(An excerpt from Revelation Volume 4, available in late 2018.)

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 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: and after that he must be loosed a little season” (Rev. 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 shut 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….

After the Savior’s death on the cross, a seal was placed on the stone at the entrance of Christ’s tomb. Matthew 27:66 tells us, “So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.” On resurrection morning though, the seal was broken and the stone was rolled away, because Christ had conquered the grave. That seal could never have kept Him in that tomb. He is “the Resurrection, and the Life” (John 11:25). He is the “Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending…which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8).

A “seal” will be set upon the devil when he is shut in the bottomless pit. He is powerless to break that seal, demonstrating that he is a created being. If Satan could break this seal, he absolutely would. 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 and “delivered…from the power [authority] of darkness, and…translated…into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 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 upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more.” Isaiah 14:12 says that he “weaken[s] the nations,” and he does this by his deceptions. Satan will be sealed in his prison, giving blessed relief to the earth and its inhabitants by his absence. He is the one “which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9). With Satan locked up, the whole world will be set free from his deceits and wiles.

After the 1000-year phase of Christ’s earthly kingdom is “fulfilled… he must be loosed a little season.” Satan will not be rehabilitated during his 1000-year sentence. God reveals to us that Satan’s nature will not change even after 10 centuries of confinement. He will remain proud, defiant, and at enmity against God. His hatred of God will only burn hotter after the 1000 years. By Satan being 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” (Rev. 20:8).

The loosing of Satan for a short time is part of God’s sovereign plan: “he must be loosed” (v. 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. After 1000 years of peace and righteousness, with the world as it should be, will they “have this Man to reign over” them (Luke 19:14)? The answer from the unbelieving world will be a resounding “No!”

Many think that the world can be fixed through politics and human government. If we just get this political ruler or that political ruler in office, then everything will be all right. It’s a gross understatement to call that wishful thinking. Even when the perfect Ruler reigns over the world for 1000 years, the world will still choose evil. Even if the world were all that it could be, people would still reject Christ. It all stems from the heart of mankind and shows that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9).

Christ can change the heart. For us under grace, when we trust in Christ, believing that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Cor. 15:3,4), God creates a new nature in us (2 Cor. 5:17). By this “inward man” being “renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16) through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, Christ can transform our hearts and lives (Rom. 12:1,2).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

This article is an excerpt from the booklet Everybody’s a Somebody in the Body of Christ, by Pastor Kevin Sadler, based on episode 6 of the TV series, Transformed by Grace.

“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the body?” (1 Cor. 12:14-19).

These verses in 1 Corinthians 12 teach that each and every member of the Body of Christ is vitally important. Nobody’s a nobody. Everybody’s a somebody. Each has an essential role.

Many of the Corinthian believers were not happy with their gifts, and many in the church wanted a gift that someone else had. Paul says “the Body is not one member.” That is, we simply cannot all hold the same position in the Body. God has graced different people with different abilities, and God in His wisdom and sovereignty has placed each of us in the Body where we will be the most useful for Him: “God set the members…as it hath pleased Him” (v. 18).

The “honourable” / “less honourable” and “comely” / “uncomely” members (v. 23) that Paul refers to is from man’s point of view (“which seem,” v. 22; “which we think,” v. 23). From God’s vantage point, all members of the Body of Christ are important and necessary.

“Sir Michael Costa, the celebrated conductor, was holding a rehearsal. As the mighty chorus rang out, accompanied by scores of instruments, the piccolo player — a little pint-sized flute—thinking perhaps that his contribution would not be missed amid so much music, stopped playing.

“Suddenly, the great leader stopped and cried out, ‘Where is the piccolo?’

“The sound of that one small instrument was necessary to the harmony, and the master conductor missed it when it dropped out. The point? To the conductor, there are no insignificant instruments in an orchestra. Sometimes the smallest and seemingly least important one can make the greatest contribution. Even if it doesn’t seem to make that big a difference to the audience at large, the conductor knows it right away!

“In the church, the players and the instruments are diverse — different sizes, different shapes, different notes, different roles to play. Like the piccolo player in Sir Michael’s orchestra, we often in our own sovereignty decide that our contribution is not significant. Our contribution couldn’t possibly make a difference, so we quit playing, stop doing that which we’ve been given to do. We drop out, but the Conductor immediately notices. From our perspective, our contribution may be small; but from His, it is crucial.

“I just have to believe I’m talking to some piccolo players who have dropped out of the orchestra for whatever reasons: pain, exhaustion, insecurity, criticism, laziness, misbehavior. Convinced that your contribution doesn’t mean a hill of beans in the bigger scheme of things, you have buried your talent in the ground.”¹

That’s what Paul says in verses 15,16; to paraphrase, “Should the foot complain that he is only a foot and not a hand, or the ear that he is not the eye?” That is, the foot is a part of the body, the ear is a part of the body, and they’re both needed. For a body to be a body, it must have different parts and diverse members. Similarly, as members of the Body of Christ, we have particular functions to perform. Our purpose in life should be to perform our separate functions as well as we possibly can, and in His strength for the glory of God.

God does not want us to envy other people’s gifts and positions in the Body of Christ, and He also does not want us to judge others who may have a different gift. Some are prayer warriors, some are evangelists, some are teachers, some are pastors, some give, some rule, some show mercy and compassion, some minister by caring for the poor, providing for the sick, or watching over the local church. We’re not all eyes, nor hands, nor feet, and we’re not all ears.

If we were all the one same part of the Body, like the eye, Paul says in verse 17, then how would we hear, and if we were all an ear, how would we smell? In other words, if we all had the same position in the Body, how would the Body work? How would we minister? It would not even be a Body as verse 19 shows. The diversity in the Body allows Christ’s Church to reach more people, to help more people, to minister to more people. The Church is most effective with its members faithfully performing the different ministries to which God has called them.

Notes:

1. J. Michael Shannon, contributor Preaching Today, accessed August 4, 2018, https://www.preaching.com/sermon-illustrations/illustration-service/. This source attributes the anecdote to a sermon by Richard Love entitled “Blowing Your Horn.”

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

This writer has often been taken to task for his alleged inconsistency in “eliminating” water baptism from God’s program for today while holding to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

This criticism is based upon the unscriptural assumption that baptism and the Lord’s Supper belong together in Scripture and in God’s program for the present dispensation.

Well, do we remember how a startling misquotation of Colossians 2:14 first led us to a study of this subject? A Bible teacher of some note had “quoted” the passage thus: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, that was against us, leaving two, baptism and the Lord’s Supper”!

This is pure—and unscriptural—tradition, for the fact is that the two are never linked together in the Scriptures and certainly not as ordinances for the Body of Christ. True Bereans will search the Scriptures as to these facts and be forever done with the notion that baptism and the Lord’s Supper belong together in the program of God.

Moreover, there are definite distinctions and even contrasts between the two.

Water baptism was an Old Testament ordinance.
The Lord’s Supper is a New Testament celebration.

Water baptism, like all ordinances, was “imposed.”
The Lord’s Supper never was imposed.

Water baptism was required for salvation.
The Lord’s Supper, never.

Water baptism was associated with our Lord’s manifestation to Israel.
The Lord’s Supper is associated with our Lord’s rejection and absence.

Water baptism denotes an unfinished work.
The Lord’s Supper speaks of the finished work of Christ.

Water baptism was a single act.
The Lord’s Supper is celebrated again and again.

Water baptism was not included in Paul’s special commission.
The Lord’s Supper was included in Paul’s special commission.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.