which takes place after false religion has been wiped out by the political rulers and which war, in turn, wipes out all politics on earth and those who stubbornly hang on, trying to perpetuate man’s sovereignty. Although the “wild beast,” representing the political organization of earth, got its authority from the Dragon (Rev. 13:2), the Dragon is unable to back it up and support it for success and salvation in the war of Armageddon. Because the great issue of universal sovereignty is between Jehovah God and Satan, God purposes that Satan will get to see his entire earthly seed destroyed, knowing that he personally must be next to come into direct clash with the heavenly commander of God’s armies. His earthly “seed” will be destroyed before he faces the bruising of his head.​—Gen. 3:15.

The destruction of Satan’s visible political organization means the finale of the “time of the end” that began when the Gentile Times ran out in the year 1914 C.E. (Dan. 12:1, 4; Luke 21:24) To clean up the universe the only need left after that is to put Satan and his demon hosts out of action. Since this is a heavenly act it is undoubtedly the greatest part of the cleanup work. Can it be done?

Well, in 1914, when God’s Messianic kingdom was set up in the heavens, the first act of the newly enthroned King was to start war against this enemy of God to hurl him and his demons down to the earth, cleansing the heavens. There the angelic forces under Michael, which is the heavenly name of Jesus Christ, were victorious. Since that time the wrathful Dragon and his demons have made it their prime business to “wage war with the remaining ones of [the woman’s] seed, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus.” Their efforts are more than ever concentrated because these invisible enemies of God can no longer have access to the heavens.​—Rev. 12:3-17.

In 1914 Jesus Christ ended his nineteen-hundred-year-long wait at God’s right hand and took up the long-promised Kingdom authority. He went forth subduing in the midst of his enemies, first conquering by hurling the demons out of heaven and later to conquer by completely crushing all the visible earthly seed of the Dragon. (Ps. 110:1-6; Rev. 6:2) These enemies have made it hard on the remaining ones on earth of the 144,000 who are to be kings in heaven with Jesus Christ. Additionally, they have made it hard upon the great crowd of persons who have given heed to the good news of the Kingdom as proclaimed by the woman’s seed and who have taken up the proclamation of the Kingdom themselves, hailing the King enthroned. But right up through the battle of Har–Magedon Satan is powerless to crush them out. Har–Magedon completed, there will be no danger to these faithful ones on earth.​—Rev. 7:9, 10, 15.

LAST, A HEAVENLY BINDING

But there would be danger to them if Satan and his invisible demons were left to war against them. Therefore, John, in the vision, describes the next step to be taken: “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After these things he must be let loose for a little while.”​—Rev. 20:1-3.

Who is the angel, here unnamed, who has the key to the abyss and who comes down out of heaven to bind the Devil? He must be one of tremendous power, for he accomplishes the binding of Satan without any help. We know that it is harder to bind a strong man than it is to overcome and kill him in combat. Let us identify this angel, for it is important to our understanding.

Since Satan has seen all his earthly seed go, the rest of the prophecy of Genesis 3:15 has to be fulfilled: his head must be bruised. Who is the one to do the bruising? The prophecy says the seed of the woman. In the fight just preceding this, namely, Har–Magedon, none other than the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ himself, in command of Jehovah’s invisible army, destroyed the wild beast and the false prophet and gave the bodies of the kings and military commanders as food for the birds of heaven. (Rev. 19:11-21) It was the same one, the archangel Michael, who hurled Satan and his demons out of heaven earlier, 1914-1918. Therefore, it is unreasonable to think that it would be anyone less than the Son of God Jesus Christ himself who would be assigned to such an important task, one requiring such great power.

WHERE THE DISTURBER IS PUT

Are the demons also defeated along with their leader Satan even though they are not mentioned here in the Revelation vision? Yes. This is in harmony with the custom of mentioning only the leader of an army as losing a battle, the understanding being, of course, that his army actually lost under his leadership. When Jesus was on earth as a man, the unclean demons entreated him not to order them into the abyss. (Luke 8:31) Jesus is the starlike One who has the “key of the pit of the abyss.” (Rev. 9:1) He himself went into the abyss when he died but was raised out of it by his own Father, Jehovah God, on the third day and was given the keys of death and Hades. (Rev. 1:18; Rom. 10:7) Therefore all the evidence points to him as the one whom Jehovah uses to bind Satan and to throw him with his demons into the abyss and shut it and seal it over him, “that he might not mislead the nations any more until the thousand years [are] ended.” He is the mightiest angel of all, the angel of angels, the archangel Michael.​—Dan. 12:1; Jude 9; 1 Thess. 4:16; Luke 11:20-22.

Why is it that it is the abyss, not Sheol or Hades, into which the angel or messenger of God, Jesus Christ, hurls Satan? For the reason that Hades or Sheol is the common grave of dead humans and is in the ground of our earth. Satan and his demons are not earthly, visible, but are of a different nature, angelic or spirit. The binding and hurling into the abyss will consequently be something invisible to the eyes of the survivors of the war of the great day of God the Almighty. Already these invisible spirit persons have been cast out of heaven and no one on earth saw this, for it was something in the invisible realm. When Jesus was in the abyss he was dead, unconscious, out of action. The condition of Satan and the demons when they are in the abyss means that they will be in the condition of deathlikeness, likely an unconscious state, with no ability to do anything at all to disturb mankind and mislead the nations into captivity to form another oppressive system of things such as we see today.

A THOUSAND-YEAR REBUILDING PERIOD

According to the Bible timetable, man’s history on earth has been nearly 6,000 years. Adam was created in 4026 B.C.E., which means that six thousand years of human history end about the fall of 1975 C.E. We are in the great 7,000-year rest day of God, starting at the time he rested after the creation of Adam and Eve. There are, therefore, a thousand years left to run. Without Satan and his demons to disturb mankind it will indeed be a restful time. It will be like a sabbath. In a way it will be a sabbath within a sabbath. The last thousand years of God’s great seven-thousand-year rest is a special sabbath over which the Son of man will be Lord.​—Matt. 12:8.

Since Satan is to be loosed along with his demons for a “little while,” by the end of this sabbath millennium mankind will have to be considerably changed, so that Satan will be unable to influence them so easily to take the course of wickedness that past history records. They will have to be helped so that they are able to withstand the final test at the loosing of the Serpent and the demons. This work, therefore, is to be done during the thousand-year reign of Christ. During his rule righteousness will be in the earth and the people will be taught righteousness. Christ and his 144,000 associate kings and priests will minister to mankind and raise them up from the imperfect state in which desires of the flesh have such a hold upon them. They will be able to make over their personalities and arrive at physical perfection. But as we go on farther into the Revelation prophecy we get much more detail and enlightenment on this, for the blessings that God has in store for mankind when the Great Disturber is out of the way are greater than man by his own reasoning can conceive.​—John 5:22, 28, 29; Acts 17:31; 2 Pet. 3:13; Eph. 4:22, 23.

Questions From Readers

● According to Luke 22:37, Jesus was to be “reckoned with lawless ones,” in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12. Are Christ’s disciples to be viewed as the “lawless ones” because some were carrying swords?​—A. F., U.S.A.

No, it does not appear that Jesus’ followers, even though they had two swords at that time, were the “lawless ones.” Rather, this portion of Isaiah 53:12 was fulfilled when he was impaled between two criminals. By examining the context of Jesus’ words we can better understand the point he was making. Luke 22:35-38 reads:

“He also said to them: ‘When I sent you forth without purse and food pouch and sandals, you did not want for anything, did you?’ They said: ‘No!’ Then he said to them: ‘But now let the one that has a purse take it up, likewise also a food pouch; and let the one having no sword sell his outer garment and buy one. For I tell you that this which is written must be accomplished in me, namely, “And he was reckoned with lawless ones.” For that which concerns me is having an accomplishment.’ Then they said: ‘Lord, look! here are two swords.’ He said to them: ‘It is enough.’”

The Lord was spending his last night with the disciples before his death. He realized that, once he was arrested and executed, conditions would change for them. When he had sent them out before, they had been welcomed and provided for by the people, but, in general, things were going to be more difficult now. (Mark 6:7-11) From this time forward they would not be welcomed by the majority, but would be rejected and scorned. Consequently, they would have to make some provisions for themselves.

After stating what their situation would be in the future, Jesus explained to his disciples why things were going to change; he gave them the reason. It was because he was to be killed, taken away like a transgressor and executed with lawless ones in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:12. The “lawless ones” were not the disciples to whom he was speaking, but, instead, were the evildoers between whom Jesus was impaled. (Matt. 27:38) Some manuscripts