Paradise on Earth

5. The Restraint of evil

Earth’s coming glory

Two very striking factors in human society which will become evident at the very beginning of the Millennium are the cessation of death and the restraint of evil. This second factor is one the import of which will only slowly begin to dawn upon people’s minds. There will become manifest the fact that much of the old incitement to evil thinking and evil doing, much of the old urge to speak words and commit deeds which are demonstrably immoral and hurtful, that incitement which in the old world that has passed away was called "temptation to sin," has gone. The external influence upon the mind which formerly led the man into realms of thought and conduct which he knew to be wrong but nevertheless willingly accepted is no longer there, and the more thoughtful will begin to ask themselves "Why is this? What has happened?"

The answer to the question, using Scriptural language, is that Satan has been restrained, "that he should deceive the nations no more." The allusion is taken from one of the visions of the Book of Revelation (ch.20:3), in which a mighty angel is said to descend from heaven at the dawn of the Millennium with a great chain in his hand, to lay hold upon Satan the Devil, to bind him with the chain and consign him to "the abyss" for the duration of that Age in order that he no longer exercise power over the nations, seducing them to sin. The interpretation of the picture is that our Lord Jesus Christ, the "mighty angel," at his Second Advent and assumption of kingly power over the earth, uses that power to restrain the Devil and destroy every vestige of his influence. The purpose is obvious. It is that people will no longer be handicapped in their endeavours to learn and practice right ways by the seductions and deceptions of the Evil One. No one who in this present time knows the power of evil suggestions coming in from outside will be other than immensely encouraged by the thought that in that Age such power will be there no longer.

It is true that the literal existence of an evil spiritual being, archenemy of God and man, is increasingly called in question nowadays, it being considered more rational to view Biblical references to Satan as alluding to the abstract principle of evil. To be tempted by the Devil, some think, is simply the natural human propensity to sin; to overcome the Devil, the suppression of that propensity. This suits the temper of a society which tends more and more to reject the supernatural and explain all things from the standpoint of human reasoning, but it does ignore the fact that most Bible references to Satan can only be read as denoting an intelligent super‑human creature whose nature is subordinated to evil and who is in a state of continuing rebellion against God. Moral responsibility cannot be attributed to an abstract principle of evil, only to an intelligent creature capable of both moral and immoral conduct. It is important to realise that evil was not inherent in human nature at the beginning; it was not even indwelling. The old medieval dogma that the flesh is basically corrupt and unclean is not true. When God introduced the first intelligent creatures upon earth He looked upon what He had made and pronounced it "very good." (Gen.1:31) Adam was perfect and sinless, capable of everlasting life whilst he so remained. The Eden story shows that sin was introduced from outside at the instance of an exterior agent in whom sin already resided. The kind of condemnation God passed upon that agent can only be understood logically if passed upon an intelligent being.

This "binding of Satan," to use the expression in the 20th chapter of Revelation, presupposes that he has possessed and exercised the power to deceive and instil evil thoughts and influences into human minds during our history. This supposition is confirmed by our Lord’s reference to him as the "prince of this world" and Paul’s "the god of this world" (John 14:30; 2 Cor.4:4). It is this power and freedom which will be taken from Satan throughout the Millennium. His personal freedom of movement, so to speak, may not be limited any more than will be the personal freedom of evilly disposed men on earth during that Age, but he will be powerless to reach their minds in any way.

One may begin to wonder at this point just what is the attitude of Satan himself to all this. How does he regard this well‑publicised fore‑view of his approaching restraint? After a very successful career of crime, what preparations, if any, is he likely to make to resist this threat to the continuance of his activities? The fact that the powers of evil have greater control and scope than they have ever had, except, perhaps, in the days before the Flood, may be held to indicate that he is more active than ever before. Many of the devices and acts of some today are characterised by a cold‑blooded ferocity and disregard for human suffering which can be said quite literally to be Devil‑inspired. The condition of human society in these closing days of the Age are evidence that the archangel of evil is still the "god of this world" and that his subjects still render him service. Does this mean that he expects that he can yet outwit God, though all the powers of Heaven be arrayed against him?

It may be so. It may be that Satan, a fallen being, separated from God by millenniums of sin, does not really believe that the threatened fate will materialise. The position is much the same with many among humankind. People today, in general, do not really believe in God. They have lost the knowledge of him, and with that any vital belief in his power or his interest in them. "If there is a God, he either does not care, or has no power to put right things that are wrong." That expresses the judgment of the natural man who has been separated from God by sin. Yet in the beginning they knew God, walked with God, talked with God. That is clear from the Genesis story. The same principle holds good in the case of Satan. Would it be surprising, therefore, if Satan, blinded by his own sin, considers that after all this time God is unable to accomplish his designs, and that sin can continue indefinitely on its apparently successful course.

If this hypothesis be well‑founded, the great enemy of humanity will continue with his plans, waging war against all that is holy and true and lovely upon earth, unbelieving until the hour has struck. In the heyday of his dominion, attendant angels carrying out his dark orders, the cry of his suffering prisoners going up to heaven, his power will vanish as one snaps off the electric light. Suddenly, he will find himself bereft of power, of influence, of an empire—alone! Too late, he will realise that the omnipotence of God has waited for this moment, and that his long course of rebellion against his Creator, with all its terrible consequences for humankind, has ended.

This, which takes place at the very beginning of the Millennium, the moment when Christ commences his reign over the earth and calls the living nations to yield him their allegiance, does not of itself abolish all evil. There is still in men’s hearts much that has to be cleansed away; that will be done under the Messianic reign. But this "binding of Satan" will be a major factor in the restraint of evil. This, more than anything else, will result in that awareness among men that something has happened which creates an entirely new attitude to wrong‑doing and injustice and sin. The minds of men will no longer be assailed by inducements to wrong‑doing and to that extent they will be the more susceptible and responsive to inducements to right‑doing.

It is worthwhile to pause for a moment to consider this effect on the minds and the hearts of humans at this time. The fact that a great deal of the injustice and cruelty and barbarity inflicted upon each other is due to the direct instigation of Satan is not always realised, nor yet that the complete removal of his influence over them will of itself effect a drastic change in their thinking and actions in this respect. This realisation was clouded in older times by the doctrine that people were inherently sinful and that in their flesh dwelt no good thing; in modern times that belief has been replaced by the pseudo‑scientific assertion that crime and evil‑doing generally is not a vice but a disease, one that could be cured by some medical treatment if such treatment could be discovered. It has to be admitted that when one looks on the world today the fact is evident that the necessary treatment has not been discovered. Both theorems are fallacious: humanity was not created sinful and sin is not a disease. A great part of the evil in the world today is directly due to the influence of the Devil over the minds of individuals and this fact is abundantly supported by Scripture.

Perhaps the classical instance is that afforded by the words of Jesus. In the well‑known parable of the wheat and tares (Matt.13), in which the Son of Man is the one who sowed the good seed which eventually produced the good harvest, "his enemy came and sowed tares (darnel, a pernicious weed) ...and went his way." (v.25) Eventually the tares had to be rooted up and burned. Here is seen the active intrusion of a malignant intelligence attempting to disrupt the work of Christ. In another word‑picture, that of the Sower (Mark 4), Jesus spoke of the good seed being sown in the hearts of men, and "Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts." (v.15) It does seem, too, that there is a more intense sense in which Satan can enter into and take possession of the heart of a person who is willing, and so can use them for evil. At the time of the Last Supper it is related of Judas the betrayer that after having received the piece of bread from the hand of Jesus, "Satan entered into him" (John 13:27); this follows the plain statement that "The Devil…put into the heart of Judas Iscariot…to betray him." (John 13:2). Similarly Jesus said to Peter by way of warning "Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." (Luke 22:31). Maybe something of this stirred Peter’s memory when at a later date he taxed (accused) the guilty Ananias with the solemn accusation "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" (Acts 5:3) In all these cases it is evident that the great Enemy can and does infiltrate the human heart for evil.

There will then, in the dawning years of the Millennium, when the living nations carried over from the old world are becoming accustomed to the new order of things, be a tremendous feeling of relief that the inducements to evil so powerful in that old world have passed away. Individuals will still have enemies in their own hearts, enemies to right doing born of the degradation of their own characters while in this life, the faults and failings they have developed and nurtured in bygone years, but they will become conscious that there is no outside force trading upon those faults forcing them to greater depths. Instead, they will be conscious of a new, a beneficent influence, helping them to overcome those same faults and leading them to new heights of which formerly they had no conception. The prophet Isaiah (35) speaks of a "Highway of Holiness" (v.8) along which the ransomed of the Lord will travel toward the Holy City, "with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." (v.10) It is in this spirit and with this incentive that people will apply themselves assiduously to the rehabilitation and renovation of the earth, restoring the waste places and rebuilding the desolate heritages, as Isaiah again puts it, that it might be the fitting home for ever‑living man that God has intended from the first.

Of course, evil will not be completely eliminated at once. The effects of a lifetime cannot be eradicated in a moment of time. Repentance, conversion, submission to Christ and finally dedication of life to him is a process and there are steps in that process which must needs be taken in sequence. Habits die hard, and even though Satanic influence and temptation is restrained what is sometimes called "the old Adam" will be sure to break out now and again even though the individual is beginning to make progress away from such things to a better relationship with his fellows. Scripture says of that time nothing "shall not hurt nor destroy" (Isa.65:25) but how is that going to work out in the beginning of the blessed day? How prevent a person taking hasty action, action which they may sincerely regret the moment after, but which nevertheless could have a hurtful effect upon another?

One of the characteristic features of the Bible is the manner in which questions relating to the operation of Divine power in the earth are sometimes answered, not by direct explanation, but by the recapitulation of historic incidents which illustrate the principles involved. Consideration of the relevant incident yields the answer. Here is a case in point and it takes us back to the days of Jeroboam the first king of the Ten‑Tribe nation of Israel after the death of Solomon. (1 Kings 13) Jeroboam had set up an idol altar for his people and was setting the example by ministering before it himself. To him came a prophet of the Lord who pronounced Divine judgment upon the apostate. Enraged, the king stretched out his arm toward the prophet and commanded his men to apprehend him...the arm remained immovable, rigid as a rock, and the frightened king besought the prophet that he might be released and receive back the use of his arm.

What God has done once He can do again. It is quite on the cards that violence and wrong‑doing toward others in that day will be non‑existent purely by the expedient of rendering the would‑be aggressor powerless in the moment of the effort. It should not be long, in such circumstances, for the most violently inclined to "get the message."

All this means that perhaps by the end of that possibly half a century during which the nations carried over from this present Age are getting used to the new order of things, there will be such a reaction in favour of right living and such a visible diminution of the power of evil in the world that the earth will already have become a much better place in which to live. Nature will have clothed the barren places, the deserts will be blossoming, the slums of the cities will have disappeared and people be living in healthier surroundings. Above all, the Christian gospel will be increasingly proclaimed with power. It will not only be the adherents of non‑Christian faiths whose distorted ideas of God will be progressively brought into line with a true knowledge of God and the saving power which is in Christ; much of the so‑called Christian world has almost as much a distorted idea of God and his ways, in other directions. The time will have come for the fulfilment of the Apostle’s words "God…will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim.2:3‑4)

With Satan bound, the practice of evil restrained, the earth beginning to yield its increase, and men and women increasingly turning to listen to The Voice that speaks from heaven, the stage is fully set for that great event which of all events in the Millennium is the most spectacular, the return of the dead.

To be continue
AOH