The Angel with the Chain

The Binding of the Dragon

Revelation 20:1-15

¹And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

²And he laid hold on the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

³And he 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.

⁴And I saw thrones and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their foreheads or on their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

⁵But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

⁶Blessed 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.

⁷And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

The Angel with the key and great chain in his hand is none other than the ministry of Christ preaching the gospel in the early morning time of the church. The Key is the knowledge of the Word and The Chain is the binding and loosing power of the Spirit.

The Bible gives us the key (knowledge) to this symbol.

¹⁸And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

¹⁹And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."

The anointed preaching of the gospel bound the Dragon (Pagan Rome), and through the gospel of Christ, they showed the believers of the early morning church that the Dragon, (Pagan Rome), was none other than a idolatrous religious system called the devil, that old serpent, (that is just what a dragon is, a big serpent), and that the religious system was none other than an tool of Satan out to destroy the Church of God.

The fact that the Dragon was bound a thousand years shows us the his power and influence in the world of the morning time church has eroded. This angel cast the dragon into a bottomless pit, that is, the church of God ministry showed us the Paganism is a religious system with no biblical foundation, We know that Christ is the foundation of his church, The bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:9 – 12;

For we are laborers together with God; ye are God's husbandry; ye are God's building.

¹⁰According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

¹¹For no man can lay another foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Now when the devil (Paganism) saw that it was defeated, the old adage kicked into place, “If you can’t be them, join them”. The Dragon system embraced chrisitianity, and went to church, but let me keep my old lies and idols, (When Constantine the Pagan Roman Emperor) became a Christian the persecution stopped. The lies and false doctrines began to plague the Christian church. Which brings us down to this day.

The devil is doing a great work among the religious professors of our day. Seeing that he has a short time, and that the masses of the people have not accepted the plain teaching of the bible, He has devise, a futurist theory to offset millions into believing that there would be a time when men would experience a future full of hope and expectations full of carnal delights; and this plan is highly promoted in three doctrinal phases, namely

Reincarnation, the doctrine of Paganism; (Heb 927)
Purgatory, which is a doctrine of Catholicism (Lu. 16:19-31)
The Millennium Reign, the doctrine of Protestantism (2 Cor 6:1,2)

In order that you understand the steps of this futuristic theory, we decided to point out the error of one of the most propagated doctrine of our time that you may know the real truth instead, and that doctrine is the millennium reign doctrine.

Before I can show you the true interpretation of Revelation 20^th chapter, the refuge of lives must be swept away.

What does the Millennium Reign Doctrine teach?

The Rapture of the Church; that is the stealing away of the church unnoticed, and this could occur any moment.

First of all there is no stealing away of the church unnoticed, the fact that He is coming as a thief, is simply showing us the suddenness of His appearance.

Also to prove he isn’t stealing away anyone I shown in Acts 1:9-11; Rev 1:7

( every eye shall see him)

The First and Second Resurrection; is when the dead in Christ is caught up with the living in Christ during the rapture, right before the tribulation period, and the second resurrection will take place after the 1000 year reign.

First, of all the first resurrection theory, based on the scripture from Revelation 20:6 is not rightly divided by those who propagate this doctrine.

The First Resurrection is the deliverance from a dead state of sin. John 5:24-29, 1 Timothy 5:6, Eph. 2:1; rom6:4,5; Col3:1.

The Second resurrection is the bodily resurrection from the grave, Note: the first John 5:24-27; and now the second; John 5:28,29.

When we are saved from, sin, the second death have no power over us. Rev. 20:14, 15. (Which is the lake of fire)?

The Great Tribulation; is a time after the rapture, in which the gospel will be preached again for seven (7) years, (The Seven years of Great Tribulation) During this time there will seven years of distress and world sorrow, during which time the Anti-Christ will rise to power as a world dictator, and the first 3 ½ years could be a time of peace and second 3 ½ years, a time of great sorrow upon earth during which tie God will judge the nations and bring Israel back or restore the Jews to their own land of promise by persecution, but they will be saved in the end.

First, the land of Israel was restored back to the Jews in the year 1967.

Second, this great tribulation, which is also at the center of their false teaching, has already past. In A.D. 70 Titus, The Roman Emperor and his army marched on Jerusalem and destroyed the city and the temple (See. Matthew 24:1– 4). “The Abomination of Desolation”.

Third, there will never be a future tribulation period after Christ’s coming, so the gospel can be preached to the Jews. 2 Corinthian 6:1,2; Romans 9:1-8; 11:1-7,25 -27.

Fourth, there is no biblical foundation for this seven (7) year tribulation theory.

Fifth, there is no bible foundation for this Anti-Christ or World Dictator. 1 John 2:18-26; 1 John 4:1-6; 2 John 7-11.

Where did the Millennial Theory come from?

This theory was first introduced under Christianity by Cerinthus, who was the worst heretic of the first century. The church historian Eusebius has preserved a fragment of writing from Caius, who lived in the second century, and who thus describes the doctrine of Cerinthus: “But Cerinthus too, through revelations written, as he would have us believe, by a great apostle, brings before us marvelous things, which he pretends were shown him by angels; alleging that after the resurrection the kingdom of Christ is to be on earth, and that the flesh dwelling in Jerusalem is again to be subject to desires and pleasures. And being an enemy to the Scriptures of God, wishing to deceive men, he says that there is to be a apace of a thousand years for marriage-festivities.” “One of the doctrines that he taught was, that Christ would have an earthly kingdom.” Caius evidently believed the Scriptural doctrine that the kingdom of God was set up at Christ’s first coming; there he brands Cerinthus as an “enemy of the Scriptures, wishing to deceive men.”

Now, Cerinthus lived in the days of the apostle John. Irenaeus, who was born A.D. 120, states that while a boy he often sat at the feet of the venerable Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna (who was a disciple of the Apostle John), and listened while that aged disciple related incidents which took place in the earlier days of the apostles

(Eusebius: Ecclesiastical history, V:24). Among the things thus handed down, Irenaeus states that once while John was at Ephesus he entered a public bath to wash, and finding that Cerinthus was within, he rushed out of the building, exhorting the others to do the same, saying, “ Let us flee, lest the bath fall in, as long as Cerinthus that enemy of truth, is within.”—Eusebius Eccl. Hist., III: 28. Millennialist, like Cerinthus, claim that their doctrine is founded in the Apocalypse of Jesus, but that apostle rejected him as an “enemy of the truth”.

Millions of people have thus grasped the delusive idea that there will be after this dispensation another age of blessedness in which salvation-work will be effected. Such is a rank deception of the devil. “Now is the accepted time: behold NOW is the day of salvation.”

The Battle of Armageddon is when Christ and his army of heaven shall come and fight against the devil and the Anti-Christ and their powers.

The battle of Armageddon is not a literal battle as some suppose (the term Armageddon means “a place of slaughter”, spiritually speaking, this a type of when Israel fought her greatest victories, that of Barak over the Midianites (Judges 7^th chapter); Here also Deborah sang her was song (Judges 5^th chapter); Here also a great slaughter took place of Josiah the King (2 Kings 23:29). In the New Testament, this is a spiritual battle of truth against error. This battle is not fought with lead and steel as some suppose or Jesus charging on a literal white stallion with a real two edge sword killing people.