As an opening statement consider that –
Pr 16:7 ¶ When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. (KJV)
It is helpful to understand also that the Bible tells us that the End/Goal (Teleo 5055) of our faith is Salvation, 1 Pet 1:9.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end (Teleo 5055) of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
To understand this parable a person needs to understand that Satan is bound by God when an individual Christian is obedient and loosed when they are disobedient.
To understand this parable the reader must view the Thousand Years as the “obedient Christian life”.
The Greek word Teleo (End – Strongs 5055) is used three times in this chapter. Indicating the end of something has been reached. The word is used to indicate either the “end” of obedience or the “end” of disobedience.
Verses 2 and 3 begin with Satan being bound. We are told that He will not be loosed until the thousand years are fulfilled/ends (Teleo). Satan is loosed when a Christian’s obedience ends.
Verse 5 begins with Satan being loose to deceive the person. They do not live again (participate in the resurrected Christian life, Col 3:1) until the Christian’s disobedience ends and Satan is again bound.
In verse 5 Teleo is used to indicate that the dead (In sin) do not live again/experience resurrected life in Christ until the thousand years are finished/accomplished (Teleo).
Christians do not live the resurrected life until they are again obedient, Col 3:1
Verse 7 again indicates that when the Christian’s obedience or the millennium expires/ends (Teleo) Satan is again loosed to deceive them.
1 ¶ And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
The Thousand-year period or millennium (The Greek word appears to indicate “an undetermined number”) is representative of the Obedient Christian life.
During “the obedient Christian life” the Devil’s activity is limited (Satan is Bound) by God.
He is only allowed to tempt a Christian, Heb 4:15. In this way “Satan is bound” by God.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest (Jesus) which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled (Ends – Telos Strong’s 5055): and after that, he must be loosed a little season.
The first use of Telos (5055) is used here and refers to the ending of Christian obedience. In other words the Christian sins willfully.
The thousand-year period/obedient Christian life ends in the life of the individual when they willfully sin.
The man who sins or “Man of sin” is then revealed, 2 Thess 2:3.
2Th 2:3 ¶ Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
At that point the Devil is no longer restrained, and He is released under the Lord’s supervision to bring about the Christian’s repentance, 1 Cor 11:32. This point of “dreaded release or fearful expectation (Heb 10:27) is referred to as “The Day of the Lord”.
This is why Jesus can be called the “Lion (devourer) of the tribe of Judah”, Hosea 5:14-15.
Jesus oversees the activity of Satan in a believer’s life and causes this activity too, in the final analysis, benefit the Christian individual. This concept is the basis of Paul’s argument seen in Romans 5:18 through 6:2, which is summarized in the following paragraphs.
“Are we to go on in sin so that there may be more grace? BBE”
The answer is no, of course. Christians should not continue to sin so that God will give them more “Grace”.
What this means is that “Where there is sin” God always provides enough grace or power to deny the ungodliness (Titus 2:11-12) and to overcome the sin.
Ho 5:14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him.
Ho 5:15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction, they will seek me early.
It is shown here that without question “Confession” is the only requirement for forgiveness.
The ability to repent is called “grace” (Titus 2:11-12) and receiving it involves humbling oneself before God, James 4:6. Receiving grace from God follows the acknowledgment of the sin. After acknowledgement “repentance” is then granted or given to us by God, Acts 11:18.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them (they prevailed when they were judged or judgment was in their favor, Rm 3:4 and Matt 25:23): and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
The obedient Christians reign in this earthly life, similar to the way Jesus refused to sin during His earthly life. This is the first resurrection, Col 3:1.
Those Christians who are willfully sinful and dead in Christ do not live or participate in the victorious Christian life until they stop practicing willful sin.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.
The first resurrection/millennium is the victorious obedient Christian life, Col 3:1.
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
When the individual chooses to willfully practice sin they then become the “Man of Sin” or the “Man who Sins” referred to in 2 Thess 2:7.
Jesus no longer restrains the devil, and He is allowed to affect the person to a limited degree in order to bring about an end to the sinful behavior.
2 Thess 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie 12 that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness
This judgment (inflicted by the Devil) is designed by the Lord to bring about correction.
1 Cor 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog Refer to Eze 38 and 39), to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
When obedience “ends” the Christian then becomes “The Man of Sin”, and by sinning the person subjects themselves to delusion (2 Thess 2:11), or being deceived, and the processes indicated in Ezekiel Chapters 38 and 39 are set into motion.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
The fire of God in Rev 20:9 devours His enemies, but not before they have contributed to the Christian’s correction.
They are allowed to afflict the Christian to a limited degree in order to bring about their correction.
The thing that is devoured by the fire is not the Devil or the Christian but the Christian’s sinful or lawless tendencies as is shown in 2 Thess 2:8.
As Ezekiel 38-39 indicates some of the enemies of God are also converted during this correction process, Eze 38:16.
2 Th 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now until he is taken out of the way.
Jesus is the way and the truth, and when a Christians stop restraining themselves they go “out of the way”.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
They backslide and fall into willful sinful behavior.
This happens midweek (during the week) in the Daniel 9:27 parable, while Jesus is “confirming the covenant” with His people.
The phrase “The sacrifice is no longer offered” (Dan 9:27), means that Jesus is no longer asked for forgiveness, Heb 10:26.
The individual’s sin has become willful and He does not desire to repent from the offense.
Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
The judgment spoken of in Rev 20 and in 1 Cor 11:32 is seen to be for the purpose of assisting the believer in the development of an attitude that desires to repent of sinfulness. This illustrates how the Grace of God teaches a person to deny ungodliness or how to repent. The sinful Christian must confess an action to Jesus over and over again while recognizing its sinfulness until God grants them the ability to repent.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11 ¶ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
(KJV)