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The Captivity of Satan and His Angels, November 1
The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness
unto the judgment of the great day.
Jude 6
.
The earth looked like a desolate wilderness. Cities and villages, shaken
down by the earthquake, lay in heaps. Mountains had been moved out of
their places, leaving large caverns. Ragged rocks, thrown out by the sea, or
torn out of the earth itself, were scattered all over its surface. Large trees
had been uprooted and were strewn over the land. Here is to be the home
of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years.
Here he will be confined, to wander up and down over the broken surface
of the earth and see the effects of his rebellion against God’s law. For a
thousand years he can enjoy the fruit of the curse which he has caused.
Limited alone to the earth, he will not have the privilege of ranging to other
planets, to tempt and annoy those who have not fallen. During this time,
Satan suffers extremely. Since his fall his evil traits have been in constant
exercise. But he is then to be deprived of his power, and left to reflect
upon the part which he has acted since his fall, and to look forward with
trembling and terror to the dreadful future, when he must suffer for all the
evil that he has done and be punished for all the sins that he has caused to
be committed.
I heard shouts of triumph from the angels and from the redeemed saints,
which sounded like ten thousand musical instruments, because they were to
be no more annoyed and tempted by Satan and because the inhabitants of
other worlds were delivered from his presence and his temptations.
To God’s people the captivity of Satan will bring gladness and rejoicing.
Says the prophet: “It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall
give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard
service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this parable
against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and say, How hath
the oppressor ceased! ... Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the
scepter of the rulers; that smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke,
that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.”
Verses 3-6
, R.V.
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