The Christian Mark of the Beast Survival Manual Copyright © 2014 by Erik K. Olinger All rights reserved.
READERS: This is a rough-draft of the manuscript. It is unedited and contains errors that will be corrected at the final release.
Satan’s Final Battle and the Great White Throne Judgment
Earth will be home to violence and bloody chaos during the tribulation (as discussed in Christ’s Second Coming and the Tribulation), and Satan will execute his final coup de gras through the antichrist at Armageddon. We already learned about the capture of the beast, the false prophet, and of Satan. An angel of the Lord will seize Satan, and bind him in chains in the Abyss (bottomless pit KJV). The perplexing part of God’s plan is that Satan will only be bound for a thousand years. Approaching this literally dictates that Satan will be temporarily in custody during the millennial reign of Christ, after which he will be released again. Why he is released is a mystery. Thankfully Christ is greater than Satan and has prepared the saints by precisely explaining what will happen to the devil when he is released from the Abyss, leaving none of the righteous to suffer once more. The final battle between good and evil will commence at the close of the thousand year reign of Christ. Satan will be released for his last few moments on earth. He will foolishly go out to gather the wicked from the nations through deception, as his last fatuous evil deed. How can one of God’s creations be so rebellious? The wicked will join him to surround the camp of God’s people, which is presumably Jerusalem, although the Bible is not clear whom the wicked are that join his defiance. They will have affirmed their last and final proclamation of hatred toward anything holy. There will be no fight, the wicked and Satan will be swiftly devoured by fire,
When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 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. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (NIV Rev. 20:7-10).
Who Does Satan Gather?
The wicked that Satan gathers for this final battle are in all likelihood composed of the wicked raised in the second resurrection, and possibly the offspring of those who entered the Millennium in their mortal bodies and gave birth, or are any heathen nations that were left on earth not destroyed by the “sword” coming out of Christ’s mouth during the Battle of Armageddon, presuming that a few inhabitants of the earth who are wicked will be permitted to enter the millennial Kingdom. The Bible does not elaborate on whom the wicked that Satan gathers from the earth are comprised of.
The Great White Throne Judgment
The Great White Throne Judgment is a judgment that probably comes before the new heaven and new earth is created (discussed in a succeeding chapter, A New Heaven and New Earth), because for the judgment “the earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” This judgment is based on works—what the dead had done as recorded in the holy books of heaven. Anyone who does not have his or her name written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is also poetically where death and Hades will be thrown, and where the beast, false prophet, and devil will be eternally banished (Mt. 25:41; Rev. 19:20, 20:10),
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (NIV Rev. 20:11-15).
Who Appears Before This Judgment?
The dead here are “great and small” and are going to be judged by works. Salvation is by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), and so those who are already guaranteed salvation and who have the Holy Spirit as a deposit, have their names written in the Book of Life and are secure from retribution. It appears this judgment is to punish the wicked. The righteous will previously have been resurrected to life and will have reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Those who were deceived by Satan and gathered for battle to surround the camp of God’s people will certainly be judged at this time. Interestingly enough, “Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Hypothetically, if the Great White Throne Judgment is the second resurrection, and the first resurrection is only for those who had been beheaded and not worshiped the beast or received its mark (concepts discussed previously that arise from variation in translation), then the rest of the people who had not been beheaded may be present for this judgment, thus placing righteous at this judgment (see The Resurrection and the 1000 Year Reign of Christ). No one will accept that interpretation, it is an exceedingly unlikely combination. The most foreseeable scenario is that the wicked that chose to follow Satan into several ages will solely appear at this judgment to face their sentence. Where do those who received the mark but who did not worship its image stand when facing the throne of Jesus? Are they saved as by fire despite suffering great loss, or do they lose their entire life? Are they the cursed who must depart from Jesus? They will not have lived faithfully, yet they will defiantly not have worshiped at the feet of the beast. The glaring truth is that the dead tossed into the lake of fire for this judgment will have lived their lives in rejection of Christ. Impenitent rejection and disbelief will be the verdict, and none of them will comprehend the wrongdoing that they harbored in their hearts. Sadly, this is whom the lake of fire will be home to.
Chapter Summary
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The final battle between good and evil will commence at the close of the thousand year reign of Christ.
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Satan will be temporarily released after having spent a thousand years in chains in the Abyss (bottomless pit KJV).
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Satan will go out to gather the nations through deception. Once gathered, the wicked will surround the camp of God’s people. They will be quickly devoured by fire.
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The wicked that Satan gathers for this final battle are:
a. The wicked raised in the second resurrection, presuming the second resurrection is immediately at the close of the thousand years.
a. Possibly offspring of those who entered the Millennium in their mortal bodies and continued to sin.
b. Or possibly any heathen nations that remained on earth not killed by Christ.
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The Great White Throne Judgment most likely precedes the new heaven and new earth.
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The Great White Throne Judgment is based on one’s works.
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Anyone without his or her name written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire at this time.
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The righteous raised in the first resurrection are saved by grace and are secure from retribution from this judgment.
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Those with their names not blotted out of the Book of Life will not be tossed into the lake of fire.
