Question 7
What is the ‘great chain’ that binds Satan?
Bible
Revelation 20:3
"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: and after that he must be loosed a little season."
Answer
The great chain that binds the devil is a chain of circumstance, not a literal chain. Since there are no longer anyone living humans on earth, Satan and his angels are the only ones left alive on earth during the 1000 years. Therefore, Satan is "shut up" and unable to "deceive the nations" during the 1000 years. He and his angels have no one to tempt or deceive; this is the circumstance that binds him. Other texts in the bible that speak about the 1000 years when the earth will be empty are found in Isaiah 24:1 and Jeremiah 25:33. See below>
