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Satan Loosed from His Prison, November 25
When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his
prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
quarters of the earth.
Revelation 20:7, 8
.
At the close of the thousand years the second resurrection will take
place. Then the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear before
God for the execution of “the judgment written.” Thus the revelator, after
describing the resurrection of the righteous, says: “The rest of the dead lived
not again until the thousand years were finished.”
Revelation 20:5
. And
Isaiah declares, concerning the wicked: “They shall be gathered together,
as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and
after many days shall they be visited.”
;
Isaiah 24:22
.
Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the supremacy. While
deprived of his power and cut off from his work of deception, the prince of
evil was miserable and dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised and he
sees the vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he determines
not to yield the great controversy. He will marshal all the armies of the
lost under his banner and through them endeavor to execute his plans. The
wicked are Satan’s captives. In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule
of the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his suggestions and to do his
bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not acknowledge himself
to be Satan. He claims to be the prince who is the rightful owner of the
world and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him. He
represents himself to his deluded subjects as a redeemer, assuring them that
his power has brought them forth from their graves and that he is about to
rescue them from the most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ having
been removed, Satan works wonders to support his claims. He makes the
weak strong and inspires all with his own spirit and energy. He proposes to
lead them against the camp of the saints and to take possession of the City
of God. With fiendish exultation he points to the unnumbered millions who
have been raised from the dead and declares that as their leader he is well
able to overthrow the city and regain his throne and his kingdom.
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