universal Salvation" camp than it would the traditional thinking. Here is a summary:

The binding of Satan is referring to Christ conquering death through His resurrection. We are told in Heb 2:14-15 that the Devil once had the "power of death" but that Christ came to destroy him. Through Christ's death and resurrection Satan has been stripped of this power of death.

The 1000 year reign refers to the part of one's lifetime that he/she is a follower of Christ. He "has part" in Christ's (the first) resurrection through being born again and reigns with Christ for the rest of his/her lifetime.

At the end of the 1000 years (their lifetime) Satan is "loosed," which simply refers to the physical death of the follower of Christ. But this loosing of Satan only lasts for "a little while" because at Christ's return all are resurrected.

The "rest of the dead" don't live again until the 1000 years are finished. This simply means that if they are not followers of Christ during their lifetime they are spiritually dead and will not "live" until the resurrection at Christ's return. Instead, while they are spiritually dead during their lifetime on this earth, they are "cast into the LOF" which refers to the endless conviction of the Holy Spirit at work in their hearts.

I realize that this will not "fit" most (if not all) of your belief systems, but I thought I would share it anyway because it seems to me a valid possibility. Paul also speaks of the "reign of death" in Rom 5. Any thoughts or comments are welcome.

Todd

Post by **_Paidion** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:40 pm

Any thoughts or comments are welcome

I'm not so sure my thoughts and comments will be welcome.

I think your "explanation" is a total spiritualizing of scripture so that the words no longer have their intended meaning but an invented meaning.
I think the authors would have been shocked if they had known that the day would come when their statements would be interpreted in this way.

Post by **_djeaton** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 4:48 pm

I agree with Paidion. (It *does* happen on occasion.

) If the text was just going to say that one day we all die, there would have been no reason for such confusing symbols and such. I believe the text was written in such a way that the audience that it was addressed to would understand it. I'm pretty skeptical about "new" views. They suggest that God was not able to properly show centuries of believers the truth of His Word and left them in a state of ignorance.
D.

Post by **_Father_of_five** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:35 pm

I certainly expected disagreement. But none have offered a different explanation. What do you think the "loosed little while" is referring to?

Todd

Post by **_djeaton** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 6:42 pm

Father_of_five wrote:I certainly expected disagreement. But none have offered a different explanation. What do you think the "loosed little while" is referring to?

I believe that during the 1,000 years, Satan will be limited, at least to some degree. I believe that in order for people at the end of those 1,000 years to have a clear choice between God and not-God, that Satan will be freed from those limitations in order to make his "best case".
D.

Post by **_STEVE7150** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:09 pm

I certainly expected disagreement. But none have offered a different explanation. What do you think the "loosed little while" is referring to?

I give you another "A" for effort Todd. But i think the 1,000 yrs is symbolic for the period between Christ's advents and for a short period of time before Jesus's second coming , Satan will be loosed to deceive the nations and deceive as many people as he can. We may be in this period of time right now.

Post by **_Father_of_five** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:53 pm

STEVE7150 wrote:But i think the 1,000 yrs is symbolic for the period between Christ's advents and for a short period of time before Jesus's second coming , Satan will be loosed to deceive the nations and deceive as many people as he can. We may be in this period of time right now.

But the loosening does not occur until the 1000 years are finished. How could we possibly be in that time now?

Todd

Post by **_Father_of_five** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 7:57 pm

djeaton wrote:I believe that during the 1,000 years, Satan will be limited, at least to some degree. I believe that in order for people at the end of those 1,000 years to have a clear choice between God and not-God, that Satan will be freed from those limitations in order to make his "best case".
D.

What's your belief about the 1000 years? Are we in it now? Also, practically speaking, when Satan is freed from his limitations what form will his "making his best case" take?....can you give some more insight as to what this will be like?

Todd

Post by **_Sean** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:00 pm

Father_of_five wrote:What do you think the "loosed little while" is referring to?

It could be this:

2 Thes 2:6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders

He is restrained (i.e. bound for "a thousand years") until the time comes when he will no longer be restrained (this could be the little season that occurs after the "thousand years" are over and satan is released) but this period of time comes to an end when Jesus returns and kills him with the breath of His mouth at his appearance (Rev 20:9, 2 Thes 1:7-10)

Post by **_djeaton** » Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:53 pm

Father_of_five wrote:What's your belief about the 1000 years? Are we in it now? Also, practically speaking, when Satan is freed from his limitations what form will his "making his best case" take?....can you give some more insight as to what this will be like?

Honestly, I don't know. I'm comfortable with not having it all figured out. The way I see it, if it was really important and something that I really needed to know, it would have been elaborated upon a bit more. It is interesting and entertaining to speculate on it, but I don't find it as overly important in the big scheme of things. But just because I don't have all the answers doesn't mean that I believe over spiritualizing it is the answer.
D.