Thoughts on the Revelation.
VERSE 1. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. 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. The event with which this chapter opens seems to follow on in chronological order after the events of the preceding chapter. The inquiries that here arise are, Who is the angel that comes down from heaven? What is the key and chain which he has in his hand? What is the bottomless pit? and, What is meant by binding Satan a thousand years? 1. Is the angel here brought to view, Christ, as some have claimed? He is not. A bright ray of light is thrown from the old typical service direct upon this passage. Thus: Christ is the great High Priest of this dispensation. On the day of atonement, anciently, two goats were taken by the priest upon which lots were cast, one for the Lord, and the other for the scape-goat. The one upon which the Lord's lot fell, was then slain and his blood carried into the sanctuary, to make an atonement for the children of Israel, after which, the sins of the people were confessed upon the head of the other or scape-goat, and he was sent away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, or place not inhabited. Now as Christ is the priest of this dispensation, so, by arguments, a few of which we here introduce, Satan is shown to be the antitypical scape-goat. (1.) The Hebrew word for scape-goat, as given in the margin of Lev. xvi, 8, is Azazel. On this verse Jenks in his Comprehensive Commentary remarks, "Scape-goat. See diff. opin. in Bochart. Spencer after the oldest opinion of the Hebrews and Christians thinks Azazel is the name of the Devil; and so Rosenmire, whom see. The Syriac has, Azazel, the angel [strong one] who revolted." The Devil is here evidently pointed out. Thus we have the definition of the Scripture term in two ancient languages, with the oldest opinion of the Christians, in favor of the view that the scape-goat is a type of Satan. (2.) In the common acceptation of the word, the term, scape-goat, is applied to any miserable vagabond who has become obnoxious to the claims of justice; and while it is revolting to all our conceptions of the character and glory of Christ, to apply this term to him, it must strike every one as a very appropriate designation of the Devil, who is styled in Scripture, the accuser, adversary, angel of the bottomless pit, Beelzebub, Belial, dragon, enemy, evil spirit, father of lies, murderer, prince of devils, serpent, tempter, &c., &c. (3.) Our third reason for this position is the very striking manner in which it harmonizes with the events to transpire in connection with the cleansing of the heavenly Sanctuary, as far as revealed to us in the Scriptures of truth. We behold in the type, 1. The sin of the transgressor imparted to the victim. 2. We see that sin borne in by the priest in the blood of the offering, into the Sanctuary. 3. On the tenth day of the seventh month we see the priest with the blood of the sin-offering for the people, remove all these sins from the Sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of the scape-goat. 4. The goat bears them away into a land not inhabited. Answering to these events in the type, we behold in the antitype, 1. The great offering for the world, made on Calvary. 2. The sins of all those who avail themselves of the merits of Christ's shed blood, by faith in him, in that blood are borne into the Sanctuary. 3. After Christ the minister of the true tabernacle [Heb. viii, 2], has finished his ministration, he will remove the sins of his people from the Sanctuary, and lay them upon the head of their author, the antitypical scape-goat, the Devil. 4. The Devil will be sent away with them into a land not inhabited. This we believe to be the very event described in the verses under notice. The sanctuary service is at this time closed. Christ lays upon his head the sins of his people which have been confessed to the sanctuary, and are imputed to them no more, and he is sent away, not by the hand of the High Priest, but by the hand of another person, according to the type, into a place here called the bottomless pit. Hence this angel is not Christ. 2. What is the key and chain which he has in his hand? It cannot be supposed that this is a literal key and chain; hence they must be merely symbols of the power and authority with which this angel is clothed upon this occasion. 3. What is the bottomless pit? The original word signifies an abyss, bottomless, deep, profound. Its use seems to be to denote any place of darkness, desolation, and death. Thus in Rev. ix, 1, 2, it is applied to the barren wastes of the Arabian desert, and in Rom. x, 7, to the grave. But the passage which specially throws light upon the meaning of the word here, is Gen. i, 2, where we read that "darkness was upon the face of the deep." The word there rendered deep, is the same word that is here rendered bottomless pit; so that that might have been translated, "Darkness was upon the face of the abyss, or bottomless pit." But we all know what is meant by the word "deep" as there used: it is applied to this earth in its chaotic state. Precisely this we believe it means in this third verse of Revelation xx. At this time, let it be borne in mind, the earth is a vast charnel house of desolation and death. The voice of God has shaken it to its foundations, the islands, and mountains have been moved out of their places, the great earthquake has leveled to the earth the mightiest works of man, the seven last plagues have left their charred and blasting footprints all over the earth, the burning glory attending the coming of the Son of man has borne its part in accomplishing the general desolation, the wicked have been given to the slaughter, and their putrefying flesh and bleaching bones lie unburied, ungathered, and unlamented, from one end of the earth, to the other end thereof. Thus is the earth made empty and waste, and turned upside down. Isa. xxiv, 1. Thus is it brought back again, partially at least, to its original state of confusion and chaos. See Jer. iv, 19, 26, especially verse 23. And what better term could be used to describe the earth thus rolling on its course of darkness and desolation for a thousand years, than that of the abyss, or bottomless pit? Here we understand Satan will be confined during this time, amid the ruin which, though indirectly, his own hands have brought, unable to flee from his habitation of woe, or to repair in the least degree his hideous ruin. 4. What is meant by the binding of Satan? We well know that Satan in order to work must have subjects upon whom to work. Without these he can do nothing. But during the thousand years of his confinement to this earth, all the saints are in heaven beyond the power of his temptations, and the wicked are all in their graves, beyond his power to deceive. Thus is he bound being condemned throughout this period to a hopeless state of inactivity and imbecility. This to a mind that has been so busy as his has been for the past six thousand years in deceiving the world, must be a punishment of the most intense severity. We are well aware that some make huge attempts to grow merry over this exposition of the binding of Satan, by placing beyond his reach the subjects upon which he works, and his being loosed by their being brought again, by a resurrection, under his influence. They tell us that we have mistaken the parties, and have the wicked bound, not the Devil. But how often do we hear in the daily transactions of life such expressions as these? My way was completely hedged up; my hands were completely tied, &c. But do we understand when persons make such expressions that some insurmountable obstacle was literally thrown across the path they were traveling, or that their hands were literally confined with ropes and cords? No; but simply that a combination of circumstances rendered it impossible for them to act. Just so here; and why will not people grant to inspiration the same liberty of speech, that they give without question and without ridicule to their fellow-men around them?