Parallel Powers (14) Satan’s Fate

Satan was bound by the cross. He was thrown into the Abyss, but he was not let out with the other spiritual powers of evil that escaped.

He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time (Rev 20:3)

When the time of the Kingdom is fulfilled, he will set be set free for a little season at the end of the age. He will gather the remaining evil spirits for a final rebellion against God.

When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them (Rev 20:7-9).

Satan will gather a horde of evil spirits for battle, but they will be destroyed by God’s power.

The devil will be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulphur

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur for ever and ever, where the beast and the false prophet shall be being tormented day and night (Rev 20:10).

The devil will be tormented with this other pair of powerful spirits who have been held there during the age of the kingdom.

Many other evil spirits will be there too.

Yet the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters and all the false ones—part of them in the fiery lake of burning sulphur, which is a second death (Rev 21:8).

These spirits might be the ones who are tormenting the big-name spirits.

The bible does not really tell us what happens to this remnant of the spiritual powers of evil, but John gives a clue. He says that the fiery lake of burning sulphur is “a second death”. He does not use the definite article, so this is not the second death. The second death is final destruction. However, the fiery lake of burning sulphur is a second death. John is also suggesting it becomes a final destruction.

In Revelation 22:1-5, John describes the final reality. There is a river of life, but no fiery lake of burning sulphur. This suggests that God has destroyed it, an along with the remnant of the spiritual powers of evil.

They will not be forgotten. John says,

The smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever (Rev 14:11).

Smoke hangs around long after the fire has gone. The memory of the Satan, the beast, the false prophet will survive into eternity as a reminder of what happens when free people rebel against God.