Mission Venture Ministries

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) 

Scripture is the principal way by which God grows His children to spiritual maturity. We cannot expect to succeed in our walk of faith without immersing ourselves in it, because, God’s Word sets the believer’s course. It is our source of life (Matthew 4:4) and truth (John 17:17). The Bible is God’s inspired gift to us. The believer who pursues the instruction in righteousness found in God’s Word and applies what he learns will grow in holiness and avoid many pitfalls in life. 

Paul’s mention of “all Scripture” emphasizes the composite totality of God’s Word to His people. The believer who delights in God’s Word and meditates on it day and night is blessed. “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers” (Psalm 1:3). 

Let us take a look at what the book of Revelation reveals for the end times: 

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.” (Revelation 20:1-3). 

Satan will be seized and bound with “a great chain” by an angel, and then he will be hurled into the center of the earth and locked up in the pit. We are to take a literal interpretation of the Bible unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. That’s how God intended His Word to be understood and interpreted. When the Bible is not taken literally, our understanding of the Word is left to the opinions and imaginations of fallible mankind…. 

One reason we should take the Bible literally is because the Lord Jesus Christ took it literally. In the book of Revelation we read literally that it is “the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, everything that he saw” (Revelation 1:1-2). 

After the Savior’s death on the cross, a seal was placed on the stone at the entrance of Christ’s tomb. “So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard” (Matthew 27:66). On resurrection morning though, the seal was broken and the stone was rolled away, because Christ had conquered death. That seal could never have kept Him in that tomb because He is “the Resurrection, and the Life” (John 11:25); He is the “Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8). 

A “seal” will also be set upon the devil (Revelation 20:3) when he is locked up in the bottomless pit. But he is powerless to break that seal, demonstrating that he is a created being. If Satan could break this seal, he absolutely would and he will have 1000 years to try to break it, but he will fail. 

This contrast shows that we who believe and are on the Lord’s side are on the side of power, victory, and hope. Those who are outside of Christ are on the side of weakness, defeat, and hopelessness. By faith in Christ alone, the unbelieving can be rescued “from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13). 

The seal placed upon Satan ensures that he will no longer deceive the nations during the 1000 years of Christ’s earthly kingdom. As we read in Revelation 20:3, “and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.” Satan will be locked and sealed in his prison, giving relief to the earth and its inhabitants by his absence. With Satan locked up, the whole world will be set free from his deceits for 1000 years. 

After the 1000-year period of Christ’s earthly kingdom is fulfilled “he must be released for a little while.” God reveals to us that Satan’s nature will not change even after 1000 years of confinement. He will remain proud, defiant and at enmity against God, and his hatred of God will only burn more intensely after the 1000 years have passed. 

Once Satan is released, God also reveals that mankind doesn’t change either. After 1000 years, we see how susceptible mankind will still be to Satan’s deceptions and methods, as the number who are deceived and follow him will be “as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:8). 

The releasing of Satan for a short time is part of God’s sovereign plan – “he must be released” (Revelation 20:3). Everything God does is good and righteous and has a purpose. Mankind has a free will and, at the close of the Millennium, just prior to the eternal state, God gives the inhabitants of Christ’s earthly kingdom one last opportunity to believe in Christ or reject Him. 

Many think that the world can be fixed through politics and human government; rationalizing that if we just get this governor or that political ruler in office, then everything will be all right. Sadly this is not true since even when the perfect Ruler reigns over the world for 1000 years, in the end many will choose to be on Satan’s side (Revelation 20:8). Even if the world were all that it could be, people would still reject Christ validating what Scripture says that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). 

Only Christ can change the heart of those that trust in Him, when they believe that He died for their sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

The Bible is God’s Word to us and He meant it to be believed literally and completely as our verse states: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). 

Remember, the Bible is not just a book, rather, it’s a treasure house of truth that’s living and active, and it’s a fountain of living water and our source of strength. However, Scripture can only be profitable to us when correctly interpreted. We need instruction from the Holy Spirit (who leads us into all truth). And for Scripture to really be effective in conviction of sin, correction of error and training in righteousness, it needs to be applied to our lives. We need to align our lives to what God’s word says. Then we shall be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

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