“Has Satan Been Bound?“ (Mark 3:27; Revelation 20:3)

 What is God Like? – How Can We Know for Sure? – Part 8

 By Richard Allen – August 11, 2025

At the end of Part 7 “Rulers of Darkness” of this Blog Series, I asked some honest questions about Satan’s standing, authority and power since Jesus died and rose again to the right hand of the Father. As we observed, the Son of the Woman portrayed in Revelation 12 (Jesus) was confronted by the “Dragon” (Satan) who sought to devour Him, but was “caught up to His Father’s Throne” (Revelation 12:5). Even Dispensationalists admit that this passage refers to past events, accomplished at Christ’s First Advent. As mentioned in the previous blog, Satan had access as “the accuser of our brethren” prior to Christ’s atonement. But now, he can no longer accuse Christians as he was able to before Calvary. You may be asking: “What other changes did Satan suffer as a result of Christ’s death and resurrection 2,000 years ago?”  Regarding Satan’s power, influence and standing - there are three major accomplishments from Christ’s Atoning Death and Resurrection, to God’s right hand: 1). Satan “can no longer accuse Christians before God.” 2.) Satan was “cast out of God’s presence in heaven, down to earthly and spiritual realms” (he is the lord of the dead), and 3.) Pertaining to the Gentiles, “he has beenu bound so he might not deceive the nations any longer,” (Revelation 20:3).

Let me stress that Jesus is now reigning, “all authority in heaven and earth being given unto him” (Matthew 28:18), and has sent forth His Apostles to “take out from the Gentiles a people for His name” (Acts 15:14). If we are able to grasp the significance of these truths – it will go a long way to helping us understand what Jesus meant when he predicted: “I saw Satan fall like lightning” (Luke 10:18). What exactly did Jesus mean, sending out the 70 other Disciples to cities and towns where He himself would go – including Galilee and Samaria.  It’s ironic that Jesus did not prevent the 70 from going to the Gentiles or Samaritans, as He had prohibited the Twelve Apostles when He sent them out (Matthew 10:5). This is the context of Jesus’ response upon the return of the 70. In fact, Jesus says that by these 70 Disciples healing the sick and casting out demons – the Kingdom of God had come! Initially, Jesus sent out the 12 Apostles to the 12 Tribes of Israel. Later He sent out the 70 Disciples to Gentile areas, the Son of Man signifying that He was re-establishing His rule and reign over the 70 Gentile Nations as recorded in Genesis 10.

Jesus sending the 70 Disciples to Gentile lands showed that Satan’s goods, the Gentiles who had been “blinded by the god of this world, without hope, and strangers to the covenants of promise” (Ephesians 2:12), were to be brought near by the blood of Christ. We Gentile believers today – living for the past two millennia of the Christian Era, might fail to grasp how huge this change has been for non-Israelite nations. Paul uses very strong language to describe the blessings now available to Gentiles.  The historic interpretation of the Church for many centuries was – in order for the Kingdom of God to come upon the Gentiles, Jesus had to disarm the “strongman,” who is Satan – so Jesus could “plunder his goods.” In order to grasp the significance of this plundering, we need to understand the position of non-Jews, prior to the first advent and work of Christ. Paul describes our condition apart from Christ as quite perilous:

“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:  But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:12-20).

Prior to the Apostles going into “all the world, teaching all men to observe and obey the Gospel” (Matthew 28:18 - 20), for a Gentile to have a relationship with God was seldom seen.  Rahab the Harlot, Ruth the Moabitess and Naaman the Syrian, are just a few who are recorded.  Since the call of Abraham, God showed favor to one people on the earth – the Jewish people – to whom He entrusted the very “Words of God” (Romans 3:2). God proclaimed to the Israelites through the prophet Amos, their favored status: “You only have I known among all the families of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for all your wrongdoing” (Amos 3:2). We Gentiles were separated, outside the Covenants of Promise, alienated from God and without hope. Our sin and rebellion through our father Adam had put us under the “curse of God,” and by default, we Gentiles were clearly left under the sway of the “evil one” and his minions. While instructing the Church at Corinth, Paul made it clear that the “so-called gods” carved from wood and stone, were nothing in themselves.  In a “spiritual sense” we Gentiles were offering sacrifices to demons, and not to God! 

 ^“Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to    demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons” (1 Corinthians 10:19-20).

In this one verse, Paul acknowledges that their dumb idols made of wood, stone or jewels are nothing – just inanimate physical material – but spiritually, we Gentiles are under the dominion of the “strong man,” Satan and his demons! Jesus’ coming to live a righteous life and die a vicarious death in our place, changed all that!  He bound the strongman Satan, taking away his power over us! Paul told the Church at Colossae:

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:14).

“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31). 

“For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13).

These are just samples of Scriptures we could reference. Because Satan had been disarmed, Paul could tell the Roman Church: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The “Strongman has been bound, and no longer has full sway over the Gentile nations.” As John the Apostle tells us: “The accuser of our brethren has been cast down” (Revelation 12:10). I will cover Revelation Chapter 20 more fully in another Blog Series, “Fighting for Real Estate.”  For now, suffice it to say, that many of our modern Bible commentators have falsely connected Isaiah 11, “the Lion laying down with the lamb” to Revelation 20, creating an earthly millennial kingdom in which at least one third of Fallen Mankind will be allowed to take part. Gee, I wonder what could possibly go wrong with that mixture---? By their fanciful ideas, they have fashioned an almost perfect reign of Jesus on earth. I say, “almost perfect,” because in their own theological system, at the end of Jesus’ 1,000-year reign: The strongman (Satan) will be unbound. Then, even after Jesus’ perfect millennial reign,” Satan will once again easily deceive the nations – allowing fallen men to once again reject Jesus’ rule and reign – as all four corners of the whole world attack the “camp of the saints.” So wonderful (?) will this millennial age be, that according to these Bible commentators “Jesus will have to destroy all of mankind” with fire from heaven upon His return (Revelation 20:9).

Remember, the only consequence of “Satan being bound” according to Revelation 20:3 is: “So he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years are ended.” From what I’ve already mentioned about the plight of Gentile Nations prior to Calvary and Pentecost, it should be clear what no longer deceiving the nations means contextually: “Fallen demonic-controlled-kingdoms would be plundered of men and women who would “believe on Jesus and be filled with God’s Spirit!” While there has been ongoing opposition to the Church as she “preaches the Gospel to a fallen world,” Jesus clearly promised us that “the gates of hell would not prevail” (Matthew 16:18). They can oppose all they want, but in the Kingdom Age of the Spirit, the “unstoppable Gospel is going forth, conquering men and setting them free from the bondage to sin!”  Those who know history are also well aware of the “Christianizing effect” of the Gospel on the Pagan world. The world is still under the influence of the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), but his goods – i.e. the souls of men – are being plundered daily. Nor is there a “universal opposition to the city of the saints, that is the Heavenly Jerusalem, of which Jesus’ followers are already a part (Hebrews 12:22).

In our day and age, shallow men have turned John 3:16 – a wonderful verse when understood in its context – into the lens through which all of Scripture must be interpreted.  They have turned the “Holy God of Scripture into a Love God,” a well-meaning deity who only wants to love us and tell us how special we all are. They insist that God is no longer the Old Testament God of wrath and hatred toward sinners (Psalm 5:5; Matthew 7:23). Furthermore, they imply that Jesus came to make God love and forgive us. The sad truth is, prior to Christ’s atoning work on the cross – and God the Father raising Him from the dead – seating Him at His right hand, then inaugurating the “age of the Spirit” – all Gentiles (save a few) were eternally lost. The nations, under the control of Satan – the lord of the dead and his kingdom of the dead and dying – were completely deceived. As this blog series has shown, since the fall of Adam and Eve, the first murder by Cain – and all the children of Seth (except Noah) drowning in the great flood – mankind, energized by Satan’s lie, has continued to eat from the forbidden “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Sadly, our race has only known evil, deception and death.  Shortly after Noah’s flood, at Babel, the descendants of Noah sought to “create their own access to God.” Prior to Jesus’ first advent, Satan thoroughly deceived the nations, keeping men from the knowledge of the God who made them. It was into this fallen world that God gave a promise that “by Abraham’s Seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. That Seed was Christ!" (Galatians 3:16), the one who bound the strongman in order to plunder his goods!

Soli Deo Gloria!