Amillenialism: Is Satan currently bound?

BandGuy

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So, my understanding is that Amills believe that we are currently in the millennium and that Satan is bound right now.  A few questions for those who believe this, with an ever growing wicked society, how could anyone believe that Satan is currently bound, or am I misunderstanding what you mean by Satan being bound.  I would really like to hear from an amiller is there are any here, please.

Thanks.
 
BandGuy said:
So, my understanding is that Amills believe that we are currently in the millennium and that Satan is bound right now.  A few questions for those who believe this, with an ever growing wicked society, how could anyone believe that Satan is currently bound, or am I misunderstanding what you mean by Satan being bound.  I would really like to hear from an amiller is there are any here, please.

Thanks.
JW's could feel free to chime in as well.

Anishinabe

 
I believe that the amil understanding of Satan's binding is that just because he is bound, that doesn't mean he cannot act.  He is still active in the world, but his activities are restrained, so that he can't do as much damage as he would otherwise be able.
 
Ransom said:
I believe that the amil understanding of Satan's binding is that just because he is bound, that doesn't mean he cannot act.  He is still active in the world, but his activities are restrained, so that he can't do as much damage as he would otherwise be able.
Yes, it depends on the particular amil and his explanation.

I would say that the binding is in relation to him not being able to "deceive the nations" (i.e. the Gentile ethos) any more. During the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Satan offered Him "all the kingdoms of the world" if He would bow down and worship Satan (Mat. 4:8). Not to say that Satan really owned the Gentile nations like the "ransom to Satan" theory of the atonement, but rather the Gentile nations were at the time "in the times of this ignorance" (Act. 17:30), and were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" whereas Old Covenant Israel was God's typical covenant people.

Mat 12:28  But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
Mat 12:29  Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.


When did this binding happen? At the Cross, when Jesus nailed the Old Covenant to the Cross and opened the floodgates of the New Covenant to the nations.

Joh 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
Joh 12:32  And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.


According to the ammillennial (and postmillennial) understanding, the binding of Satan in Revelation 20 is symbolic of Jesus' victory over Satan through the Cross and Satan no longer being able to oversee the blindness of the nations as the gospel spreads throughout the world. Satan can no longer "deceive the nations" as Jesus declared that "All power has been given unto Me... Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations."
 
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him..... And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more.................. and after that he must be loosed a little season."


Ok then, but when is this "loosing" going to happen?







 
Bob H said:
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him..... And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more.................. and after that he must be loosed a little season."


Ok then, but when is this "loosing" going to happen?
Supposedly, an "end-time apostasy" would be evidence that Satan is loosed for a season until Jesus returns.

Amillennialists could debate if we are in that season.
 
Bob H said:
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him..... And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more.................. and after that he must be loosed a little season."


Ok then, but when is this "loosing" going to happen?
How about after the thousand years that you left out?

Anishinaabe

 
BandGuy said:
So, my understanding is that Amills believe that we are currently in the millennium and that Satan is bound right now.  A few questions for those who believe this, with an ever growing wicked society, how could anyone believe that Satan is currently bound, or am I misunderstanding what you mean by Satan being bound.  I would really like to hear from an amiller is there are any here, please.

Thanks.

Being bound is simply a picture of being defeated.  Premills make it mean way more than was intended, as do some Amil's who try to strain interpretations of limiting the ability of Satan.  Simply put, he was defeated.  There are recurring pictures of the victory of Christ, which took place at the cross, and the subsequent victory stories that follow. 
 
Timotheos said:
BandGuy said:
So, my understanding is that Amills believe that we are currently in the millennium and that Satan is bound right now.  A few questions for those who believe this, with an ever growing wicked society, how could anyone believe that Satan is currently bound, or am I misunderstanding what you mean by Satan being bound.  I would really like to hear from an amiller is there are any here, please.

Thanks.

Being bound is simply a picture of being defeated.  Premills make it mean way more than was intended, as do some Amil's who try to strain interpretations of limiting the ability of Satan.  Simply put, he was defeated.  There are recurring pictures of the victory of Christ, which took place at the cross, and the subsequent victory stories that follow.
What is the thousand years that he is bound simply a picture of?

Anishinaabe

 
prophet said:
Timotheos said:
BandGuy said:
So, my understanding is that Amills believe that we are currently in the millennium and that Satan is bound right now.  A few questions for those who believe this, with an ever growing wicked society, how could anyone believe that Satan is currently bound, or am I misunderstanding what you mean by Satan being bound.  I would really like to hear from an amiller is there are any here, please.

Thanks.

Being bound is simply a picture of being defeated.  Premills make it mean way more than was intended, as do some Amil's who try to strain interpretations of limiting the ability of Satan.  Simply put, he was defeated.  There are recurring pictures of the victory of Christ, which took place at the cross, and the subsequent victory stories that follow.
What is the thousand years that he is bound simply a picture of?

Anishinaabe
The victory of Jesus.  The time period is not necessarily even a time period.  It is just a picture of the victory of Jesus.  If you want to stretch it or make it fit a time, I would put it between the times of Christ's first and second advents.  But I think that misses the picture John is painting.
 
AresMan said:
When did this binding happen? At the Cross, when Jesus nailed the Old Covenant to the Cross and opened the floodgates of the New Covenant to the nations.

Than how do you explain all the events in Revelation that take place before Satan is bound?  If you are right they must have taken place before Jesus was crucified.
 
theophilus said:
AresMan said:
When did this binding happen? At the Cross, when Jesus nailed the Old Covenant to the Cross and opened the floodgates of the New Covenant to the nations.

Than how do you explain all the events in Revelation that take place before Satan is bound?  If you are right they must have taken place before Jesus was crucified.
You are reading Rev as if it is a chronology of events.  Rather it is a collection of pictures with pretty much the same message behind all of them.  Evil will rule, saints will be killed, empires will be wicked, but ultimately Jesus will be victorious. 

This is how the genre of apocalyptic works.  Christians are the only ones who misreads this genre.  And it is mainly b/c we are so many years removed from it and coming from a western post-enlightenment mentality rather than an eastern pre-modern mindset.
 
I don't see the Millennium mentioned anywhere in scripture. It is a Pharisee teaching Jesus refuted in the gospels. John mentions 1000 years in Revelation 20, so people import their Pharisaic Millennialism into an interpretation. But 1000 is a symbolic number for a large number of anything in the Old Testament.
 
So John mentions "1000 years," but it's not a millennium? What is it then, dog years?
Scripture does not mention a millennium. It is a pharisee doctrine. Study the use of 1000 in scripture and import that as an interpretation instead.
 
Scripture does not mention a millennium. It is a pharisee doctrine. Study the use of 1000 in scripture and import that as an interpretation instead.
Repeating things over and over doesn't make it so!
 
Repeating things over and over doesn't make it so!
LOL, I thought about trying to help Dave understand that same thing a few posts back....

so glad it's not just me that was thinking there were a few too many macros flying round. 😁
 
LOL, I thought about trying to help Dave understand that same thing a few posts back....

so glad it's not just me that was thinking there were a few too many macros flying round. 😁
Too many Christians have sloppy hermeneutics and false beliefs...It's disconcerting to think they probably picked this up from some church they were attending, where the pastor has little to no Bible education.
 
Scripture does not mention a millennium. It is a pharisee doctrine. Study the use of 1000 in scripture and import that as an interpretation instead.
Restating your assertion is not an answer to my question. Figurative or literal, what is a "millennium" if not a thousand years? That's the actual etymology of "millennium," after all.
 
Restating your assertion is not an answer to my question. Figurative or literal, what is a "millennium" if not a thousand years? That's the actual etymology of "millennium," after all.
How do you assume that is what John speaks of when Jesus refuted it in the gospels time and again?
 
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