Satan locked in abyss or is he roaming about seeking to devour someone?

jeanniebeanz

Or, does he exist at all??? In which case, we don't have to worry about the big scary monster any more...

J

blondie

WT doctrine:

Satan and the demons fought and lost the war in heaven in 1914 and were cast down to the earth. (before that he had access to heaven and earth)

At Armageddon, Jesus will put Satan and the demons into the abyss to spend 1,000 years in activity until they are let loose to test humans on earth at the end of the 1,000 year reign.

Then Satan and the demons will be destroyed forever (lake of fire).

Other groups, such as the SDAs and Baptists, have a different timeline.

Blondie

Blondie ,your answer would be too easy. Rev. 9:1-11 is where Satan is let out of his abyss with the key and then in Rev. 20 1-4 we read where Jesus will bind him & put him back in for 1,000 years. So, what my question is if he's in the abyss of Rev.9:1 and can't remeber the scripture off the top of my head but where it says" The devil is walking about like a roaring lion seeking to devour someone." So which is it? Is he currently among us or underneath us in a hell?

blondie

Just explaining what the WT doctrine is not why they say it. Maybe someone else knows the "reasoning" behind the WTS doctrine.

Blondie

jeanniebeanz

witness would say that he is currently roaming about until the battle, at which time he will be bound and cast into 'the pit' for a thousand years.

out of curiosity, why do you ask??

J

Leolaia

amommy....In the context of Revelation the angel of the abyss that is unleashed is probably not Satan himself but the Beast, his servant. Note that we twice read of "the Beast that comes up from the abyss" (11:7, 17:8). The Beast is also said to be going "into destruction (apóleian)" in 17:8, 11, a description that recalls the name Apollyon and the LXX use of apóleia for Hebrew Abaddon. The locusts led by Apollyon also are presented as an army of warriors, "like horses prepared for battle", "wearing breastplates of iron", sounding like "chariots rushing into battle" (9:7-9). Similarly, the Beast along with the False Prophet and the Dragon emit "spirits of demons" from their mouths (like the demonic locusts from the abyss) who "go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty" (16:13-14).

As for Satan, ch. 12 presents him as already having been cast to the earth. Aune in his commentary points out that the Messiah child in 12:2-5 is born on the earth because the Dragon casts stars down to the woman and she flees into the wilderness, and Aune also points to a vibrant tradition (attested most vividly in Ignatius, Ephesians) that descent of the Son for his incarnation had to be concealed from the Devil who wanted to destroy him. Then the Messiah figure was taken up into heaven (= after Jesus' resurrection and glorification), and the Devil and his forces were cast out to the earth in defeat. This concept is most likely cognate to the idea that the Devil and/or the supernatural powers were humiliated and defeated by the crucifixion and resurrection (cf. "I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven", Luke 10:18; "Now the prince of this world is to be overthrown, when I am lifted from the earth...The prince of this world is on his way...The prince of this world being already condemned....I have conquered the world", John 12:31-32, 14:30,16:11, 33; "By nailing it to the cross, he got rid of the Sovreignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession", Colossians 2:15; compare also Odes of Solomon 22:5 on the overthrow of the "dragon with seven heads") or birth (cf. Ignatius). This was the earliest known interpretation, in fact, of Revelation 12 by Papias of Hierapolis (writing in c. AD 140), who wrote: "Christ came, and the Law, which was impossible for anyone else, he fulfilled in his body, according to the apostle. He defeated sin and condemned Satan, and through his death he spread abroad righteousness over all. As this occurred, the victory of Michael and his legions, the guardians of mankind, become complete, and the dragon could resist no more, because the death of Christ exposed him to ridicule and threw him to earth" (Fr. 24).

Thus, Revelation assumes that Satan is out and about on the earth during the author's time. See for instance the letter to Pergamum: "I know where you live is the place where Satan is enthroned ... your own town, where Satan lives" (Revelation 2:13).

The "roaring lion" scripture is 1 Peter 5:8.

amommy

jeaniebeanz, Because this seems contradictory. I need things like that straightened a bit before I can move on. You know... which is it? I am JW that is start to question everything.I am reading 3 different bibles slowly and comparing everything. It is already easy to determine the NWT takes their own approach which I find very alarming.I never looked beyond the one bible since I was born into this religion.

amommy

Leo...... Maybe the abyss is somewhat figurative not an actual hell but a state of condemnation. Satan could therefore be the King Abaddon at Rev. 9:11 being let out of his chained to state to run rampant and get at many of his blinded followers as possible and take them to the same place of condemnation.

DavidChristopher

You know what is funny? The first "beast" had a deathstroke healed. Didn't Jesus have that as well? Is a "wild beast" something bad to Jehovah? Or something good? I am confused here. Can someone clue me in?

Satan locked in abyss or is he roaming about seeking to devour someone?

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