The End of Satan’s Kingdom
After Jesus rose from the dead, His disciples asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).
They were expecting Jesus to defeat the Romans and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
But Jesus told them to wait.
So for hundreds of years, the Romans persecuted the Christians, and Christians waited for Jesus to come, defeat the Romans, and rule the earth.
But then something unexpected happened.
Constantine, the emperor of the Romans, began to support Christianity. Actually, at that time there were many different kinds of Christians, and Constantine supported the largest group among these. Soon this branch of Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire.
In this situation, the majority of Christians began to believe that the Roman Church, united with the Roman Empire, was God’s Kingdom on earth.
And then Rome was conquered. So there were new ideas about the Kingdom, like, “The Kingdom is in your heart,” or “Jesus is the Kingdom.”
But actually, the first Christians were right. God’s Kingdom is a real kingdom—a government that will rule the earth—and it is not here yet (Isaiah 9:6-7; John 18:36).
Right now, Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31; Luke 4:5-7).
That is why the world is filled with war, greed, and suffering. Satan is the hidden force behind the governments, religions, and other systems of this world. And he wants to destroy humanity (John 8:44; Revelation 9:11).
But, at the sound of the last trumpet, Jesus will appear in the clouds, and angels will shout, “The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15).
Finally, Jesus will be King over all the earth.
And immediately, Satan will lead a rebellion against Christ. He will send demons, “performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Revelation 16:14).
The armies of the world will gather at Armageddon in northern Israel, and then, on the Day of Atonement, they will go to fight Jesus at Jerusalem. You can read about that battle in Revelation 19:11-21 and Zechariah 14:1-15.
After the battle, Satan will be locked up for 1000 years:
“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)
That will be the end of Satan’s kingdom. And suddenly, the world will be a very different place.
There will be no false gods to worship, because the demons will be locked up with Satan (Zechariah 13:2).
There will be no more religious deception, because Satan, the leader of this world’s religions, will be gone (Zechariah 13:3-5).
There will be no more corrupt leaders, because the rulers of the earth will be replaced by the saints (Psalm 149; Revelation 20:4).
People will still have much to learn, but they will not be constantly blinded and mislead by the devil.
Next week I’ll send 8 days of encouraging lessons showing what the Bible says God’s Kingdom will be like.
For today, here are two guides that will help you learn about the Day of Atonement and the end of Satan’s kingdom:
How to Celebrate the Day of Atonement
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